Well, the heading is self-explanatory to what I am writing about here. The COVID-19 pandemic has changed the lives of many people forever. Businesses have shut down, and the economy has seen a downfall. Large companies could still manage to survive, but this pandemic has hit start-ups hard.
My start-up business was no different. In fact, during the first phase of lockdown, I almost lost my business as we were not prepared to shut down completely. I had immigrated to Canada a few years back and started a small start-up from my garage. My business was not that big, and what started as a side hustle became a full-time job. I have to give credit to immigration.ca reviews that helped me live and work in Canada. But the pandemic seemed like a time when all the hard work could go down the drain. A few quick changes helped me keep my business afloat, which I have described below.
1. Being Transparent with Employees:
Well, if the future seemed unsure for me, my employees also felt the same. The fear of losing their jobs during such a difficult time made them anxious. I did not want to lose my best workers when my business was already not doing so well. I made it a point to involve my employees in certain decision-making. This made them feel involved in the company more, and most of them made it a point to help me sail through tough times.
2. The Promise of a Better Future:
While I had to cut off various employee benefits as I could just not afford it, I still wanted my employees’ best interest. Promising them compensation for whatever monetary loss they had to incur helped motivate them to save the company and stay put with my business.
3. Offering Employees Work Flexibility:
Apart from office life, I had to understand that my employees’ personal lives must have become tough as well. I had to show compassion when they needed time out from work. Offering them flexibility made sure that my employees work with double productivity at the job.
4. Using Cloud:
While work from home, the most difficult part is data sharing and storage by the team. Using the cloud to do that was an investment that I never regretted as it made the entire workflow smooth, hence saving time. And we all know the saying- “Time is money”.
5. Cutting Expenditures:
This goes without saying that there was a cash flow issue, which only means I had to cut expenditures like cost reduction in utility use, pay employees 70% of their salary for a few months, and not hire temporary employees but outsource the job.
In Conclusion:
Well, I would not say we have recovered from the pandemic hit, but at last, I have been successful in keeping the business open till now. Things are picking up slowly, which only indicates better tomorrow. The only mantra which I would like to share here is if you are passionate about your business, just do not give up. Keep trying till the end, and even if the result is not what you wished for, you will not regret it as you tried.