There is going to be a lot to learn during this season as we navigate the pandemic of COVID19. I realized I have to approach this as a completely new student. If you still think you know you will try and do what you have always done. React as you always have.
But this has never happened before so what you know may not work. Our 2020 financial plans may have gone out the window. As an entrepreneur, you are leading a group of people who are facing new emotions and work environments. Your job if employed is actually not exactly the same anymore – whether you realize it or not.
You can be the most educated CEO of the biggest company but your normal mindset is not going to cut it. Your ability to be human, think differently and adapt is what is going to get all of us through this. My team and I are determined to help you navigate this even as we ourselves learn.
What we know this week may be different from what we know next week so please make sure you are subscribed to our YouTube channel – Centonomy101. You can also follow and reach me via Facebook on Waceke Nduati; Twitter @cekenduati and Instagram as cekenduati_.
So, let’s get started. This is how it began for me. I had a meeting at Kasuku Centre last Friday (13th March) in the morning. It ended at about 11 and as I was getting to my car, I started noticing people coming into the small supermarket there. I looked at my phone and discovered that Kenya now had one confirmed case of COVID. My immediate thought – so black people can get it?
I entered the shop and picked up toilet paper like everybody else. Please note at that point, I could have bought a hand sanitizer which would have been the practical thing to do. It was still available. But I just went with the crowd. By lunchtime, it had sunk in deeper and by then there was no hand sanitizer anywhere.
Over the weekend I just hoped it would be this one case (denial) but when then on Sunday (15th March) the president spoke. I froze for three hours and then accepted the reality. Over the last couple of days which has been about witnessing my own fears and thoughts, listening to people, my students, my team and re-inventing; I have concluded that three things will be in play as we navigate this; Fear, Caution, and Adaptability.
Let’s look at how these three things play out with examples of your money, business, and job which is top of mind right now. Many of these points will become separate articles or videos by themselves shortly but I wanted us to lay the groundwork today so excuse the long blog for today.
Fear
The panic buying (like me with the toilet paper) we have witnessed is definitely fear. Fear can also just show up in denial. You could be spending money like nothing has happened. That denial can make you decide to buy a new pair of shoes to get a temporary good feeling, increase your entertainment spending, etc. as you look for that escape.
That denial can make you discount what we are being told to do e.g. social distancing because you are ‘hoping’ things go back to normal so you act as if it is normal. But ready or not change has come. Fear as a business owner can make you start writing immediate redundancy letters to your employees without processing it through or being resistant to people working from home.
Fear could also make you think you are going to lose your job without fact. Maybe your employer is not even considering it but you start behaving fearfully which is then the thing that puts your job in danger. Fear is dangerous and it is unfortunately what spreads fastest.
There are many articles about job losses but not about the brave things people are doing to weather the storm. Take a breath is my advice before you rush and do anything because your primary response is most likely fear. Because it is so so so noisy you do have to intentionally take control and expose your mind to a different kind of information. Treat fear as a thief in the house. To know the right thing to do you have to kick them out.
Caution
We have a hard time differentiating between caution and fear. Whilst fear is destructive, caution in these times is necessary, practical and builds on facts. For example, caution makes you stay home as much as possible and wash your hands as we have been directed based on information. It makes you buy hand sanitizer not panic buy toilet paper when in a supermarket.
Caution will make you relook at your budget and cut out what may not be necessary or important. Whether it is your business money or personal we all have to make our shilling stretch. Whilst fear is about hoarding, caution is about adjustment.
You can also adjust usage in your house. Caution will make you want to have several months of cash cover for your necessities. I have written and taught about emergency funds for a while and the importance of this is now clear. Caution does not mean inhuman. In fact, we are being called to be our brother’s keeper right now.
Caution makes you want to have a few weeks of supplies in the house -not panic buying like supermarkets will cease to exist. Though you may have the resources to do so please remember others need supplies too. Don’t send your househelp away without pay whilst you continue to earn an income. That’s just selfish and a contribution to the problem.
Instead of listening to the fear that immediately tells you to let go of employees (what we have always thought we should do), look at how to spread your cash. The wisdom of humanity shows that more unemployed people will not help. Big profitable companies have no business talking about job cuts at this time just to maintain profitability. If you are profitable at any level, take up social responsibility and keep people in jobs.
Your shareholders will live. Yes, many businesses will be affected and may have to make hard choices when the maths simply doesn’t work. But before that look at alternatives – especially to keep the right people! You may have a month or two (more for larger companies) of cashflow or business reserves.
You may firstly seek options like restructuring loans with the bank, negotiating with the landlord or even doing partial salary payments if it gets to that. As an employed person, you may have the flexi-time you have always craved. Use it wisely and keep providing value.
Adaptability
Adaptability is all about doing something differently to move forward. Willingness to look at the opportunity that may be on the other side of what you were used to. On Friday whilst I was in denial, Centonomy was a training business with a traditional office set up.
Today we are running online classes and the entire team is working remotely. Your job may be unavoidably at stake, but it doesn’t mean you sit playing victim. Maybe it is time to start that business from your home to earn extra money. Also reach out to your boss.
Nobody knows anything so if you have an idea about how to help the business put your hand up instead of waiting for your employer to think about everything themselves. If there was ever a time to stand out, it is now! This is what might get you a promotion down the line and in the meantime avoid being top of mind for job cuts.
The immediate opportunities may not look the same as they did weeks ago but the opportunity is still there. If you have an existing business, can you re-invent? It may be something different but your experiences to date are never wasted. Can the same people who you thought you should let go of actually be the ones to help you do this?
Caution tells us to have some safety money and watch the developments but don’t be blind to the great investment opportunities at low prices that may be available during this period. So, lets us do our best to not operate from a place of fear.
Let’s take the necessary precautions around our money, businesses, jobs but it would be a shame to go through this without having discovered the lesson or opportunities that exist on the other side. The people we can become and lives we can lead. That’s what I am here to do. Stay tuned for deeper conversations.
Article Written by Waceke Nduati (Entrepreneurship Coach, Author, Founder – Centonomy Ltd).
Waceke’s book Making Cents is now on sale at selected bookstores and also available to order on 0715085777. For queries on speaking engagements and training programs (which are now online) get in touch through waceke@centonomy.com