The virus has taken three million lives. Companies shut down. Employees lost their jobs and people went bankrupt.
Add the lockdown to all that and you have the perfect recipe for panic and anguish.
But we deserve better.
And there is always some silver lining—if we look closer.
No doubt. The pandemic changed our world in irreversible ways.
Albeit, we managed to find 10 bright sides of the pandemic you shouldn’t ignore.
Businesses were some of the hardest-hit entities in the pandemic. Some companies disappeared and others carried so much inventory that it threatened their existence.
In the US, for example, the inventory to sales ratio went as high as 1.51 for businesses.
However, this gloom also gave rise to more creative and entrepreneurial endeavors.
1. More People Got Started on Their Dreams
Following the high rate of unemployment during the corona period, a lot of people found the inspiration to work on their agelong dreams and aspirations.
A large number of individuals started focusing on their passion and skills to earn a living.
Also, thousands of online businesses came to life as a result of the lockdown, leading to high demand for freelance services, including:
- Virtual assistants (VAs),
- Graphic designers,
- Accountants,
- Consultants and coaches,
- Tech support,
- Web developers
- Programmers
- Animators
And many others.
Since businesses save a lot of money from using freelancers, they will continue using them for the foreseeable future. For example, VAs save businesses up to 78% of their operating costs.
This trend explains why freelance marketplaces across the globe recorded a surge in remote worker requests.
Similarly, we noticed a boom in website launches during the pandemic.
All content management systems (CMS) gained users, with WordPress taking 64.8% of the market share.
Likewise, the web hosting market is on track to hit $216 billion by 2025.
What does this trend say?
People are starting businesses and taking them online.
In addition, the pandemic left many people with large gaps in their work schedules. This gave a rise to several entrepreneurial opportunities.
2. Social Media Became a Positive Tool for Connecting
For many people, social media was a getaway from the frustration and boredom of the lockdown.
As you’d expect:
Social media welcomed more users than ever.
Snapchat and TikTok experienced 75% and over 83% increase in users, respectively. This boom is good for business, as 90% of Instagram users follow businesses on the platform.
Meanwhile, Facebook users increased by over 8%. For a platform of more than two billion users, 8% represents over 160 million new users.
That’s huge.
Businesses used various social media strategies to engage their customers with their content and close more sales.
You might have seen a lot of catchy headlines on social media lately. That’s because these businesses are vying for the 20% customer engagement they need to justify their social media efforts.
But this doesn’t mean businesses barraged their followers with fluff. Businesses know to be careful as 45% of social media followers will unfollow them if self-promotion dominates their feeds.
On the other hand, paid ads became relatively cheaper, and also, more people were ready to buy from online sellers.
This trend made it possible for several businesses to spend less and maximize their ROI significantly.
3. The Environment Became Healthier
Most industrialized cities and places that are known for poor air quality experienced better air quality, cleaner streets, and very little human movement for the first time in many years.
Vernice recorded cases of clearer water bodies. Ducks and dolphins were seen swimming in the waters.
Thousands of beaches around the world had cleaner environments, clearer waters, and less crowd during the lockdown.
People also averted unnecessary travel and vehicular movements. This led to a tremendous decrease in CO2 emission in the atmosphere, up to 2.3 billion tonnes in 2020 alone.
4. More Businesses Embraced Remote Work
The lockdown and social distancing led more businesses to adopt remote work.
The remote work resulted in increased adoption of tech platforms for meetings, cloud computing, and digital workspaces.
Companies streamlined office operations by integrating multiple business apps through different to ensure a seamless workflow.
In addition, the remote working condition helped companies to cut down costs on office supplies, and utility bills.
Employees seem to like their new working conditions too. One study says that 87% of employees reported that they had a better work-life balance working from home.
5. A Boom In Startups
The pandemic came with a silver lining for startups across the globe. More people embraced the internet of things and became more comfortable with online activities.
Startups across multiple industries came to life, including:
- Edutech
- Entertainment
- Fintech
- Staffing software
- Online dating, and
- Gaming tech platforms experienced a hike.
The internet served as the binding community for most human activities during the lockdown. People depended heavily on technology to work, stay in touch, catch up, get entertained, take courses, or even shop.
The USA alone recorded over 23% increase in startups in 2020 compared to the previous year.
Likewise, some countries recorded higher disbursements of startup loans, including
- Chile
- Turkey and
- the United Kingdom
That trend confirms that businesses are springing up.
Technology became a rallying point, boosting the usage of technology in all sectors. This boom in startups would also lead to increased job opportunities when the pandemic is finally over.
Keep Looking at the Brightside
The lockdown has been lifted in most countries and things are gradually returning to normal. However, the pandemic changed the world and most of these changes may be permanent.
More businesses are happy to keep their employees working from home. That means more parents can spend more time with their children. Creatives who started out on their journeys can keep growing on their path.
Although the pandemic brought with it a great reset, it certainly left us with a silver lining in the end. We already have enough gloom, probably we should look at the bright side and appreciate the blessings that came from the pain.