?? Lemons to Lemonade: Bouncing Back in a COVID-19 World ??

Last year, I was one of the first LinkedIn members to start posting about the impending economic fallout from COVID-19. You can find my series here:

?? Connecting the Dots: Coronavirus Round-up ??

• Sunday Inspiration: The day my World Changed
• Bouncing Back From COVID-19 Business Setbacks
• How have you re-connected with clients since COVID-19 hit? ??

On March 11, 2020, the World Health Organization declared COVID-19 to be a pandemic. Soon after that, meeting and travel bans hit. I realized that I had to make drastic changes to the business model that had served me well for 17 years. It had involved circling the globe to travel to 14 countries and serve clients from 19 countries.

It wasn't easy but by unpacking the lessons I had learned bouncing back from FOUR economic downturns, a path gradually began to clear.

--------------------------------------------------------------

• Lemons to Lemonade: Squeezing Opportunities out of Adversity when Business Goes Sour

Believe it or not, this is just a small sample of what I have posted in the past year about businesses reinventing themselves.

I've packaged the lessons I've learned together in an E-book.

----------------------------------------------------------------

???? Lemons to Lemonade: Bouncing Back From COVID-19 ??

I paused my Wednesday Team Building Destinations series and replaced it with the Lemons to Lemonade series to:

• unpack the lessons I had learned
• showcase how organizations were re-inventing themselves in response to COVID-19

This was the result

• Part 1: Lessons from the School of Hard Knocks
• Part 2: ???? Lessons from 9/11 ??
• Part 3: ?? Lessons from SARS ??
• Part 4: More Lessons from SARS ??
• Part 5: Lessons from the 2008 Market Meltdown ??

We even had a bit of fun along the way when a very nasty troll mocked me:

"Next thing Anne is going to be posting old videos with cowboys singing country and western on a horse."

I guess she dubbed my unpacking of lessons from past economic downturns as old-fashioned. We're only supposed to learn from what happened two weeks ago. Here was my response, one of my few animal posts on LinkedIn:

?? Musical Moments: Don't Fence Me In by Roy Rogers and Trigger ??

Lemons to Lemonade: Lessons From the School of Hard Knocks

Here are just a few of the companies and businesses I showcased. This series showed how they were pivoting in response to COVID-19:

Family Businesses

• SimpleeBeautiful, New York City

Local Businesses

I live in Stouffville, Ontario and I wanted to take steps to ensure that the businesses that I had come to know and love in my community and neighbouring Markham received the support they needed to survive.

• A Taste of the Islands ??? ???? ???? A little boy in need of a haircut...His mother longing for Jamaican Cuisine
• Business soars 30% at Toronto's Allan's Pastry Shop ???? ???? 
• Pause Awhile Equestrian Centre, Stouffville, Ontario ??
• L4A.ca Helps Stouffville Businesses Bounce Back
• Aurora Technologies, Aurora, Ontario
• IYA Conservatory Prepares Actors for a Virtual World
• ?? ?? The Isolation Short Film Festival? Streams Live Tonight ????? I
• ?? What I Learned From Auditing my 1st Virtual Acting Class by Lewis Baumander ??

?? When Life Gives you Lemons Make Tea ?

• Old Curiosity Tea Shop, Markham ?
•  Candlelight & Memories... & Kindness, Stouffville ???

Jamaican Businesses

• Lemon and Lime Drinks by Chef Ricardo
• Jamaican Entrepreneurs Team up to Build Emergency Ventilators & 3D Face Shields with 3D Printers
• Amber Group Teams up with Government of Jamaica to Launch JAMCOVID-19 App. & Website 
• What challenges does Jamaica Face on the Road to re-opening for Tourism Post COVID-19?
• ?? ?? Easter Monday Inspiration: Together We're Strong ??????

Canadian Businesses

• Hanes Leads the way with Masks
• Bauer, Sporting Equipment Manufacturer, Pivots to Produce Medical Shields & Save Jobs ?? ?? ??
• Canon Canada - Interesting Marketing Approach to Help Businesses Re-Boot
• 3M to Manufacture Over a Billion Medical Masks in 2020 ??

I've posted a lot more. I hope these tips and examples from what other businesses have done are helpful.