6 Steps to Pivot with Confidence
Published April 2020
Well, when we said life hands you lemons, we definitely didn’t mean a global pandemic.
Undoubtedly, like all businesses during this time of uncertainty, Make Lemonade is traveling into uncharted waters.
As the world shifts every day, we’re reminded that nothing is permanent, not even a global lockdown.
Temporarily closing our doors was the safe solution. We had two options to move forward:
Let this massive ‘curve lemon’ take us down
Step into action and pivot
That answer was obvious too. We had to make lemonade.
We simply asked ourselves: how can we still show up for our community?
Taking note of what our favorite small businesses were doing, sharing our story with Katy Prince, the #imakealiving gang at Freshbooks, and our online community, we have some lessons to share, so you too can pivot with confidence.
1. NEW PROBLEM, SAME CUSTOMER
Think about what your business was doing before this pandemic. What role did you play in your communities’ lives? How you supported before, is how you can now, with a twist.
Good Space was serving unique yoga classes to its community in person, now they teach online experiences.
General Assembly was providing high-quality pies, now they are serving customers at home through Build Your Own Pizza Kits or Frozen Pizzas.
Anice Jewellery offered custom on the spot jewelry in their beautiful shop, now, they are teaching “jewel from home” online workshops.
At Make Lemonade, we now offer Virtual Coworking so women can establish a work from home routine, connect with likeminded people and stay committed to their goals.
2. WHAT ARE YOU REALLY SAYING?
Every situation can be looked at from different perspectives. Are you going to take action and ‘make lemonade’? Determine how you/your brand are going to show up during this time and what message and point of view you’ll share. Create an internal guideline detailing how you’ll share with your community and stay consistent.
At Make Lemonade:
We decided to exclude the words Covid-19 or Coronavirus from our communications. Everyone knows what is happening, and, we too, feel our shoulders tense up when the 37th email slides in our inbox with the subject “How xx is moving through Covid-19.”
We designated ourselves as the ‘Good Vibes Specialists’ by bringing a ‘dose of sunshine’ to our community every time we communicated. Happy news, fun memes and awesome playlists for our Virtual Coworking sessions.
Our message and our mission would remain the same. It’s our mission to make everyone feel like a boss, and that’s still what we’ll do...just virtually!
3. SHOUT FROM THE ROOFTOPS!
Whatever you did before, keep doing it. There is no rule book and no ‘right’ way to share your message during this time because only you know your community best. Have empathy for your ideal customer, speak truthfully about your point of view, and speak from the heart. Hump Day Magic still goes out every Wednesday and we continue to show up on Instagram regularly. Keep the conversation open, continue the dialogue, and remember, it’s okay to fumble your way through - we’ve never been through this before!
4. RIP THE BANDAID OFF
As soon as we closed our doors (for time being), we started offering Free Virtual Coworking, without hesitation. Instead of overthinking, we took inspired action. This offer was a way to connect with our community, show our support, and keep ourselves accountable to one thing, while our business was changing before our eyes.
5. GO ON, ASK FOR IT!
How can you know if what you’re offering is actually making an impact if you don’t ask? This is so key to determine how your experience is really doing and understanding what your ideal customer needs.
For 3 weeks, we offered Free Virtual Coworking every day and asked for feedback after every single call. Based on what we were learning from the community, we were able to launch The Virtual Membership with confidence knowing that our offer was exactly what our community needed.
Asking for feedback can feel vulnerable, but it’s the best way to serve valuable content. As Katy Prince says, listeners are the best copywriters.
6. FEEL YOUR EMOTIONS
Ever heard ‘you can’t pour from an empty cup’? First and foremost; check-in with yourself. It’s okay to feel exactly how you need to feel. Sometimes that may mean crying, dancing it out to a good tune, or having a ‘no zoom calls’ day. We are all going through this emotional rollercoaster together, and every day will be different. That’s okay.
