Should you wait for the storm to pass or should you....open an ice-cream shop?

Over the last couple of months, I have essentially been trapped in my apartment here in Barcelona........a city I love but lets just say it has not been so much fun recently! Sitting there in my apartment, literally working from my couch for what seemed like an endless time I began to wonder if the world would ever press play again. Everything seemed frozen, stuck, paused or as all my clients explained to me on each zoom call “on hold right now”. Is anyone else not enjoying zoom anymore?

Anyway, finally we received the green-light to return to the office if we wanted too. I went straight in and instantly appreciated having a desk and a proper chair again. Something I always took for granted before. That evening I went for a walk in the evening sunshine, strolling along it was clear that everything was closed, even though some food outlets such as bakeries etc can continue to operate. I passed by two ice-cream stores that are very well established and both were of course closed. Then as I went further down the Rambla I spotted a new ice-cream store. A store that was not there at the start of this whole Covid19 nightmare. Clearly, they had opened during the pandemic. The queue was very long, but I joined it anyway. Big ice-cream fan! I was so impressed by these entrepreneurs who had managed to open their business when everyone else was shrinking away, hiding, or even closing. It gave me real hope and a renewed energy when I got back to the desk the next day. The ice-cream was great too.

All day every day I speak to igaming and payments businesses all over Europe and often even further afield. Many are running scared right now, pressing the pause button, holding fire, whatever you want to call it. Yes of course when it comes to sports........I get it! However, what has become increasingly obvious to me over the last number of weeks is that many businesses are still cash rich and, in some cases, doing even better now than before the pandemic. If that is you and your business, then all I would say to you is open your ice-cream store, this is the moment to build your business, to push forward and to hire the best & most in demand people – they are finally available! Do not miss this chance simply out of fear, instead leverage the opportunity to get so far ahead of your competitors that they will not catch you.

And please stop with the zoom links, maybe we can have a phone call instead just to change it up?