I work from the comfort of my own home and beyond the few contractors I work with on a monthly basis, I do it all by myself. So, it shouldn’t surprise anyone that a business reopening isn’t something I have to personally deal with—we’re open 24/7/365… in my living room.
But there are a ton of businesses that are having to deal with figuring out when and how to reopen. If you haven’t started the process just yet and you’re still trying to figure out what’s best for you and your employees, here are a few things I would think about:
How Does Your Staff Feel About It?
The safety of your staff is paramount to your business. If for some reason, it isn’t for you, you really need to rethink the values of your business. Without the people who do the work, no work gets done. So, when it comes to figuring out whether or not you’re ready to reopen, ask your staff.
Before you start making opening decisions, it’s important to gauge the comfort level of those that you work with. How are they dealing with everything? How comfortable are they with going face-to-face with customers? And, beyond any regulations from health authorities and governments, is there anything else that would make them feel more comfortable while doing their job?
How Do Your Customers Feel About It?
Once you’ve touched base with your staff, it’s worth the effort of seeing how your customers are feeling about reopenings. For some businesses, this is easier than others. If you have a large online brand, try poking around your social media monitoring or simply ask your audience to let you know.
If you have a smaller more distinctive client base as you do in professional services, it’s worth it to ask your individual clients whether or not they think they’d benefit from in-person meetings again. And gaging their comfort level.
Should You Even Bother?
Before you gape at the question, take into consideration that this question is only for those businesses that must exist in the retail world. If the physical world is the only way your business can happen, then the answer is YES, yes you should reopen. But for the rest of us, it’s a great question to ask.
COVID was a quick-and-dirty lesson in running an online business for pretty much everyone out there. If there was any way at all that you could go online, you were trying it. And, it got a lot of people thinking that maybe online is the way of the future.
It is. Seriously.
Running a physical business is expensive. There are a ton of things that factor in like the cost of space, equipment, monthly bills—it all adds up. If you factor that in with the amount that you bring in, your margins could be quite low.
But almost any business has the possibility of moving much of its operations online. Whether you’re a lawyer, accountant, or retailer, there is the opportunity for you to move towards an online model. So, crunch the numbers, what do you see?
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Tae started out as a journalist before following the money into the corporate world. But it turns out that the grass isn’t always greener and now you can find her spending most of her time writing about all the things she loves. Namely, money, travel and business with a hefty dose of self-deprecating humor. She is a podcast fanatic, blogging aficionado and loves to find new ways to turn passions into cold hard cash!
