THE UK has only been in lockdown for a matter of days and, already, we’re seeing businesses folding, professional people panicking and thousands of usually sane human beings bulk buying toilet rolls and pasta!
It’s entirely understandable that people are afraid, anxious, and listening far too readily to Bob and Barbara on Facebook — we’ve never seen anything like this before; it’s like some weird mash up of The Walking Dead and Supermarket Sweep.
Social media channels are full of duff advice and, in the wake of people being told to stay indoors, many in the realms of self-employment are going into panic overdrive. That’s not surprising either — we’re already seeing the entertainment and leisure industries being toppled by inaction and a couple of major brands have also followed in the footsteps of Toys R Us and Woolworths.
I’ve spent the past week injecting perspective where possible, advising people to check information on the World Health Organization website instead of following Facebook advice and taking a hot bath.
Drama addiction
What’s been really interesting is the difference in responses between LinkedIn and Facebook. On LinkedIn, people generally embraced a bit of common sense and thanked me for the information. On Facebook, I could feel people getting increasingly irritated at my dampening their drama.
Drama isn’t what we need right now. What we need are level-headed leaders helping people to get some perspective, find some positivity and carry on.
Drama isn’t what we need right now. What we need are level-headed leaders helping people to get some perspective, find some positivity and carry on.
If you run your own business, and if you’ve been using social media to build your personal brand and grow your audience, now is the time to use your influence to help.
When we help others, we help ourselves — not just in terms of the law of attraction, energy returning to us and other elements of #HippyShit I’m so fond of talking about — but in keeping ourselves focused, creating purpose and just doing something more positive than sitting on our backsides and worrying!
There’s a reason so many of us look for the helpers in disaster situations — it shows us there’s some light in the darkness, it gives us hope.
Right now, that could be YOU!
Think outside of the box for a moment. Instead of focusing on lack — or a fear of lack — how can you best serve your customers right now?
Think outside of the box for a moment. Instead of focusing on lack — or a fear of lack — how can you best serve your customers right now?
What about your customers’ customers? Could you be doing something to help them and, by default, supporting your clients at the same time?
What about your community? How can you use your skills, your energy, your common sense, your knowledge, to serve more?
Less self-serving, more selfLESS serving
Now is the time to focus on serving above selling. Do something positive. Support. Lead. The money will come eventually but, at the moment, when people are thinking about tightening their belts, what could you be doing to genuinely create hope and optimism?
If you can do that, if you can lead from the front and use all those social channels you’ve built up to inspire and motivate, the potential rewards will be great.
A) You’ll *feel* good to have been able to help and support — you’ll actually be releasing positive endorphins into your own system, which will help you keep your own head in the game and out of the drama quagmire.
B) You’ll have people singing your praises and building even more loyalty towards you and your brand.
C) When we get back to normal — and we will — you might just find you have new clients lining up to work with you and support you in return.
Your drivers, of course, shouldn’t be purely self-serving — that’s missing the point entirely, but there are certainly some business bonuses likely in the wake of selflessly serving. Less self + more selfless = reward, in whichever way you want to think about that.
What could you do?
In the past week, I’ve created space in my diary for a free coaching/training session for whoever needs it.
I’ll be sharing some of the tools I carry to help people cope with the stresses of the situation, learn how to lead with compassion and empathy and, of course, provide ways they can keep their business brand visible and active throughout the current world crisis.
I’ve had my team create a zoom event, free for up to 100 people, and we’ve been pushing this out across social channels. I’ll be talking about it in my weekly #AwesomeSauce mailing too.
There’s no catch in this for me (well, aside from people registering to join in the call — you could say I’ll be building my list from that action, but that’s not the driver here) — I’m not being paid or even asking for donations, and I’m not using this to upsell to any of my other products; it’s a genuine give back in the hope that I can encourage people to bring their best selves to each new day, even in the face of a global pandemic.
So, I’ve created a FREE event, for up to 100 people, to help support, encourage and allay fears, AND I’ve been using my social channels to bring some common sense and perspective to the table.
I’ve been supporting people individually via email and Whatsapp, as well as through some of the groups I run.
New products
Of course, we can’t survive on thin air, so we do need to be looking after our businesses as well and giving ourselves the best chance through the challenging climate.
As well as free products and regular support through my social channels, I’ve taken on extra coaching clients on my subsidised budget programme, as well as creating a couple of new online coaching and training options — one of which bridges the gap between my budget programme and lowest-level Tracker Coaching options, and one six month personal branding programme that includes plenty of direct support from me, including social sharing, and is payable in bite-sized monthly chunks, instead of the whopping up-front fee so many coaches demand.
Serve first. Sell second. If you can create something to genuinely address a need AND bolster your business at the same time, you’d be remiss not to go for it.
Serve first. Sell second. If you can create something to genuinely address a need AND bolster your business at the same time, you’d be remiss not to go for it.
There is, of course, a caveat here.
Whilst this unprecedented situation does call for us to be far more creative with our thinking when it comes to our business offerings, adopt a more virtual/online approach, we MUST be mindful of not appearing to capitalise on the dreadful losses some have suffered, or surfing on the back of people’s fears.
This situation calls for EVERYONE in business to step up to the plate, flex their style, adjust and adapt, but we have to do that with service, compassion and empathy at the forefront of all that we do.
Stay safe and well, folks. Or, to quote Spock, live long and prosper.
#UnleashYourAwesome,
Taz
x
PS: Wash your hands!
Taz Thornton is the author of Awesome Sauce — a free, weekly positive life and business round-up, with good news stories, positivity tips and visibility hacks for your brand. In a few minutes each week, you get a dose of optimism and some awesome advice to get seen and stay happy.
Taz is a best-selling author, inspirational business speaker and multiple TEDx speaker, consultant on confidence, personal brand and visibility, and an award-winning coach (UK’s Best Female Coach 2018 — Best Business Woman Awards). She is also the creator of the #UnleashYourAwesome and #BrandMastery personal and business development programmes, as well as #UNLEASHED — an affordable confidence, content and cashflow building programme for coaches, healers and therapists, and #LIFEFORCE — an affordable online spiritual empowerment and coaching programme for people wanting to bring more optimism into their lives.
Taz has been featured on BBC, ITV, in HuffPost, Diva, The Daily Mail and countless other newspapers, magazines and podcasts. Taz is also a regular columnist for the America Out Loud talkshow network. In 2019, she was named as one of the most inspirational businesswomen in the UK.
