My Back To Business Strategy

By Lis McDermott,a uthor, copywriting and writing mentor. who lives in Royal Wootton Bassett. Lis has had eight books published with more in the pipeline from business books, to shorts stories, factual to poetry. She now spends her time helping others tell their stories through words.

Summarise how Covid-19 has affected your organisation? 

The virus has meant that during lockdown I’ve focussed solely on my writing. I’ve been able to build up my blogging work, and also my mentoring – working with three people to support them in their writing journey.  

I have also had some time to work on my own poetry and fiction writing. 

I have always worked from home, so from that point of view, things have remained fairly unchanged. Obviously the biggest change is that I haven’t been able to interact with clients, or see my friends.

What has been your plan to continue?  

I aim to build my writing business moving forward, and find more ways I can support other business owners with their writing. I also need to get over my own issues of working online, rather than face to face, (which I much prefer) to see if I can take some of my workshops online. 

How have things changed over the last few months?  

The main change over the last few months is that having also been a photographer, I have not had any photography work.

Many people will have known me over the last few years for my professional photography . I've now made the decision to move away from that completely now and only take images for my personal pleasure. Now is the time to make a clean break and focus purely on professional writing, mentoring those who want to get writing or complete writing their book and ghost writing for those who need that kind of support. 

As lockdown eases what measures have you put in place to get back to business? 

The main difference for me will be when we can meet up with people again. I’m looking forward to that, and if we are able to meet in small numbers, I look forward to the possibility of being able to run small workshops – within the safe distancing guidelines.

What has been the most challenging aspect of all of this? 

The most challenging thing for me has not been able to see business friends and friends.  As I mentioned previously, I work from home anyway, so that hasn’t changed. I haven’t had any other challenges. I don’t have children or elderly relatives to worry about, so just having responsibility for me and my husband has been fine.

What has been the most positive aspect? 

I’m very grateful for the business friends who have supported me, one in particular, and she knows who she is!

I have to say that I have enjoyed the slower pace at times too.

Has it made you consider how you feel about other businesses/suppliers/customers/clients for good or otherwise? 

I’ve tried hard to stay in touch with other business friends, clients and suppliers where possible, and certainly won’t be making any changes in the future.  A lot of people have had a hard time, so to suddenly leave someone now, for me would be feel as though I was being disloyal. 

How important is this phrase to you – ‘buy local, supply local’? 

We live in a community, and to support the local community to you seems the most sensible choice. Why wouldn’t you want to put money back into your local area, where you are supporting jobs and other people’s financial security? 

It is very important to support local businesses at this time.

Even if there are things that I wouldn’t necessarily buy or use, if I see something locally on FB about a business in our community, and I like what I see, I’ll share it.

What are your top tips at this time?  

1. If your business is one where you have to work face to face with clients, keep in touch with them

2. Provide a detailed information sheet about how you will work with them, thinking about their safety; working within social distancing.

3. Make sure any employees you have working from home feel comfortable about coming back to work; be aware of their mental state, and the fact that some may be far more worried about the virus than you are.

How can we buy from you? 

I can support you to write or read and edit words you have written. Alternatively, I can write your blog. 

During lockdown, and during the period where we are coming out of this, I’m charging £25 an hour. You can contact me via my website detailed above. 

Your parting thought? 

We have worked through lockdown successfully, helping and supporting each other. Now we need to move forward, and to do that again, we need to support each other and work together.

For more information visit http://www.LisMcDermottauthor.co.uk