Some people can only dream of running their own business without leaving the house. Those who took the risk and are still running their brand now face unique challenges they never thought they will have to deal with. The pandemic only made things a lot trickier considering your home is also where you and your employees work.
For home-based brand owners, the health and safety of your family, employees, and clients are your main priority. Before, you can work with your staff, meet clients, and can even allow family members to watch while you work. Now, social distancing rules and other health protocols make running a business at home extremely complicated.
You want to give everyone the confidence that your business is following strict COVID–19 protocols. There is a need to find ways to convince both clients and employees that you are doing your best to keep them safe while running the brand. At the same time, you need to make sure your family stays on the side of the house where no employee or clients are allowed.
Now, home-based business owners have to deal with one-of-a-kind issues brought about by the pandemic. How can one cope and ensure your home-based brands manages to thrive during the crisis?
Regular Cleaning and Disinfection
Before the crisis, one can rest for as long as their working space is clean and organized. But now, there is a need to emphasize both cleaning and disinfection as often as possible. This is whether you let clients inside your home when doing business with them or not.
Even if you have a separate building where you and your employees work within your property, it becomes a must that you ensure the area and all high-traffic areas are disinfected as often as possible. Thankfully, cleaning experts make this task a lot less stressful.
Whether you need daily disinfection or regular cleaning, expert cleaners can give you peace of mind that your home-based business workspace is kept clean and disinfected. Since this still your business, it pays to find professionals who are full-insured. This way, you can be sure that if anything happens, your business is well protected.
Take Your Home-based Business Online
Different home-based businesses offer varying products and services. Whichever offers you might have, you can reach more customers and improve conversions by taking your business online. You can still continue with offline marketing to match your online efforts.
For instance, you offer music lessons to kids at home. Instead of simply relying on referrals, start optimizing your blog and market your business on social media. List your business in different online directories and claim your business on the web.
It also makes sense to start offering virtual services and product deliveries. This way, you can compete with other similar businesses. You get to bring your offers closer to your target consumers who are unable to go out because of the current situation.
Taking your business online is another way to ease the tension between you, your neighbors, and your homeowners’ association. Some people and HOAs are concerned about non-residents going in and out of the neighborhood. Selling your offers online reduces foot traffic and can help you increase your sales.
Owner and Employee Self-Care
Now that we are facing a pandemic, it is critical that home-based business owners and their employees make enough time for self-care. The crisis caused anxiety and stress levels to rise. Taking better care of yourself and your employees will make running and managing a business a lot more manageable.
Make sure you get enough rest, exercise, and sleep and that you invest in healthy meals. Encourage employees to do the same. You can also do something nice for them by providing healthy groceries and vitamins for them and their family to take.
Maintain social relationships using online channels. Keep tabs on your loved ones who live miles away, especially seniors and those who live alone. Find other ways you can retain sick and vulnerable employees to reduce their financial stress.
Encourage sick employees and those who got exposed to COVID-19 positive patients to quarantine and rest. Have a strict protocol and use the guidelines released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Remember that one’s health and safety are your number one priority during the crisis.
It is never easy running a brand during a pandemic. This becomes a more complicated task when your business is located at home. You may face new challenges that were never even present before the pandemic caused havoc in the world. But by keeping this list in mind, you can better protect your brand and your people under the new normal.
