One year into the pandemic, there’s an end in sight, but we’re not quite there yet.

March 14, 2020 is the date I started my lockdown and went under quarantine with my 2 young children. My husband is a frontline worker and still had to work. At the time, this seemed very, very scary to me. We didn’t know if masks would work, how contagious this thing is, how long it would go on for, or anything really.

Let’s back track a little. At the end of 2019, I ran an amazing end of the year promo for my business, Bloom Digital Creatives. I put some ad money into the promo, and the business was finally gaining momentum. I had some big goals for 2020, and I was really happy where everything was headed. Well we all know that saying, make plans and God laughs. March 16, 2020 is the date that I lost 5 clients in one day.

I was in lockdown with a recently turned 4-year-old and a 1-year-old, completely on my own, without any help. So, if I’m being completely honest, a tiny part of me felt some relief that I lost the clients.

However, the rest of me felt sick, distraught, angry, sad, overwhelmed, and all the things. After disappointing phone call after disappointing phone call, I finally snapped and broke down in tears.

I gave myself the rest of that day to cry and feel sorry for myself. The next morning, I woke up, and got myself together. I know it sounds cliché of the pandemic, but I knew I had to pivot.

I heard something on a podcast that really stuck with me. I can’t remember who said it, but it was time to “adapt or die.” I could either give up and throw it all away, or adapt to the new normal and go with the flow. I learned really fast that social media and digital marketing would be more important than ever. EVERYONE was on social media. However, I never wanted to take advantage of a situation and I knew a lot of people, especially business owners, that were not in a good place.

My pivot was to help others that were struggling. I ran a major pandemic discount and within that same week, I gained 2 new clients. Offering social media marketing for $200/month is not ideal and frankly, quite exhausting. I mean, it really is a full-time job and entails a lot of hard work, but my heart told me it was the right thing to do. At this point, I was losing money in my business, but I have zero regrets. I feel so fortunate that I had the opportunity to serve entrepreneurs during these terrible times.

Now, here we are, one year later and I am not sure what to expect. Life as we knew it, is most certainly different. I think we all will proceed with caution as we merge back into “normal” life. We could all live our lives in fear and be cautious that something, like a worldwide pandemic, will crush our business. OR, we can proceed with caution and still take a leap of faith. If you are considering starting a business, I say GO FOR IT! Otherwise, you will live with regrets, and “what ifs”! My take away from all of this, is to follow your dreams and learn how to pivot when necessary.

Share with me in the comments, or shoot me an email, and share your pandemic pivot story. I would love to hear from you: [email protected].