The COVID-19 pandemic forced every business to learn the hard lesson about how quickly things can change. Seemingly overnight, the way businesses worldwide operated changed as we knew it forever. Many businesses were forced to shut their doors permanently due to the inability to adapt and overcome the new realities of life after COVID.
However, among all the disarray, many businesses shined and found their place at the front of the pack due to their ability to adjust to the times. In this article, we look at four lessons learned from the pandemic that will allow your business to thrive the next time the world throws us a curveball.
4 Business Lessons Learned from the Pandemic
1) Hard Times Make Tough Business Owners
A key lesson learned is that you can never be over-prepared. Always act as if your company may go through another sudden shutdown due to a national crisis because it might very well happen. If you’re prepared operationally and have saved up some money, then your business will have an increased chance of surviving during tough times.
Make sure to conduct regular forecasts, cut unnecessary expenses, save money where you can, and stay on top of accounts receivable so there is always cash available when needed.
Set up an emergency savings fund to help prepare your business for future hardships. Generally, you want three to six months’ worth of operational costs saved to help cover the business during tough times.
2) The War for Talent
The pandemic led to the Great Resignation, and suddenly managers realized they can’t mistreat workers.
Many businesses discovered that remote and flexible work-life balance was actually more effective than traditional in-person work settings. Online meetings, for example, save time and money by eliminating the need to travel, and remote work allows employees to live wherever they want rather than being forced to relocate to an expensive city.
The pandemic certainly led to a shift away from purely local jobs with regular face-to-face interactions and more toward a mix of local and virtual positions that make use of technology such as video conferencing.
3) Focus On What You Can Control
There’s no use worrying about the things you can’t control, such as the stock market or global pandemics. It’s important to focus on the things you can control, like your marketing strategy, service model, and product development. This is a great time to assess your business and find areas that need improvement. Make sure you have a solid plan in place so you can execute quickly and efficiently when necessary.
4)Diversification Before Extinction
One of the most critical lessons business owners learned from the pandemic was the importance of creating diverse revenue streams. Many companies were forced to find new ways to generate revenue streams when global lockdowns and quarantines wrecked their main source of revenue.
The takeaway here is that businesses should prepare for similar situations in the future by developing multiple revenue streams so that if their primary source of revenue is jeopardized, there is still a means to keep the business afloat, at least temporarily.
Moving Beyond the Pandemic
While the lessons from the pandemic may be difficult, they have provided a much-needed wake-up call to business owners all over the world. With what we have learned, we can now make our businesses better equipped to deal with tough times in the future.
In a recent podcast, we dig deeper into the impact COVID-19 had on businesses. Click below to listen and jump into the Traversing Entrepreneurship conversation!