How to succeed during the Coronavirus lockdown
What you can do when the work stops coming in
It has been one crazy start to 2020 right?
I mean, I started out the new year unwell (with a cough and breathlessness) and visited my GP three or four times but was told it was nothing more than a cold and was given an inhaler to help. I got better but not 100%.
I returned to work with the remnants of a cough and at the time Covid19 was starting to take hold of China and Italy had just started to lock down.
I will probably never know if it was the Covid19 virus that I had. When I think back, the breathlessness was so severe that I had to stop between every task that involved my body moving.
It was like nothing I had suffered with before, and believe me, I have dealt with so many illnesses over the years.
I am extremely lucky and grateful that I still have work to do during this lock down here in the UK, however, I still find myself thinking about what things I can be doing to ensure maximum success when this is all over.
I decided I would share that with you in the hopes that it will either directly help you too or it will spark some ideas of your own to keep your head and business above the storm.
Have a routine
You may have heard it said many times over the last few weeks, however, I cannot stress enough, how important sticking to a routine is when working from home.
I must admit I have always had a loose routine, this allows me space to make quick changes when needed. Still, I have some order to my daily routine which goes a little something like this;
- My morning beauty routine (this could be as simple as getting washed and dressed). It is bad territory to stay in your PJs all day, as tempting as that may seem.
- I stick to my breakfast that I would usually take with me to work to ensure I don’t start eating chocolate for breakfast, or worse, skipping breakfast all together!
- I then work for a set number of hours from my home office space, fitting in home schooling for a few hours with the kids in between to keep them entertained.
- Using the same principle as breakfast, taking a lunch break and eating what I would usually have in the office to try and keep the pounds off.
- Once I have finished the first part of my day, I take our dogs for their daily walk. This gives me the headspace I need to process the day so far, take time out to relax and then get myself ready for the next half of my day (or evening).
- Once my children are in their beds for the night, I then move onto working on my portfolio and this is where the magic starts.
Read, research, learn
I don’t always have time to fit in reading and my own personal research and learning, as with most of us life tends to push these things on the back burner. I am now filling some space with reading and this has a number of benefits besides learning something new, it breaks up my day and it can be a mood lifter if your reading the right books!
Take this opportunity to learn something new that can help you with your business;
- Learn how to build your website on a site such as Shopify, Wix or WordPress.
- Learn coding if you want to be able to do this from scratch.
- Got a book you have been meaning to get to – now’s the time to sit down and get stuck in. (I have a few books on the go at present, including Predatory thinking by Dave Trott, it’s a must read!)
- Sign up to some industry leaders email campaigns, really enjoying Neil Patel’s communications which have helped me with my SEO already.
- Subscribe to a podcast. I am hooked to Jenna Kutcher at the moment, her Goal Digger podcast is addictive and has immediate results!
Work on your business
I have also taken this opportunity to improve my portfolio and website. What was previously a very slow process (finding extra time to just update it with my current work was extremely difficult in between clients) I now have more time to think about and action.
Some of these things include:
- Revamp your social media. Create a theme and colour pallet and improve your image online. Audit your social media, what posts have worked and why, as well as which did not and let them inform your new strategy.
- Audit your online presence and website using tools like Google Search and Analytics. What do you need to work on?
- Improve your SEO. There are so many free tools to use to help you with this, some of which include what is mentioned above, as well as things like MOZ and Ubersuggest.
- Conduct up to date research on your target market and current competitors, find out what is trending and if there is anything
that you should be doing or should stop doing.
- Start writing blog posts – they can be time consuming but if you have more time currently, it’s a perfect opportunity to create lots of relevant and timeless content that you can use in the coming months.
Evaluate your Business, and yourself
Now is a good a time as any to sit down and take a look at your current path. What have you done in the last 5 years that you can celebrate, as well as things you can learn from to improve?
This is something you can use in your personal life too, make sure you really look beyond the surface. What do you really need to improve on to get the result you desire?
I don’t mind sharing this with you, it is never a weakness to be honest with yourself about where you are and want to be. For me it has always been about truly finding out what I need to do to be satisfied with my life.
No, not what I need to do to be successful. What I really want out of my time on this planet? I have come to the conclusion that I want to make sure that my family is provided for, for many years to come and that they have all the opportunities to enjoy their lives however they wish.
To do this I needed to understand what was currently holding me back? What was stopping me taking the steps needed to progress with my plans?
I realised a few years ago that it was myself..
For many years I have personally punished myself, subconsciously believing that I am not good enough, kind enough or even intelligent enough to do the things I want in life.
During my self-reflection I realised I had to understand why I had done this to myself for so many years and once I had done that, it was like a weight had been lifted!
And I am now more productive than I have ever been!
Now I would like to clarify that I am super organised and very productive with my work, but now my vision and path to get there is clearer. I am spending less and less time worrying about it and more time doing it.
Times are hard for the world at the moment BUT we can see the light so keep your head high and use your time to benefit you.
I hope this has been informative and helpful for you. If you would like more information on anything in the above, please contact me and I will be happy to provide more information for you.
Stay at home, stay safe and I will see you on the other side.
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