Have you thought about your business plans for coronavirus?
We are hearing a lot in the news about sick leave, self isolation, time off work and travel, but how will your virtual micro business cope with coronavirus?
School shut due coronavirus scare?
Can you work with the children at home? Or do you need to time shift when you work, so you can coincide with them watching their favourite TV programme or being asleep? How much of your work can you do at different times and how much needs to be done at specific times?
Do you have a partner who can share the childcare? If they are ‘self-quarantining’ or working from home can you share the load so each of you can get something done?
What if you or your family catch coronavirus?
You need a different kind of plan if you or your family are actually ill. You won’t have the time or the energy to time shift much work if you or the kids are running a fever. You will need to have a pretty swift plan b to make sure your clients are properly supported.
I am seeing a lot of blogs about whether employees get sick pay when self quarantined but there is no such thing for the self-employed micropreneur. If we are not working we are not earning.
While you can get insurance for longer periods of sick leave at a price, no-one is going to pay you for two weeks or a month of not being able to earn.
We all know how families share bugs around so it is possible it could be weeks before everyone is back to normal if they all take it turns as they usually do.
Get yourself a resilience buddy
Now is a great time to get yourself a resilience buddy – someone already properly contracted for confidentiality (and non poaching) who can help you out when things go wrong. You could be their resilience buddy too.
We all need someone who can step in if disaster strikes. Don’t wait till you are sick – start networking today to find that person and get the proper arrangements in place to hand over work in case of need.
Here’s a link to our downloadable team contracts for the people you need to be a buddy with https://www.koffeeklatch.co.uk/team-hiring/
Will coronavirus affect your clients paying you?
We are already hearing from freelancers directly contracted to work for Chinese or Italian entrepreneurs that their clients are saying they can’t pay them due to the economic slow down caused by the coronavirus.
This is undoubtedly true for those people, but there will also be people taking the opportunity to pay you more slowly anyway.
What’s your plan to get paid on time?
Now is a great time to review your terms of business and make sure you are getting deposits and staged payments wherever possible.
Market for coronavirus remote support
If you are already virtual you are well placed to step in and virtually support businesses with staff off sick or without the technology to work at home.
This could be a great time for a tactfully worded email to some of those old prospects who were hanging around not making a decision.
As the saying goes, it’s an ill wind that blows nobody any good and for some there will be opportunities to grow the business.
Some of those temporary accounts (at a suitable rate) may convert to longer term clients if things go well.
Travel and coronavirus
If you help clients with their travel plans, there is work to be done if travel arrangements need to be changed.
Don’t panic about coronavirus
It is tempting to spend time worrying about it all but once you have got the handwashing thing sorted out, there is not a lot you can do about the spread of the virus unless it comes to you.
Meanwhile you can use the opportunity to create a more resilient business model that will serve you well even if nothing at all happens to you and yours.
Here’s hoping you all remain healthy throughout.
