7 Lessons from Coronavirus Shutdown for Small Business Owners

I choose to see both sides of a situation like this Coronavirus shutdown that’s happening in Connecticut and surrounding areas right now. All non-essential businesses are closed. We have to homeschool our children and make meals at home. It’s a lot. And it’s definitely far from normal. But there are a few important takeaways I’ve learned during this time. A few lessons we should all remember, especially if we have our own small business that we’re trying to usher through this time.

1. You Should Always Have Emergency Savings

If there’s only one takeaway from this crisis, it’s that you should always have emergency money set aside just in case something unforeseeable happens. Things happen all the time, and it doesn’t have to be a pandemic that shuts down haft the world in order to effect your income. The businesses that don’t have any financial cushion, the ones that are barely profitable and survive month to month on cash flow, are the ones who will have the hardest time recovering from this.

This is a BIG lesson. And don’t beat yourself up if that’s your current situation (as it is for a lot of people), but commit to setting money aside, just in case, in the future. One good thing to do right now is to look over your finances, figure out what your most profitable products or services are, and focus your energy on that when things go back to normal. We tend to impede our income by being all over the place, not charging enough for our work, and not marketing effectively — if you’re doing any of these, this is a great time to review and change your approach/strategy.

Take this time to delve deep, ponder, and rest. Allow your mind to quiet down and find solutions for you instead of panicking, which doesn’t serve anyone. This is the perfect time for quiet reflection and intentional planning.

2. Make the best decisions with the information you have

New developments are happening every day. Right now in Connecticut, all non-essential businesses are not allowed to be open. But this wasn’t the case 3 weeks ago. The worst part is, restrictions were rolled out slowly and gave many people false hope about being able to continue their work (me included). Regret or disappointment over the choices you made in the past based on the information you had do NOT serve you. I personally think I should have been less optimistic, should have rescheduled/cancelled my March sessions sooner, and overall stopped putting everyone around me at risk a few days before I stopped going out. The truth is, we simply didn’t know the facts then and I couldn’t have made that decision without them. It’s best to simply move on. Think ahead and make decisions from this point forward, using the best information you have available, without beating yourself up for things you can’t change in the past.

3. Self-Care isn’t Optional

Taking the time to recover if you get sick, keeping your body strong, and eating nourishing foods have taken center stage as incredibly important. As entrepreneurs, we are constantly working. We rarely take time to rest and we put our bodies through hell in order to achieve whatever latest goal we set our mind to. But our bodies are all we have. With something like Coronavirus, knowing when things are off and being able to stop and rest can be the difference between a speedy recovery.. and not. Don’t work when you’re sick. Give yourself a break. And take care of your body before, during, and after a sickness.. because the alternative simply isn’t worth it. This is the time to invest in self-care. To put your body first and your work second (or third!).

4. Remember WHY You Started Your Business in the First Place

I started my photography business to be there for my children during the week. I wanted to be able to attend school events, chaperone trips, and not have to stress when a sick child needed to stay home (all things that were almost impossible when I worked in a corporate environment). When schools closed because of Coronavirus, I basically had to take over and homeschool both of my children. And to be completely honest, between schooling, cleaning up, and making meals, I have very little time left for anything else (my children are in a unique position of needing constant supervision, unfortunately).

While my business is on hold, I am simply focusing on getting my family through this. And you know what? That is exactly WHY I started this business to begin with! Yes, it’s not ideal to basically have no income for who knows how long, but it also allows me to focus on my family without the fear of my job not being there when everything settles down. It is a privilege to have this ability, and one that many full-time working parents do not have.

5. It’s OK to not be doing anything productive

For the first week of the shutdown, I was sick. I still have no idea if it was Coronavirus (I didn’t qualify for testing with my minor symptoms, but my husband did get tested recently, so we’ll find out soon), but the point is, I couldn’t do ANYTHING. Once my husband got sick, I took over homeschooling, cooking meals, cleaning, and taking care of the family. It’s like having three full-time jobs, all squeezed into one day. I still can manage maybe one cumulative hour of quiet time if I’m lucky, which quite honestly I would rather spend reading or relaxing to recuperate from all the house work (and maybe regain some patience so we can get that writing assignment done).

You have to give yourself permission to be unproductive.

It’s hard enough to stay positive during this time, and if that’s all you can manage right now, that’s amazing! It took me 3 days to write this blog post. I simply don’t have the head space to dedicate to work right now, and that’s OK. I haven’t exercised except for going out into the back yard with a shovel for 15 minutes at a time while the kids run around. It will take time to get any sort of routine established. It will take time to figure out how this will work. And it will take time to get back to working on my business and with my clients. We have to take care of ourselves and our families first (and in that order).

6. Community is Everything

If it wasn’t clear before, having a close community of people who care about each other is everything. Not only do we have to rely on others for grocery shopping, but also for emotional support, homeschooling tips, and straight-up sanity. Our towns are small. We can either spread a virus quickly or put others ahead of ourselves and isolate to make sure our neighbors and friends stay healthy. Nobody is truly a “solopreneur”. We all have people we rely on and customers within our community we absolutely need in order to thrive.

Making sure our clients stay safe and healthy are all that should matter, not money. Yes, it sucks to not be doing any sessions right now. It’s awful and scary to have zero income and not be allowed to work, but the alternative is so much worse. We all have to take care of each other. That is all that matters right now.

7. We Will Survive This

This will all be over at some point. I’ve been growing my business since 2013 and this will be just a small part of that journey in the end. It doesn’t matter where you are in your business venture or how many years you’ve been doing it. Whether you’re just starting out or are an established entrepreneur, it will be fine. You will survive. Your business will survive. And you CAN figure this out. Whether it’s taking out a loan, getting a grant, signing up for unemployment, or borrowing money from family - there are ways to solve any problem when you put your mind to it. Everything will be back to normal soon and we will come out of this with so much more compassion for each other and a much stronger community in the end.

We are all a little scared right now. Mortality is front and center and we all want to keep our loved ones safe and healthy. We will get through this. And we will be closer and stronger than ever when we do.

Please leave a comment below to let me know how you’re doing, if you have anything to add to the takeaways above, or if you just want to say hello! I would love to hear from you.