Redefined Business Success in 2020

Today is a landmark day. I feel strange… a bit proud and surprised to even feel that way.

This year of all years, how we have to define success has been altered dramatically. 

Goal to start 2020 - implement business operating systems to ‘grow up’ as a business. We set out to get everyone adding value toward our shared vision with increased accountability.

Goal as of April 2020 - Keep everyone together. Prioritize extremely well to work ON the business.  Ultimately create our own recovery, regardless of circumstance.

What happened today?

We just met with our team and lifted ALL the shared sacrifice reductions in compensation our team has been under since March.

I am proud to say that we have made ZERO changes to full-time staff due to COVID. No, we were not the unicorn that grew through the pandemic. I have only heard of a couple of those in the market research industry that sound legitimate. By April 15, our work in progress project volume dropped 60% compared to a month earlier.  April and May were the combined 2 lowest months of revenue in the 6 years I have been running this business. Every one of our team members has experienced reduced hours/furloughs, reduced pay, and no raises/bonuses over the past 5 months.

It feels backwards. To get to the end of something so bad actually does not feel rewarding.  As the business owner though, every one of these decisions have felt impossible. I have leaned on so many more seasoned business owners and consultant friends to coach me through it. 

Hell, this may not actually be the end of impossible situations.  

Our business development team has regained traction over the past two months and we have a solid pipeline.  That absolutely does not feel like a given in a market that is as volatile as this one.  

Our research logistics team in charge of service delivery is being pushed hard to perform at a high level and adapt to major changes.  Their success in doing so will partially determine how sustainable this is.

TODAY though, our team is whole.  They both all have jobs AND are going to be paid what they had expected to make before the pandemic and shutdown blew up all our worlds.

The weight of the stress has been intense...it still is.  Today it got a bit lighter and we have something to be proud of for creating our own recovery.