How are you managing? We know it’s hard at the moment, for everybody, as a lot of our clients are feeling the pinch. We’re still working through, even in some cases without the prospect of being paid, because we know we’ll all come out of the other side one way or another, and if things have been ticking over for our clients, it’ll make it a lot easier for them to pick up the reins again. Then there’s the other aspect for the ones who’ve been forced to stop working – not knowing what to do with yourself, not being able to plan anything, financial and mental stress, and not even knowing when we’ll all get back to normal.
It’s interesting to note that when there’s a common issue, we all tend to pull together. There are some parasitic types who just view times like these as an opportunity to make money, regardless of how much pain they inflict, but on the whole, people are pretty cool. I’ve had several interesting chats whilst standing in supermarket queues. As may be expected, these chats have been mainly lockdown based, but it’s also been an eyeopener of how other people are coping. There have also been a few surprises regarding who’s still working and what they’re doing. Understandably, people are still fully employed in the health sector. There are supermarkets, suppliers, and deliverers. There are also utility workers still out there making sure the infrastructure keeps working as it should. I found out that broadband engineers are on mandatory overtime keeping our internet services going, which is also regarded as an essential service. Thousands of people are volunteering, either because they’re bored, desperately feel the need to help out, or are gaining satisfaction and pride from what they’re giving back. Whomever you are and whatever it is that you’re doing, we applaud you. Thank you and well done.
I’m lucky that I’m able to carry on almost unhindered, as my work necessitates me sitting in front of a PC anyway, but I can see how easily it could get people down if they allowed it. I’m really busy each day with my work, exercise and phoning friends and family to make sure they’re all well and keeping sane. One thing we have noticed over the past couple of weeks is that social media has really ramped up. It seems that everyone’s on there looking to stave off boredom. The savvy ones amongst you have already realised that using this medium is pretty much the only outlet we’ve got at the moment to promote our business and make people aware of what we do and what we’re going to do when all this clears up and we try to get back to normal. While things aren’t normal though, and if you have some extra time to do some thinking and planning, why not try to get up to speed with your social media? I had a chat with my cousin this morning about his stamp business. He’s trying to push his eBay store through Facebook and Twitter but finds it difficult to get his head around the finer points. Luckily he knows he can ring me anytime, and he’s racing along now. We’re quite happy to have a chat with you to help you if you’re struggling. And you can always give us a call to discuss your particular needs. If you decide that you have a project that you want to get off the ground, this is probably a perfect time to start the planning. It’d be great if we could all actually get some good to come out of this situation, wouldn’t it?