How to Optimise Small Business Growth Post Pandemic

By Lucy Reed.

In many areas of the country, business operations are beginning to approach something that almost seems “normal.” Restrictions continue to loosen, and hours of operation continue to expand. However, any business owner can tell you that running a business will likely never be the same as before the pandemic. COVID-19 has forced entrepreneurs and organisations to rethink how they do virtually everything.

If you recently started a business and want to flourish now and after the pandemic ends, you must remain nimble and stay connected to the needs and wants of consumers. From coming up with new strategies to outsourcing the right tasks, consider the following ideas for how you can position your business to thrive long-term.

Change Your Strategy

Chances are, many of the strategies you were implementing just 15 months ago are no longer effective. While it’s always been important to regularly evaluate and adjust business strategies, it has become imperative for survival.

Constantly research market trends to ensure your company provides products and services that consumers in your market need and want. Make sure your marketing efforts offer something unique and are geared toward meeting consumers where they are. Go through your finances and make any necessary adjustments to your budget that will allow your business more flexibility in the times ahead. These are just a few ways you can strategise for success in the COVID-19 era and beyond.

Embrace Remote Work Capabilities

For many businesses, utilising remote work is more cost- and time-effective for all parties involved. Assess your company needs to see if you should be allowing more of your employees to work from home and look into the various types of freelancers that can help make your business operations more efficient while leaving you more time to focus on other things.

Enhance Your Payroll

If you’ve recently reopened your business or will in the near future, you may be taking on more employees, which makes managing your payroll an essential task. Investing in payroll software can automate your payroll process, including wage and tax calculations. Look for software that offers same-day direct deposit payments and timesheets and invoices that you can access through your smartphone.

Update Your Store

Whether you have a physical store, an eCommerce store, or both, you can probably benefit from making some improvements. For example, many brick-and-mortar stores are modifying their layouts to better accommodate social distancing, offering masks and hand sanitiser to customers, and adding curbside pickup as an option.

If you don’t have an online store, now is the time to add one. Online shopping isn’t going anywhere, and almost every small business can increase its sales by incorporating an eCommerce element into its offerings. Whether you’re creating a new online store or you already have one, make sure it provides customers with an excellent experience. It should be attractive and easy to navigate, and the checkout process should be fast and seamless.

After you add this new feature, generate interest through your social media sites and your website with a banner that explains your update. An online banner generator allows you to create a personalised or branded business banner, complete with eye-catching graphics and fonts, that you can resize for any platform.

Outsource Where Necessary

As mentioned above, hiring freelancers to handle specific tasks could be one of the most effective ways to increase efficiency and stimulate growth in these challenging times. When your business is re-strategising and making adjustments to accommodate new consumer needs, it can be easy to get overwhelmed and distracted from your primary role as the business owner.

Make sure you have the support you need. Freelancers will work on an as-needed basis, and they bring a deep and broad knowledge of their fields. And since maintaining relevance in these areas is paramount for small businesses these days, we’ve listed a few examples of freelancers that can improve your company’s tech and software capabilities:

● Website developer
● Shopify expert
● Software developer
● Direct marketing agencies
● Web designer
● IT specialist

While the pandemic has presented challenges that business owners could have scarcely imagined, it has also opened new opportunities to reach consumers. So take advantage of those opportunities by strategising, embracing the remote work concept, making updates to your store(s), and outsourcing to freelancers. Finally, keep researching other ways to move your business forward through the pandemic.

Lucy Reed has been starting businesses since she was a kid, from the lemonade stand she opened in her parent’s driveway at age 10 to the dog walking business she started while in college. She created Gig Mine because she was inspired by the growth of the sharing economy and wanted to make it easier for entrepreneurial individuals like herself to find the gig opportunities in their areas.