January 13, 2021

Listen Now! Five Reasons This Pandemic Is GREAT For Business

It’s lockdown number 3 in the UK and regardless of the lockdown, this pandemic has really put a strain on so many people trying to manage a business during this period.

But it’s not all doom and gloom, there is definitely something to be said for business opportunity during this time. The hospitality, leisure and travel industry have been the most impacted BUT our travel company tripled in size in the first lockdown!

Find out in this episode why NOW is a great time for your business success!

Useful Links:-

Join the Evolve and Elevate Strategy Session

Book a Call with Jen  – bit.ly/claritycallpodcast

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Send your emails to jen@jen-hall.com

Available on Apple iTunes, Spotify & Stitcher (Just search Expert Unrivalled Podcast)

Read Full Transcript

Please note this transcript is machine generated so it is not perfect and should be used for reference only, you will get the best from the podcast by listening to it in it's designed format

(00:00):
Wow. I think we're all kind of done with this pandemic, right. But we shouldn't be done with business and here's five reasons why this pandemic is actually great for business.
(00:19):
Hello and welcome to that first new year recording. I know you've guys have already had an episode before, but this is the new year episode freshly recorded in January from Jen hall, your business positioning coach and market leadership experts on the experts unrivalled podcast. And I cannot wait as per usual to share some nuggets with you because my gosh, has it been a roller coaster of a ride for all of us around the globe? You asked and UK in particular some really huge events going on. In particular, I want to talk about this pandemic and the UK is now back into a full on lockdown. I live in Wales in the UK and it feels like we've been in lockdown since like land before time. I feel like we w we're pretty used to it over here. We're kind of getting a bit of a lockdown fatigue, quite frankly, but the just recently, just a few days ago the lockdown hit in the UK.
(01:24):
And so, you know, we're, we are all feeling like, you know, here we go again. And we've been here before, right? We know, you know, what to expect to a certain extent. But it doesn't mean that the fears and the struggles that we previously had to deal with during times like this, aren't still just as real, and won't still put us into a flight of panic, you know, we try not do. And perhaps it isn't as bad as last time. But it certainly comes with its with its struggles and something that's someone I hugely respect Heather Gray, who is a business mindset coach go and check her out said was we might all be in the same storm, but we certainly aren't in the same boat. And it's so, so true. I've literally just got off a call with with a client.
(02:17):
Who's like, I've got so much time on my hands and you know, I've got laser time to spend on my business. And then, you know, I speak to somebody else this morning who was literally just like, I literally have no time. I've got like an at half an hour here or there where the kids are in front of the TV. And then the next moment I'm homeschooling taking them for a walk, doing cooking dinner, doing all the things, making lunch. And so it really does depend on everyone's got a different situation. So obviously some of what I'm going to be saying, you know, might come from the scenario of someone I've got a child myself seven-year-old seemed to be eight the end of this month. My gosh, I had to think about birthday presents. But you know, so some of my advice might come from that, but I've also got a lot of money.
(03:03):
If the advice kind of goes across the board and it's very business orientated. Yes, we, some of us are challenged personally in terms of time. But all businesses are currently affected by this pandemic. Every single person on this earth is affected by this pandemic in some way. And you know, each scenario has its negatives and its positives. So yeah, we know life is not fair and we all get dealt. What we get dealt. Some people are loving it. My sister's one of them. She absolutely loves a lockdown. She loves like Heidi, Heidi hall. How do you holding herself away? And living in pajamas and so on and so forth for other people like Andy, you know, my my partner and business partner in crime he hates it. He's like, you're so restricted. Its freedoms are gone. He's an extrovert.
(03:52):
He wants people. It really just does depend. So whoever you are introvert, extrovert kids, no kids, whatever it is, whatever industry you're in massive hugs guys, because we're all dealing with this. Right. But anyway enough with the doom and gloom, because I really wanted to share with you today some positive vibes, some positive vibes. Before I do get into that, I do just want to say that, make sure you head to the show notes and click one of these two links now. It is my mission this year, my purpose to help businesses who are seriously ambitious and want to thrive, not just survive through whatever weather we are coming up against, whether that's a global pandemic, wherever it goes on, we want to create our own economy. We want to create our own success and pushing ourselves with that success fruits it's for those entrepreneurs who really want to do that, who really want to just feel like they are in control no matter what is going on in the outside world and Kate, these two links, the first link I want you to consider is clicking the link to join me on my next evolve and elevate session.
(05:04):
I run these strategy sessions periodically and I have another one coming up very soon. So do go and check out the link. I have very limited spots. So if it's not showing up, it means the spots are gone. So apologies on that one. So have a look, see if there's a space you want to get yourself on that for transparency, it's 20 pounds to join. You know, because it's valuable and I want skin, I like people with skin in the game and actually do really want to pay attention and learn from these strategy sessions because there was so much gold to be had. I talk about how we made over 1.5 million in the first lockdown in the UK, in our travel company. So if that's not something to be learning about how we did, then, you know, I don't know what it is.
(05:51):
So do make sure that you go and click that link. It talks you through not only, but how you can build your own market leading business and involve in times like this, and really, really skyrocket to become that number one choice in the market. So do you make sure you do that? The other thing that you can do as well as is click the other link to download my seven figure market-leading roadmap. Okay. That's going to take you through some of the foundational steps that you need to be taking in order to start building those really solid foundations and building your market leading presence to scale to seven figures and beyond. So right. Point one. I want to get there. So point 1 of what I wanted to talk about in terms of one of the biggest reasons why this pandemic is the best for your business right now is the first one is because a lot of businesses are actually down tools during this time.
(06:50):
We noticed it particularly in the first lockdown in terms of travel, other travel companies. I would say 80 to 90% of travel companies are just down tools of what's the point if people can't travel which is just utterly ridiculous because we tripled in size you know, over the last, not even like 12 months, but you know, less than that, you know, from, from the, from the point of lockdown we really, really shot up in terms of turnover it eating multi-millions and you know, that specifically in the travel business. And so this, this whole thing around, you know, people Downing tools, this is it's awful. If you're one of them, stop, stop it. I'm going to tell you why you should stop it with some of the other reasons in a moment because you should really should have, you know hope and the realization that right now is actually a great opportunity.
(07:43):
But for those of you around you, in your niche and in your industry who are Downing tools, this gives you a great pathway forward. This gives you a great pathway to move forward and say, I'm here for you to your market because you know, when people step down and say, what's the point, you know, it doesn't do very well for a reputation. It doesn't do very well in terms of PR or leadership. You know, it shows people that actually when times get tough, you just, you just hide. There's no point. So, you know, if you were able to step in and say, look, we're here for you. This is what you can do right now. This is how we're supporting you through this time. It really does show that you have leadership and that you could really dominate that market where everyone else is really slowing down on content and putting things out there.
(08:32):
You are really making the way through to show people that you are still there for them that you are here to help and that they can still access you and give them hope, show them that they don't need to give up on their ambitions and their goals show them that their problem that they were struggling with prior to the lockdown is still valid and still, you're still there to support them with it. You know, perhaps in different ways, but you, you could really make waves here. So don't think that now is the time to start to slow down. You know, yes, you might all have some personal challenges which I'll come to towards the end of this podcast, but at the same time, this really is the time now to seize the moment, seize the opportunity. And gosh, I can't remember what book it is.
(09:17):
I read this end and that's going to bug me. And if anyone's like listening to this, please email Jen@jen-hall.com to tell me which book it was. But it was something around, you know, never waste a good crisis, you know, because it really is true that with crisis comes great opportunity and particularly for businesses that was a never waste, a good recession, I should say. You know, and we are, you know, going through that right now. And so with that, and obviously we're going through with added complications. It's not just a recession, there's a pandemic going on. So there are other complications, but the same rule applies. There is great opportunity here. So let me talk, tell you about the next reason now, other than, you know, other companies giving you a great opportunity to actually make way for, for you showing up and shining.
(10:06):
The second one is, is that actually the problem that your business solves could actually be amplified by the effects of lockdown. So what was once easy to ignore is now glaringly obvious and the urgency to solve to solve that problem is actually tenfold. Your ideal client actually needs you more than ever. And, you know, I use the example of my lovely client, Sarah Weaver, who is a a parent coach for these parents who have children with high sensitivity and experienced emotional outbursts. Now, you know, during a normal time they might have extra supports there's school, there's some sort of childcare. Now they're in a lockdown. They are now that they're issues that they've had. And I just want to make it very clear that I'm not talking about the child as an issue, but the family disruption, and the fact that that dynamic isn't working as well as it could, is now amplified because they don't have that support anymore.
(11:04):
And actually it's not an issue that they can ignore as easily. And so actually, you know, not only is that not good for them, but it puts you in a great position to be able to step in and, and really show them the urgency to really say, okay, now is the time to, if now isn't a good time to solve that problem. When is, you know, when do you, what, you know, stop putting this off and it doesn't have to be an issue anymore. It can be solved and we can all move on so that you can thrive during times like this. And you know, when you're not, because for a lot of people, they were struggling with the problem way before the pandemic. You know, a lot of people say with the pandemic, I've got, had this issue and this issue, but actually that problem existed prior.
(11:42):
It's just become even worse now. And so actually this is a great time for you as a business person, as a leader, as someone who was here to help and serve the world to step in and say, let's do this, let's help you. Let's get you through this obstacle, this hurdle that you're experiencing. So we can, we can help you move on. Now, the third reason is related to this and it is actually the, there could be new problems that will have arisen in their situation that we'll have, will be in the way of them being able to achieve their outcome, the outcome that they desire. So how can your business help to solve these additional problems? So it could be that they're trying to, you know, access you know, get to a particular goal or overcome something, but they can't because of some new issue that this pandemic has, has had.
(12:35):
So how can you tweak your offering to meet the needs of the market that you currently serve? So I see a lot of this, but panic pivoting, like, well, this market isn't buying, so I'm going able to this market, that's just not true. Your market will buy if you're able to serve them now for a lot of people first time round, that was okay. So we can't serve you, you know, accessing the service is impossible. Face-To-Face, we're going to have to move online. That's a kind of an obvious tweak that you might make to actually create some sort of delivery. And the majority of people listening to this podcast right now, you guys probably already have an online offering. It probably is that you're solely online and that actually you're virtual and you're able to work from anywhere. So that's not necessarily a big deal, but what are the other issues that they might be having that you could either add on something additional to that product to help support that next issue, deliver it in a slightly different way, a slightly different time allow people to access some kind of recordings and not just in delivery, but it could also be that she, they just got new challenges that will prevent them from making as much progress progress as they possibly could.
(13:46):
So what can you add to your program topic wise or to your service topic wise that would help them really see how they can still achieve what they need to achieve during a time like this? So, you know, the tweaks and the pivots and the things that you need to be doing are around those new problems that have happened. So think about how you can remain as relevant and as accessible and as wanted and needed as possible to your market. See what you can do to tweak in that regard. Now, the next reason is, you know, to say that actually for a lot of people right now, they're saving a lot of money that they would, they would usually be spending on things that it wouldn't surprise me if they didn't bring in the, you know, the here in the UK, we have like a mortgage break then I don't know whether they will, but they might bring that back again, whether you could have a mortgage break, saving a ton on their mortgage, but whether that happens or not, they're going to be saving a ton on travel.
(14:42):
They're going to be saving a ton that they're not spending on holidays that they're not spending on going out on taxis on drink all of these things. There's actually lot more ex you know, disposable cash going on in a lot of households. And the same goes for, for businesses, you know, and I refer you back to my reason, number two, and reason, number three, you know, businesses still need to function. They still need to carry on. There are still businesses, you know, they haven't first, not everyone is furloughed. You know, P there are still people trying to, you know, continue to work, but there is so many different challenges and the bigger the business, the bigger, the issues of this, because, you know, the bigger the operation, the harder it is to make these changes, bigger problems require that, you know, someone, an expert to come in and help them with that.
(15:27):
So whether you're serving a consumer, whether you're serving a business money is still being spent, you know, how many Facebook posts have you seen recently? I certainly have around people having online shopping habits where they're just like someone, please stop me from pressing the buy button. You know, I've seen a few, a fair few. I can tell you. And so you have to realize that, you know, there is money, money is still being spent and not be thinking that people are not. And I just want to bring you back to the example of our travel company. You know, the travel industry and hospitality, leisure industries are the hardest hit during this time. And yet, and I'll travel company with over 1.5 million in two weeks during the last knockdown, a travel company, okay. People are still buying. How did we do that? A lot of you might think we're going to support nurse.
(16:14):
Did you do well? What we did was lots of years of hard work and building a market leading brand. Absolutely. It didn't just happen all of a sudden, but equally we, we decided on the messaging that we were using, and that was, is, you know, plan until you can book now, save and look forward to something. But, you know, we're an adventure travel company. So there'll be a training period that they'll need to go through to make sure that they're fit enough to attempt what they're doing. You know, looking at what they can be doing now, getting it in the diary, because it was not in the diary. Is it ever going to happen? You know, we're looking at our messaging now and sort of letting people know that as soon as this is, you know, looking anywhere near over the travel industry is going to boom.
(16:56):
You know, everybody's going to want to be traveling everywhere right now. You've got the choice of, you know, whatever date you want really bar, obviously right now. But looking to the future, you can't, but you know, there is only a certain amount of capacity on a particular date, you know, it's you right now, you've got choice later on. You may not do, you know, get it in the diary that's Booker, and now let's make sure it happens because I know in my business, if something isn't the diary, I know it doesn't happen for a productivity point of view. Same with things that you keep saying, Oh, we must do that. We must do that. Well, actually, let's get a date in the diary. Let's get it booked in. Otherwise it's not going to happen. So that's the kind of like messaging without going down to that nitty gritty level in terms of my personal story around that.
(17:41):
But that's the kind of messaging we're looking at and that helps people to realize that actually now is a good time to Burke actually now is a good time to be thinking about it. And actually for our mental health, having something in the diary helps us to really look forward to something and keeps us moving forward, even when we can't right now. So people are still buying, just got to find the right messaging. Now this is where I kind of empathize with those of you who have kids. So, you know, my reason number five, you know it's difficult. Okay. I do get that. So at the beginning of this podcast, I'll say again, I understand with kids, it's really hard to be working from home with them around and you know, especially for, with parent guilt, making sure that you feel that your child is nurtured homeschooled, that they're happy.
(18:29):
You know, I'm not going to pretend that I've got the most perfect, you know, lockdown life right now. I'm lucky I've got somebody in to help look after LA, but that, you know, I don't think there's always going to be there. It's certainly, wasn't always there in the, the first lockdown. And I do remember my daughter sort of hanging around my work desk saying, mommy, when are you going to be finished and crying? And you know, she suffered, I know there are some of you out there with real little ones and, you know, it's difficult to find to catch time here and there. I do get that, you know, some of my clients at the moment are waking up at five o'clock in the morning to get stuff done before the kids wake up falling asleep at nine o'clock at night, they're doing what they need.
(19:10):
So the first thing I want to say is throw yourself a bone and give yourself a break. It is hard and it's tough and we need to stop pretending like we're Superman, superwoman, whoever you are, whatever gender, right. We need to start simplifying what we're doing. And so what we need to do is actually work out. What you need to do is an absolute must to get the biggest results and then throw yourself about, okay, remember that the majority of your success comes from 20% of the output. So what we need to do is identify the 20%, most effective output and focus there. Okay. During the last lockdown I became the most productive I've ever been. Okay. Less time does that. We spend a lot of time making life harder for ourselves and busying ourselves with things. Actually, we don't really need to be doing, it's not going to get us the biggest results.
(20:03):
So it's time to free yourself from being busy for the sake of being busy and actually start looking at what it is, what are those key things are going to move the needle that I need to be doing. You know, it's always the same. If you look across everything that this 80 20 rule works across the board. And it's not about like doing a lot of people, look at the 80 20 and go, okay, well, I'll lead you 20% of work. It's not about how much you're doing. It's about what you are doing. And we talked about this. I did I've been trying out clubhouse guys. I don't know whether you guys are in clubhouse. If you are, feel free to follow me, don't know whether I'm going to carry on with it, but we'll see. It's a lot of fun, a lot of fun.
(20:43):
It's just a big time suck. So we'll see, we'll see whether it works out for me, or, but time will tell over. I did run a room the other day and we were talking about productivity and things like that. And the topic of conversation turned in terms of, you know, what you're planning for the next day and things like that. And we start with this running conversation about planners and how some of them have that kind of like that end do this. Like if you end, if that, that thing ends up being on your like move list every single day, after a certain amount of days, it just comes off the list. Like it's not important. Now I have a slightly different view on that. You know, I I'd like you to have a look if you have one of these planners or a system like that way, you put it on that list.
(21:31):
If it keeps getting bumped to the next day, the next day that you cut it off, have a look at that list because actually a lot of the time we put on that list, things that are going to move the needle, but yet they're scary. And so we don't do them or they take the most efforts or whatever, and we don't end up doing them. But actually if we took them off that list and actually made them a priority, we actually ate the frog and did the thing. It would create a big results. So before we start cutting things off that bump list actually looked at your bump list and go, what have I been saying? I was meant to be doing like, look at 2020. What have you said that you were going to do all year? You know, we did a whole whole episode around this the other day.
(22:10):
You know, what did you say you can do all year that you didn't do that you knew would have given you the most impact, the most progress? What is it have a look at that list to just make sure that you're doing the things, the right things that are going to help you move forward. You know, during this time where there perhaps is a limited time threshold and, you know, grab time when you can and give yourself a break you know don't, don't kick yourself over too much screen time. You know, we've all got to do what we gotta do to get through this. You know, it's not ideal, it's not the ideal situation, but our kids will be fine. We just got to make sure that they're happy. But that doesn't mean that you have to down tools entirely on your business because there are things that you can be doing, but it doesn't take up every hour of your day and that can be done in short spaces of time that can still help you move forward.
(23:08):
Okay. So don't give up, don't give up guys hanging out, hang on in that I've got your back and I'm sending you massive hogs because regardless of anything that I've said on this podcast, we're all finding it a bit tough. Right. so yeah, let's not pretend it's all, it's all rosy, but there are positives and there are ways around it and it can, it can be done. We've just got to give ourselves a bit of, bit of self-love and move forward as best as best we possibly can. So any who that's the end of this podcast? I just want to say, don't forget to download either there's the, sorry. If I can spit it out. I won't, I do edit this out the seven figure, right. Market-Leading roadmap, as I said at the very beginning. And certainly make sure that you check out the link in regards to booking in to the next session of the evolve and elevate strategy session, where I talk about how we went about making and securing that amount of money during the two week period of that first lockdown at 1.5 million.
(24:11):
I talked about how we achieved that. And I also show you how you can take those steps that the work for your business. Don't just, you know, give you the ins and outs of that one particular strategy, because, you know, we've got to work across the board. So I, you know, I work with clients all of the time, helping them with this step. So I'm going to show you those steps in that strategy session. So if you are interested, do you make sure you go and click the link and book into the next one? Again, I always say I haven't done one of these for a few months now. They pop up periodically when I feel the, feel the need. So don't rely on another one be happening anytime soon, make sure you grab your spot now so that you can start making traction and getting that going for, you know, within as soon as possible in 2021. So you can start looking at what steps is that you need to start taking. So then that's me, that's me done have a wonderful week and I will catch you in the next episode.

About the author 

Jennifer Hall

Jen Hall is Business Clarity Coach for Coaches, Consultants & Experts who want to become Unrivalled Go-To Experts.

Jen not only gets you clear on your micro-niche, message and what makes you unique and desirable, but she helps you to define what makes you an irrefutable offer to the market so you can position yourself as a high-end 'must have' option for your prospects.

She is a Multi-Award Winning Speaker and Best Selling Author of Expert Unrivalled.

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