How COVID Helped Grow Our Consultancy
Hard at Work In The Naked Office Pre Covid

How COVID Helped Grow Our Consultancy

No alt text provided for this image

Back in April, we launched Here to Help - a marketing and communications initiative to help small and medium sized businesses rebound from COVID19. We made available our entire agency and our agency’s capabilities - strategy, advertising, web development, media planning, social media, content production etc. Whatever a business needed help with, we’d try to deliver. We had no idea what to expect.

In just over 45 days, more than 25 entrepreneurs, companies and small businesses reached out for help. Retailers, app developers, restauranteurs, several charities, designers, a retirement residence, a fertility clinic, a host of start ups and more. Some were well known, others unknown. It’s been educational as well as inspiring. As a small business, my team now has a greater understanding of what it means to be an entrepreneur and the 24/7 angst that comes with that. And there is no question we are smarter, better, quicker and more empathetic than ever.

What did we learn? Here are 5 lessons from Here to Help that are important for any small business:

1. If your entire team is on the same page, you’ll kill it. Whether in life, sports or business, the power of a team comes from its singular focus and willingness to do whatever it takes to win. Failure is not an option and no one really likes losing. If you give the right people a common goal and the tools to accomplish that goal they'll rally together and figure out how to conquer it. And people will always be more accountable to each other than they will be to management.

2. Passion is infectious. One leader with a can-do attitude can bring an entire group along to conquer a task. When Here to Help was just a nub of an idea, I got cold feet. Too many resources required, little to no revenue generation in a time when revenue was crucial, fear of no one noticing or taking us up on the initiative and more. So I decided to pull the plug and not go ahead with it. Most of my team just nodded. But one of them took over the conversation. This is an important initiative, he said. We can really help people, he implored. His team would work longer to make it happen. And if all of us got on board we could spread the workload. Everyone felt his passion and he was 100% right.

3. “Never let a crisis go to waste,” said Winston Churchill and after we committed to launching, our agency fully embraced Churchill’s thinking. On our daily agency status calls, everyone wanted to know which small businesses had asked for help? What do they need? How can I help? The entire company became consumed. New leaders emerged, junior account people got thrown into the deep end and began to act & behave like senior managers, roles expanded, creative muscles got flexed and a ton of work got done. COVID19 provided an unprecedented opportunity for personal growth and professional development for every single person at Naked.

4. Entrepreneurs are made not born. Over 90% of businesses in Canada are small businesses. They are the lifeblood of this country. I was blown away by the stories we heard. Small business owners who put their mortgage on the line every day. Who take risks. Who know when to pivot before they have to pivot. And who have the freedom to work 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Which they often do. Think they’re focussed? And willing to work? And try new things? And grateful for help? Yes, yes, yes and yes. Canada's business community is driven by entrepreneurs who literally have no safety net to fall back on. I urge you to remember that when you buy a coffee, a pair of shoes, a meal or anything where you have a choice on where to spend your money.

5. Stay true to your vision. When the impact of COVID hit, our management team established one goal: do everything possible to hang on to the people that got us here. In our 20+ years of operation we had assembled our best team ever - talented, humble, hard working, dedicated and just plain good folks. While speaking with a friend - the CEO of a major public company - he implored me to ‘cut people, reduce costs, do whatever it takes to still make a profit’. Here to Help is by no means a profitable exercise for us. But it kept us busy, it allowed us to try some things that we might not otherwise try, our creative people got to work in new categories and it allowed some of our junior people to stretch into roles and responsibilities that were above their pay grade. This investment has made us stronger and better for the long run.

The effects of COVID19 will be felt forever. But there are great lessons to be learned and new opportunities that will emerge from the time we are in. 

Takeaway: CEOs of major public companies .... Outstanding initiative and lessons Peter and Naked

回复
Paul Alofs

Author - "Passion Capital". Board Member - The Terry Fox Foundation. Former CEO - The Princess Margaret Cancer Foundation. Former HMV; BMG; Disney; MP3. Honourary LL.D + PhD

4 年

Way to go Naked + Peter + team. Passion Capital at work!!!! Well done.

Robert Laplante

We build bold and beautiful brands. Then we help grow them.

4 年

Thank you for sharing. This is a great story. Congrats.

回复

nice to see that space so full!

回复
Chris Cathcart

Owner - assist communication

4 年

Peter, well done, nice to read this - I'm sure it made a difference to many and as you mention the Naked Team as well. Some V& B inspiration in there too! The office looks great by the way and good inspiration for the end of the this time - soon.

要查看或添加评论,请登录

Peter Shier的更多文章

  • No Headshots. No Excuses

    No Headshots. No Excuses

    Hockey is killing its players. And the NHL can no longer stand by.

    58 条评论
  • Have Another Toke.

    Have Another Toke.

    Think Legal Cannabis Will Squash The Black Market? Think Again. The Office of the Parliamentary Budget Officer…

    2 条评论
  • Stop Comparing Cannabis to Alcohol and Tobacco...and Other Thoughts.

    Stop Comparing Cannabis to Alcohol and Tobacco...and Other Thoughts.

    In business planning, scenarios get played out under the construct of Start, Stop and Continue. That is, what do we…

    1 条评论
  • Hockey like you've never seen it before...

    Hockey like you've never seen it before...

    My company (Naked Creative Consultancy) has just launched a social media campaign #scorelike for Winnwell Hockey…

    4 条评论

社区洞察

其他会员也浏览了