The outbreak of COVID-19 has knocked us all for a loop. It
seems like every day we hear of something else that’s being affected. Schools
are closing, whole cities and towns are quarantined, states and municipalities
are issuing states of emergency, concerts and events are seemingly all being
cancelled, we’ve put the kibosh on travel plans for the foreseeable future, and
shaking hands and hugging have been replaced indefinitely by elbow bumps.
Economic impacts of this pandemic will be felt for a long
time. Across industries and disciplines, effects of shut-downs, travel
restrictions, and general worry are zinging and stinging everywhere. Every time
I look online, another friend has posted about the clients they’ve lost that
day, the stores and restaurants they’ve had to shutter, conferences they can no
longer attend, gigs that got cancelled, etc.
My own brick and mortar business, Uncle Marty’s Shipping Office, is just
coming off a huge boon. Last Tuesday, Cornell University—our neighbor and provider
of the majority of our client base—announced that students would not be asked
to return to campus after spring break. Then, a few days later, moved up that
timeline and asked that everyone leave immediately. So, without warning, our
student move-out season (which traditionally takes about six weeks during May
and June) happened immediately and in a span of about a week. It was intense!
We smashed our records and pulled out all the stops to get the students’ stuff
shipped and stored as efficiently as possible.
That unexpected burst in business is waning now, and we’re staring
at five months of significantly reduced student population in our university-anchored
city. What do we do? So many of our neighbors have already closed up for the
long haul, offices have sent their workers home to do their jobs remotely, and
we’re left with tough decisions to make. It was my decision to keep Uncle Marty’s
open regular hours for the foreseeable future (details on the shop’s blog),
as our business is classified by New York State as “essential” and therefore
exempt from required staff reductions and closures. That being said, I fully
understand that every business must make the right decision for their own
circumstances. This was ours, and it is of course subject to change as edicts
and situations change.
Whether we’re keeping normal hours in our offices or working
from home, we are all dealing with this new business atmosphere of uncertainty.
What do we do about that? What do we do with our time? Do we just sit on our
thumbs for the next few months? Do we bemoan the fact that the world is
conspiring against us? Do we take on a victim mindset and start blame-slinging?
No! We look at the situation objectively. We innovate. We
smile and continue to do everything we can to support our community, team, clients,
and networks. We look for opportunities in the chaos. We use any down time that
might be coming our way to get focused, establish more healthy habits, strengthen
our faith, become re-energized, and prepared for future growth.
Years ago, our neighborhood faced a considerable challenge. If
you’ve followed my coaching for a while, you’ve probably read my writings on it
before, but the short version of the story is that our road was shut down for
nearly two years for the construction of a big building across the street from
us. It was tough. As a shipping business, we couldn’t get trucks in or out for
deliveries and pickups, our clients couldn’t reach us easily to bring in their
shipments and pick up their packages, and our visibility to new clients was all
but extinguished by considerable construction dust.
Initially, our sales were slashed by the unexpected
interruption, however by the end of it we ended up growing … and thriving. Why?
Because we innovated! We didn’t fall victim to the situation, but instead used
it as an opportunity to grow our network with city and campus officials to come
up with solutions together; we pushed our pickup and delivery service and grew
those profit centers considerably, and as a result now have a more diverse,
adaptable business model.
The same wasn’t the case for many of our business neighbors.
Sadly, many of them cowered and complained during those two years, some even
closing for good. We tried to encourage them to innovate and adapt, even suggesting
that restaurants grow their take-out and catering businesses since the weren’t
getting walk-in traffic. But, change is hard for many people and some of these
small businesses didn’t have the knowledge or resources to innovate; they didn’t
know what platforms to use, how to get their messages out to the public, or the
best course of action to take. It was a shake-out.
Now, we’re facing a shake-out again. There’s no sugarcoating
the fact that this current pandemic will be the nail in the coffin for countless
businesses. But, there will be survivors. And, more importantly, there will be
thrivers! The thrivers will be those who look for opportunities and become
problem solvers for their communities.
The thrivers will be the restaurants who turn their serving
staff into delivery staff and create quarantine menus and specials to bring
flavor to those stuck at home and sick of the same old spaghetti every night.
The thrivers will be the rideshare drivers who replace their evening
bar-hopping business with food and grocery delivery opportunities. The thrivers
will be the hotels who create too-good-to-ignore specials to re-book conferences
and vacation packages for later dates, rather than just taking cancellations.
My team and I plan on being thrivers over the next few
months. We don’t know what that will look like yet, but we’ve set our minds to
it … and when our minds are set on something, rarely do we not achieve it.
...
This article was also published on the AMBC blog on March 19, 2020.
...
Marty Johnson is an entrepreneur, writer, and business coach. He serves as ex officio Director of Communication and Advisor to the Board for the non-profit Association of Mail & Business Centers (AMBC) and is Editor of MBC Today, AMBC's industry-leading publication. Marty owns and operates Uncle Marty's Shipping Office in Ithaca, NY, where he's also Co-Founder of the Collegetown Small Business Alliance. Please visit him at askunclemarty.com. #AskUncleMarty
