3 Small Business Lessons to Learn During COVID

​This has certainly been a weird year. As we begin to adjust to our new reality, there are some things you could be doing in your business that may help you out in the post-COVID time. We can’t say it will ever be a return to normal. We’ve lost our innocence in some ways. Preparing for the worst in the past would never have (completely) readied us for this. But hopefully we’ve learned a thing or two to help us with future business.

3 Things To Learn During COVID to Improve Your Business
Hopefully you have done--or are in the process of doing--the following things to help you have a faster recovery.
 
You’ve Learned What Your Time Is Worth
In every business, there are things that are worth your time and things that aren’t. If you busy yourself with the things that aren’t, you will always feel underpaid and overworked. Instead, make a list of the things that you should be farming out to others.
 
It may seem counterintuitive to pay others to do things you could be doing but everything has a cost. For instance, if you are the primary person bringing in sales for your company but you’re also handling the landscaping and cleaning up the office, you’re losing money. The time you’re spending landscaping and cleaning is time not spent bringing in sales.
 
If you know that for every 5 people you try to sell to, one will buy from you and you know your average sale is $400, and you can reach 5 people in an hour, then you can expect—on average—a sale an hour. So, every hour you’re spending doing something else is costing you a sale.
 
It’s a lot less expensive to hire someone to do the landscaping and cleaning so you can concentrate on bringing in sales than it is for you to do those tasks yourself.
 
You’ve Picked Up a New Skill
From webinars to online classes, there’s an educational pursuit for every interest and budget. Consider your interests but also think about what will improve your “employability” or your business. Think about complementary services you might offer if you improved your knowledge in a particular area. For instance, if you offer marketing content for businesses, learning more about SEO may help you command a higher hourly or project fee.
 
Now is an excellent time to look at educational options. There have never been so many affordable options.
 
You’ve Learned When You Work Best
With working from home situations, some businesspeople have had to get creative with their work hours. If you’ve done this, hopefully you’ve learned what your most productive hours are.
 
If you have, don’t waste them returning emails. Whatever is your “freshest” part of the day, you should use that to tackle new projects, bring on new accounts, brainstorm ways to grow your business, and other things.
 
Leave administrative tasks, like email, for later parts of the day. It will make you more productive.
 
COVID has forced us to reexamine where we work and how we do it. If you haven’t already, think about ways you might invest in making your business stronger post-COVID than it was before.
 
 
 
Christina R. Metcalf (formerly Green) is a marketer who enjoys using the power of story and refuses to believe meaningful copy can be written by bots. She helps chamber and small business professionals find the right words when they don’t have the time or interest to do so. 
Christina hates exclamation points and loves road trips. Say hi on Twitter or reach out on Facebook.
​