Whilst the last few months have not been easy; the pandemic has certainly been the time for newfound resilience and adaptability for many businesses. I have reached out to our Twitter community to ask business owners what the one key business lesson was they learned during lockdown and I was overwhelmed and truly inspired by the responses received. 

Here are the key business lessons, as shared by business owners who successfully managed their response to the pandemic:

1.     Adapt to Survive

“I've learned that, as Darwin put it, it's not survival of the fittest, but those that survived were the ones that adapted quickly. Adaptation to the climate and being flexible in that was a big lesson. I've seen big businesses fail, but the ones that survived were better at adapting - often smaller businesses too.”, says Gin Lalli.

“You must be ready to adapt to the times or risk going bust, and at the very least have an online presence”, agrees Lorelle Brownlee of Lovely Pack.

Adaptability has also been the response of Maid of Gingerbread “My lesson has been to cover more bases and not to rely on seasonality. I was previously just B2B but have pivoted to create new products for direct B2C and I’m setting up a membership to try to create a more predictable, stable, less seasonal income.”

The team at Look Look seconds the need to adapt. “The one thing we learned was to be nimble and to anticipate upcoming opportunities before the consumer asked for them.  As business owners I think we always look for a rule book and to redesign some version of a strategy that has worked before, but sometimes you just need to forge forward into new territory.  We are a photo experience agency who work in events so we knew our industry was hit hard and would take a while to return.  As part of this though we had a COVID innovation and developed a touch-free photobooth that we anticipated out client base would be interested in, so they can keep their guests safe.”

Tasha, owner of Styles of Soki shares: “The biggest key learning during this period is adaptability. Having started off sourcing and selling bags this was no longer a need during this time. For a small business that had only been trading a year before Covid hit, this had a great impact on sales and the potential to continue. Rather than waiting around for when this may or may not pass, I quickly realised I needed to pivot and adapt my business, which is when I began introducing handmade items and most needed at the time were facemasks. This handmade collection has now grown to include other items and has brought in a growth in sales.”

2.     Remember we are all human

“It's ok to be human, and clients actually appreciate it. I think there's a tendency, especially when working in the luxury market, to be 100% the professional at all times. But we've found that our clients really do care about us on a human level too and that it's ok to discuss how the pandemic has been affecting us personally and professionally. Situations like this seem to make companies' values truly shine through. We've found that so many of our colleagues in the industry are such incredibly kind and generous people - which of course we already knew, but this has really exposed people's true colours (in the best of ways).”, shares India Bottomley of Best Events Company.

Steph at Soul Analyse learned that gaining a human connection with customers is paramount: “If Covid-19 has taught me anything it's that we are all human, and it's this very fact that can unite a business with its customers. If we are to create deep and meaningful relationships with our customers, we must make them feel acknowledged. We can do this by getting personal with them; hearing their struggles, alleviating some of their stress and showing them that they are not just a number.”

Being human doesn’t just apply in relation to customers. Taking care of people will help to take care of business. "Never assume you know how your team is feeling or responding to a crisis, nor the level of support needed. In the absence of face-to-face interactions, we leaned into a lot more communication and tons of polling to get the temperature of the team - which, it turns out, can change daily during times of uncertainty. This resulted in us also introducing new employee benefits such as paying for wellness platforms and meditation app subscriptions.”, says Kenny Alegbe, CEO at HomeHero.

According to Find Your Flex keeping lines of communication open is key to the health of the team. They all work remotely and learned that for mental health, they needed to know their team are behind them. 

3.     Benefit from remote work

Suzanne Noble of Silver Sharers learned that she is more productive when not being pulled away from her desk to attend in-person meetings that can, almost without exception, be done over Zoom or similar.

“I have learnt to be far more productive by using Zoom for meetings rather than spending a day traveling. It's given me the time to focus on important business growth, like revamping our website which has seen an 815% increase in lockdown!” agrees the founder of Bay's Kitchen.

“I am a mum of 5 and CEO of two businesses that I now run fully from home. I was office-based before the pandemic and my outgoings were huge. The pandemic forced me to work solely from home and I have absolutely loved it. I am much better off financially and my children are much happier with me home so much more.”, adds Claire Roach of Money Saving Central.

4.     Don’t put all your eggs in one basket

Hannah-Beth, owner of The Little Surprises Company thinks that you need to have lots of different sources of income, so that if things change and your main source is no longer possible, you can pivot to rely more heavily on the others: “We organise handpicked surprise experiences and they are all based in London.  With London being closed for Lockdown, we are now offering Virtual little Surprises.  As lockdown starts to lift, less people are wanting to do things online and so our third income stream of hosting corporate events is becoming more important.  I think if you can spread yourself across a few different areas, it means you are more able to change your course if there is a change in market/circumstances.”

Laura Summerhayes of Great Copy Matters shares: “The biggest lesson the pandemic has taught me is the huge advantage of diverse revenue streams. Relying on one big client or one key sector is risky. If something out of your control happens, having eggs in different baskets means that there will at least still be some revenue coming in, even if one area is impacted.” 

5.     Look for opportunities

“I caught Covid back in March. Intubated, ventilated, coma for 6 days. Before falling sick, I had been researching the art of better conversations and how learning the skills to have them can improve our lives, mentally and physically. It was a side project to my voice over work at Channel 4 television. During my 12 days in hospital, I realised that my side project had to become my career. The conversations I was having from my hospital bed were going to the core of my recovery. There and then it crystallised. During the conversation I had with my family prior to going into my coma, I had to source all of my learnings to make it bearable for me and for them. Person centered conversations with consultants and nurses, and calming conversations with myself aided my recovery as much as modern medicine.

Once I got some strength back, I set up my own company, wrote and delivered a series of programmes around personal development with better conversations at their core. Only this week the NHS have been in touch -they want me to speak at their annual conference in September, to talk about my experience and how conversations between consultants and patients, consultants themselves, consultants and nurses are as important to recovery as modern medicine. It's been a journey and if I could meet Covid, I think I'd thank him!” comments Conversation Expert Barra Fitzgibbon, sharing his inspiring journey.

Caroline Haegeman, Co-Founder of Box 42 adds "Look for the opportunity in everything. Adversity brings untold opportunities for innovation and disruption; you just need to find them!”

“I have learnt that in every crisis, there is opportunity!  As a single parent with two young children, I was wondering how I would stay sane during lockdown, however, I became intentional about seeking out the opportunities that presented themselves during this time.  As a result, I was inspired to write a book, launch an online masterclass, host virtual workshops and offer both group and 1:1 coaching packages.  As a result of having the guts to take action and focus on the possibilities, I have successfully launched a viable business during a pandemic that is bringing hope, empowerment and inspiration to people who were once stuck, just like me!”, adds Naomi Empowers

6.     Plan ahead

“I have learned the importance of detailed planning and boundaries to help create time for the things that matter”, shares Lucy Joy.

“My overall business lesson is really a business macro theme - strategise and stress test your business at least once a year. You don't even have to be specific about risks as undoubtedly, there'll also be a curve ball that you are unable to foresee. Keep it high level, revenues are the most obvious stress test, plan for a 50 percent drop, a 25 percent hit and a zero percent no growth environment. Plan for each eventuality and de-risk your business, know your critical staffing levels and non-critical spending that you can stop if necessary. I suspect most businesses will find this process incredibly useful with or without a global health pandemic.”, says Philip Dawson, co-founder and managing director of Lily Arkwright.

Christian Azolan also believes it’s important to plan ahead and be flexible: “Focus your services, product, or experience to be online, that way it should be ready to stay running if we get a second or third COVID spike. I changed my website so the buying and online experience were much better as i could not reply on shops and the high street to sell my goods as they were closed.”

“My one lesson I would share is to make sure that any new initiative that is related to your business model is one that is sustainable in the long term and can become an intrinsic and complimentary branch of your business. We had to switch our events program online, something which we should have been doing anyway at our in-person events.  We also wanted to make sure we could give our customers a similar way to experience and test products before buying them so launched a postal sample service which has been a real hit. Both elements now are key parts of our model but will continue to be so as we come out of the pandemic.”, says Karen of Blooma Beauty.

 7.     Communicate

“Clearly communicating with your customers and audience is more important than ever. Having a strong digital presence is not a nice-to-have it's a must-have”, believes Claire Winter.

Simon Roderick, MD at Fram Search has learned that communication with colleagues during this time has been more key than ever.  Francesca Baker agrees: “My business lesson in lockdown is how important it is to communicate with clients. With everyone loving Zoom calls I've realised the importance of connecting with people and forming those relationships, rather than hiding behind email all of the time.”

For guitar school G4 Guitar Croydon the one key lesson they learnt during the pandemic is the importance of communicating with customers.  Being initially afraid they would lose a lot of students, instead the vast majority of them stayed and are happy with the new online programme. The team attributes this to clear communication early on -  what they were doing, how they were going to do it and what they needed their customers to do. 

Your reputation and brand are also critical, especially in times of unexpected change. “I contracted Covid-19 during lockdown and have been ill with long-tail Covid for 16 weeks.  I dropped off the face of the earth.  I couldn't take orders and at one point I couldn't even respond to enquiries, but I've quickly learned the value of having social proof, a solid reputation, and a brand.  If you've built something memorable, customers will still find you and in a lot of cases, they'll be prepared to wait.”, believes Lucille Whiting of Sophia Alexander.

Barney Durrant of Bluebell Digital has also learned about the importance of communication. “My business lesson out of lockdown would be around the power and value of your network. I used the time when I couldn't visit existing clients or reach out for meetings with potential new clients to communicate with people I know and to reach out to former clients. By trying to help and offer some value to people, then you can build deep connections which will result in new business whether that is via referral or directly. Being prepared to give a little and be generous with your time and expertise can often yield great results.”, shared Barney.