Nearly 40 percent of small businesses that closed when the pandemic started weren’t optimistic about reopening at the end of 2020. While some changed their view after the announcement of the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act, a significant number of businesses weren’t keen on getting the loan.
With this in mind, it can be challenging to start a new business while the pandemic is still ongoing. But it’s not impossible. For entrepreneurs, it’s just another obstacle for them to overcome. Here are some things you need to consider if you’re planning to start a business during the pandemic.
Aim for Fast Recovery
This is more of a start-up mindset where companies take action whenever they encounter an obstacle. Instead of taking a long time to research, businesses should take action and immediately resolve any issues it encounters. In this situation, a business should identify revenue opportunities and immediately act on these opportunities.
The actions may involve targeted campaigns to reach its target market and win them back. Additionally, the business should also focus on letting customers know that their health and safety are prioritized by the business. The business should also be agile to allow it to adapt to changes in the market. The pandemic caught a lot of businesses flat-footed. This should serve as a lesson not to prepare for any eventualities.
To become an agile organization, a business should adopt a flat organizational structure with clear accountable roles for everyone. Additionally, the resources should be flexible when it comes to their allocation. The focus should also be on performance and the members of the organization should have an entrepreneurial mindset.
Act with Urgency
As indicated earlier, the business should focus on action. This means it should act with urgency when it comes to dealing with changes in the market. For instance, a car-rental business may have suffered due to the pandemic since people weren’t traveling anymore.
Instead of focusing on its losses, the business can target companies that still require their employees to work on-site. Since the employees will likely be asked to avoid public transport, the car-rental business can offer its fleet to transport the employees of the companies from home to work and vice-versa.
The business should anticipate any changes in the market and make the necessary adjustments immediately. Businesses that used to have brick-and-mortar stores immediately shifted to online selling after the lockdowns started. Others shifted to a different market and offered products that were useful in the situation.
The important point here is that businesses should move fast. Instead of strategizing for months, it should create a plan and implement its plan within a week or less. This will allow businesses to deal with the unpredictability of the situation.
Redesign Operations
The operational standards before the pandemic may not be applicable anymore. The pandemic disrupted the global supply chain as countries started to ban the entry of foreign vessels into their borders. This was particularly evident when the pandemic started. This resulted in shortages in products in different markets around the world.
With this in mind, businesses should focus on regional sources for their products. It may affect pricing, particularly when the new source of the products has a higher overhead. But the guarantee of supplies will make up for the price difference. The business will have a steady source of products that will less likely be disrupted by a pandemic with a similar magnitude as the coronavirus pandemic.
New Marketing Mediums
On the marketing side, businesses can consider using other mediums in marketing their products. In the past, the business may have relied heavily on images or videos of real people. But it can try something new such as using animated corporate videos. These types of videos will likely appeal to a younger set of consumers.
Additionally, the business can also increase its online presence by increasing its budget on online marketing. This is in response to the increasing number of people who are shopping online. Increasing social media activity can also help the business increase its share of the market.
Be Proactive
Being proactive is also part of being an agile business. The business should anticipate potential issues before they happen. It should have a Plan B, Plan C, and Plan D when it starts offering its products and services in the market. It shouldn’t rely on its ability to react to changes in the market since this reaction is based on a plan that was already made before the change happened. Thinking ahead also allows the business owner to relax a bit since he knows that the business can cope with the changes in the market when they happen.
Starting a business during a pandemic requires a lot of work. But once everything is ready, the business will have a bigger chance of overcoming any issues it faces in the market.
