I remember watching “Outbreak” and thinking “What would I do if that ever cam to fruition?” I can’t help but feel that this has been looming all along, we just chose not to pay attention…
It’s hard to deal with a situation when you don’t have guidance and you don’t want to overreact or misstep. I recommend paying attention. As business owners, you mitigate risk every day. Hopefully, you also learn from your missteps & mishaps so that you don’t repeat the same thing over & over again (wanting a different outcome and continuing the same behavior – INSANITY)! There are so many things I’ve observed during this pandemic.
- Businesses are waiting for their government to advise them on how best to act on this. That’s the wonderful thing about being a business owner, you make the decisions. Yes, you need to make money, but in the grand scheme of things it’s more important to weigh your long-term vs short-term. Is it more beneficial to do what will keep your business going and sometimes that means taking a step back, closing in the advent of mass sickness, and developing an emergency preparedness plan so that when (not if) something happens you don’t have to think about it while you’re under duress.
- Securing your supply chain if you are a product based business. A good friend of mine owns a juice bar (JuiceBox215) and she told me that in order for her to offer one type of produce, she really should vet at least 15 vendors (which is a process) and then settle on & use regularly at least 4 of them. In the advent one vendor goes down, stops selling her, she doesn’t loose business as a result.
- Recognize that the expertise & direction of your local, state, and federal government can only take you so far. If you wait for them to decide what’s best, you will loose valuable time to do what is needed for you and your organization.
- Health is everything! The health of the organizations that you interact with, how those organizations/vendors care for their employees, how the country that you order from and supplies you with what you need all have direct effects on your business and your way of life! We are no long just the US or just the UK or just Germany – we are a global society! Ans while are lives are affected in different ways on each level – they are nonetheless effected! Pay attention to the health of your business ecosystem, and when you see a change in behavior or an illness that looks like it “could” spread be aware, vigilant, and enact your emergency preparedness plan.
How we are living now, consistent and thorough hand washing, wiping things down, limiting in person contact, sneezing & coughing into our cape (bend of your elbow) as my kids pre-school teachers used to say, not touching your face in public, have virtual meetings & cyber options for school/educational purposes – these are all things that should remain in place for the duration. No longer can we be blind to the possibilities of pandemics. It is our responsibility as global citizens to protect our individual and combined health. What you are doing now in relation to hygiene and social distancing, you should keep doing.