We all need money.
As business owners, we need to make money (or we won’t be in business).
And, during a pandemic, I believe that those of us with viable businesses have an ethical obligation to do our level best to stay in business and do as much for the economy as possible.
But there’s a difference between making a sufficiency of money and being money-grabbing, expanding furiously to take advantage of a windfall opportunity to serve *and* make a metric crap-ton of money, or preying on the fears of customers
I know that in the conversations I’m having, we’re discussing seeing a LOT of money-grabbing behaviors and fear-based marketing. It seems that the same smarmy sales techniques that converted before the pandemic are still converting, and people are all-too happy to rake in the cash.
We’re also seeing companies that are actually trying to help (Zoom, EveryPlate) all the people who need help, but are doing a poor job of it because they can’t scale fast enough to make it work, and in going for it, anyway, are hurting relationships with customers who have trusted them.
And, we’re seeing people who are trying to continue business as usual without adjusting for our new shared reality (businesses who are still doing events on Zoom without password protecting the meetings, for instance) and the needs of the present moment.
What I believe to my core is that there will be more than a few businesses who are going to land on the wrong side of history when all the pandemic shenanigans are said and done. When people look back at who was helpful and who was not, who gave what they could and who simply took more than was reasonable, and who actually made things more difficult when they didn’t have to, what do you want them to say about you? How do you want what you do next to impact your legacy?
If you’re struggling to find your way in these new times, and you could use help with your brainstorming, wayfinding, and decision-making, both now and beyond now, know that you likely already have the perfect ally for that in the form of your virtual assistant.
If that hasn’t occurred to you, let it occur to you now. And if it hasn’t before, maybe that’s because you’ve never thought of her in this light, or invited her to share her thoughts and what she sees from her perspective. Maybe you’re not letting your sidekick be your sidekick. But that doesn’t mean that the relationship you’ve built is the relationship she wants, or that she’s not watching, or forming opinions and thinking thoughts about what you do and what you might choose to do next.
You can, and should talk with your biz coach, but your coach won’t have the same vantage point that your virtual assistant does. You can, and should certainly talk with your friends, your fam, and your colleagues, but they won’t have the closeness to the inside of the business and your vision for it, without also being too close to you emotionally to help you navigate these in the way a trusted sidekick can.
And, if there was ever a time for you to have a Robin to your Batman, it’s now. And that’s what your virtual assistant has really wanted to be, all along.
Talk with her soon. Have her help you figure this out. I guarantee she’ll have a lot to share if she’s the VA you deserve to have (and if not, what are you doing with her in your life, anyway?). And, maybe a measure of the silver lining in what’s going on in our world will be the impetus for you two to transform your relationship into something far more beautiful and useful to you than what you have now. What a bonus that would be!
