I know a lot of people out there’s income has been affected negatively due to the #covid19, whether you are a fulltime corporate employee, a business owner, a startup founder or even a remote job holder or an online business owner.
Depending on the industry you work in, your may have lost or experienced a decrease in your income due to layoff, temporal work from home with no or reduced pay, or you may have lost some customers since purchasing power is decreasing. Now as many people are experiencing this temporal set back; they are quite some people and businesses that are actually experiencing unprecedented growth in revenue and profits this period.
I feel your pain, I know your struggle because frankly, I am experiencing it too, to some extent but you and I have a choice. You can focus on what you can control to make your economy bounce back for you and yours or you can decide to fold arms, wait, complain and do nothing until this is all over, the choice is yours, but whatever you decide you should know this:
You are not alone
From Lagos to New York, Bali to Abu Dhabi, Sydney to Ibiza; millions of people are experiencing a similar challenge. So we are all in this together and we will not only survive but can thrive if we take personal responsibility and act in solidarity to uplift one another.
It is a sign to self reflect on, analyze and diversify your income streams
Whether you are a business pr an individual; one line of income stream doesn’t cut it anymore for decades, we have heard it times without number, multiple streams of income is the future of your sustenance and generational wealth creation. Whether you are working with a multinational corporation making 6 figure income in $ or you run some form of online business while you travel the world or stay home to raise you kids: one source is not enough. So you need to take this time out to analyze your skills, experience, the markets, learn some history, listen to what people are complaining about and begin to create solutions or find ways to promote existing solutions to their problems.
If you work a physical job; and have little digital skills; now is the time to learn new skills that have digital roles in the industry you want to work in or serve at; not because you should abandon your old job, but because you can have another complimentary income to support your normal job.
We have so much value to offer that we often become too busy and narrow-minded on that one thing we have that seems to work until pandemics like this happen and we realize its important to have a focus and secondary or tertiary focus as well. So
Time to review your spending habits, cut back and develop a robust financial plan
Do you have a financial plan? About your income? Your expenses? Your debt repayment? your benevolence? Do you know where every dollar you made went in the last quarter? If your answer isnt satisfactory to you; its time to make a change and make a plan that you will stick to; because the truth is much work so hard for the money they don’t know where it goes eventually. I use to be that way, so for a start cut down on your expenses; subscription, dine out, luxury shopping etc and go get financially literate by following one of this @thebudgenista @finlitafrica @clevergirlfinance @moneyafrica
For business owners, this is the time to track down unpaid invoices, review your regular business expenses, build relationships with future business contacts and optimize financial processes.
Optimize your business processes, analyze value proposition and automate where necessary
This is generic advice; there is always a better way of doing business, of producing products or rendering service, of working with your employees or employer etc. So as many of you newbie individuals or business adopt emergency #workfromhome policies: really analyze your business processes, research better ways, go through feedback you’ve obtained in the past, look at what others similar to you who are thriving are doing it, documents and test try different approaches to doing what you do normally better and more effectively; you’d be surprised to see how much time, money and efforts you can save if you operate from a place of creativity, innovation and commitment to improvements.
Optimize your personal and professional development process
How intentional have you been about your personal and professional developments? How Intentional and innovative have you been in growing your business? If you are an individual, how do you develop your mind? Your expertise? Do you have a plan for your personal growth and development; or is it dependent on the company you work for, your spouse or the random ideas you get online? Well if it’s not a solid YES! Its time to invest in yourself first, develop a personal development plan and stick to it beyond Aunty #Rona. If you are a company, analyze you
Invest time to build new and Improve existing relationship
Reach out to your people: colleagues, customers, friends, family, former and potential business partners etc.
What other time than now to really show you care? Professionally update your Linkedin profile, be more active in sharing tips and information with people, reach out to people and ask about their wellbeing, their jobs and their business, foster new and improve existing relationship. If you have a brand or firm you want to work with; now is the time to review and propose ways they can improve their business or processes; free of charge if you like or for a subsidized rate; give, show up for others build relationships that can open new doors for future engagements.
If your income is terribly affected, develop a survival strategy: find a side gig or create one solving other peoples most current problems.
They are a million and one things people are complaining or wish they had at the moment; find it and if it’s safe to deliver a solution go ahead and do it: find a few clients to pay you for it make sure you do a great job and don’t overprice it because people are looking for it, you’d be a surprise the number of referrals you will get.
Whatever you decide to do, do so with intentions, with compassion and with strategic direction to enable you to come out of this stronger and on the winning side.
Let me know in the comment below if your income has been affected by the #Covid19 and what your focus has been lately on improving your circumstances. If you have any more ideas that can be beneficial to the readers, do share so we can update this article or perhaps you can contribute to this column by sending 4 pieces to [email protected] Frankly, this was supposed to be a social media post but certainly, the word count is way above what IG will allow! So here you have it as a blog post!
Hope this Helps! Read, Comment, Share with others; so we can all forge ahead together.
