What's your COVID story?
I recently read an amazing story from an accountant of her experience through COVID-19:
"We needed to charge clients a fee, who had little to no business income, so that we could get them the government support they were eligible for. Yes, our fee was tiny compared to some others, but we had to cover our costs and our own employee wages, or we simply wouldn’t survive. But we copped criticism for trying to “profit from Covid”.
Seriously. We are trying to help clients fight on for another day and we are copping it left right and centre. We made a loss on every single JobKeeper Fee. Every. Single. One. Yet the verbal abuse that we received (both individually and as an industry as a whole) was out of control. We know people were in a highly emotive and fragile state, but if only people could see the toll that kind of behaviour takes on someone." - https://healthybusinessfinances.com.au/12-months-post-covid-and-i-am-still-mentally-scarred/
It's been a rollercoaster for all. What's your story, and what lessons have you taken away from the last year?
We are always pivoting to respond to market changes but I am very concerned about the spread of this virus and the short and long term impact it will have on the economy. The biggest change for me, my team and my clients from the virus so far is the shutdown of all networking events, travel and conferences. Spring is typically a very busy time with many events, trade shows, business meetings on the road, etc. and for the past year everyone is staying put and meeting virtually instead. I have had more Zoom and Skype calls in the past 15 days than the 12 months pre pandemic!
Pivoting to online meetings, webinars, etc. is a smart and productive way companies can continue to have conversations that educate and inform, build relationships and move forward during this crisis period. So first and foremost I am trying to help the team to be flexible and open minded so we can keep working together during the crisis and create more flexible capacity going forward over the next year as the economy reopens. If small groups on the team want to talk through specific issues (managing anxiety, kids, parents, etc.) virtual coffee meetings online have been helpful too. A few colleagues have even met online after work for virtual happy hour/beer/cocktails as well when they had more time to chat. It is starting to feel like the new normal by leveraging technology to build and maintain my relationships. Maybe the silver lining is that this crisis reminds us that technology does not have to be isolating it can be used to build our real world communities and relationships too!
I have gottren a lot better at them! Have enjoyed several virtual events and have spoken at online conferences too. We have learned a lot about building online communities!
That's great! It sounds like you have adapted well
Hatty Bell, Executive Assistant at Country Road Group
Interesting to hear your story @Paige Arnof-Fenn . Totally agree that Zooms and Skype are becoming much more the 'new normal'. I used to hate video calls! Do you find the same success with virtual events, trade shows, business meetings?