With the majority of the Australian population in COVID-related lockdowns, it seems impossible to ignore the elephant in the room any longer.
As someone who normally works from home, in some ways the current situation is not that different for me – except that my once peaceful and serene home office has been invaded by a wriggly nine year old boy and a Hunger Games-style battle is on for supremacy of the broadband (in competition with my Zooming husband and teenage daughters).
Oh, and my noise cancelling headphones are on my ears more often than earrings these days.
What are clients doing?
I’m finding clients are reacting in one of three ways and, for my clients, this seems to be based on their flight, fight or freeze instinct, rather than on financial necessity.
Some are bunkering down, putting projects on hold and waiting for the storm to pass.
Others are staring it in the face, and embracing the general lack of distraction (i.e. anything else to do) to move ahead with projects at warp speed.
There is a middle ground: those that are simply approaching business as usual.
All make sense from a self preservation point-of-view but do they make sense from a business point-of-view?
A widening gulf
Personally, I’m throwing myself into work as a way to pass the time. So far, no burnout, but watch this space. It is definitely a risk those following a similar approach should be aware of.
I can completely understand (and make no judgement about) those that are simply finding it too hard to function in an environment unlike anything we’ve ever been prepared for. But I do worry that those businesses may find themselves left behind.
Eventually, (but please don’t ask me when), this, too, will pass. And those businesses that have been able to push on, and push through, are going to come out the other side with new websites, e-books ready to launch, lead magnets and whitepapers set to roll – these are just some of the projects I’ve been working on lately.
They’re likely to take their foot off the pedal once freedom returns, but given their productivity in the lockdown they can probably afford to do so. By contrast, those that have stalled may find it hard to get going again, as they’ll (understandably) want to enjoy the lifting of restrictions, too.
While its origins are debated, you’re probably familiar with the expression “May you live in interesting times”. Personally, I’d rather we weren’t.