How To Start Over In The Time of Coronavirus
We live in a post Coronavirus world, and it isn’t even over yet. In fact it has just begun as we slip into our second week of national quarantine with the pandemic compromising elections, job security, false hopes.
We are all too familiar with the headlines circulating about the COVID-19, the numbers, the fatalities, the red glowing dots of concentrated infections. But what about the people who were on the verge of launching something truly lovely: a book, a business, a brand?
Assess the situation
What have you lost?
This is a really big question right now for everyone, from large organizations, to small startups, to entrepreneurs incubating their precious ideas. This could be a number of things depending on your field of interest. Perhaps you lost readers, because all attention has been sucked into the present situation. Perhaps you lost the place where you actually conduct business, your office, your school; perhaps your loss is financial. For all of these, I offer my condolences.
Now, what have you gained?
I’m willing to bet you’ve gained a whole lot more time, anxiety, frustration, and hopelessness. Although warranted, now is not the time to panic; albeit there may be a time. But it is not now.
Now is the time for possibility.
Re-tool
Whether you’re facing the loss of your entire business (ouch, I feel you) or you’re having to scrap to make ends meet, you are undeniably in a process of having to let go. I’ve been there. I wrote this article to remedy letting go.
It’s the perfect time to check in on your toolbox and see what you’ve got.
What skills have you acquired in the last years that are essential to what’s happening right now? Do you find that your toolbox is in fact pretty empty and your skills remain resolutely dedicated to your one profession?
It’s time to branch out and begin rounding out your skills with knowledge that contributes to the collective.
This pandemic isn’t going away any time soon, in fact, it’s safe to say that it has just begun. We, as a nation, are less concerned with the individual at the moment and are more concerned about the collective. It’s time to brainstorm what set of skills you can expand upon that makes life easier for your neighbor.
Here’s a free place to go hunting for learning.
Localize your thinking
Possibly the most daunting aspect of this global pandemic is that it has severely staunched our continuity and growth as businesses. Travel is highly restricted, flattening the curve is achieved through social isolation, purchasing items overseas on the internet just doesn’t feel like a good idea at the moment.
Regrowth is going to have to happen centrally before it can be projected to a greater audience. Look around your neighborhood, what do your people need? Are there services that you can provide that improve your tool box and also uplifts your community?
What is your business’s value in the micro?
Start there.
I know it’s not what you want to hear as an entrepreneur. It’s extremely hard to make the shift of solely considering ourselves and how we’re going to crush it with our entrepreneurial endeavors, to suddenly: how is my neighbor going to make ends meet and what value can I bring to the communal table?
This is a paradigm shift
We have a fantastic opportunity to become more human during this time. This is what turning inward does to us. It makes us look at the consequences of our own thoughts and actions. It causes us to look a bit deeper in the eyes of those we love to ask, “but, are you okay?”.
There is a small window of time to make sweeping changes to our ideas and knowledge. It’s as if the heavens are holding your back free for a moment in time to let you relearn what was most essential that got lost in the mess anyway. And that is, true connectivity and what we offer to the collective. Because we are all together in this.
So while it’s insanely difficult to accept loss (here’s a resource for you to process your grief, and let go), there is hope in emptiness and incredible possibility in starting over.
Learn how to dream
Clearly, whatever answers we had before don’t matter now. There’s a whole new set of questions we have to consider that weren’t anywhere near our radar.
Ask yourself: What are my perceived boundaries? And how does what I think I know stop me from going in a new direction?
Now is a great time to start journaling, to get down to a nitty-gritty heart space where you ask yourself, “what have I always wanted to do?”
Don’t know how to journal? It’s easy. But for those of you who need further guidance, Darius Foroux does an excellent job explaining what’s essential in the process.
All those years spent circling your 10 year old kid dreams have brought you right to the door of your truest aspirations. It’s time to meet yourself in this pandemic space where there is no one but you clouding your judgement, influencing your thinking, deciding what matters most; telling you what to do.
Once you feel properly reacquainted with yourself, your next major task is to think about how you can provide your service to the collective in a digital way. How can you make your business more valuable by providing value virtually.
How do your customers access your value with minimal involvement from you?
A conundrum indeed.
Don’t be afraid of diving into the chaos of something completely new to find out what works better for you.
Best of luck to you.
