How you can use your free time during the curfew as an owner of a shop or business

There is currently an unprecedented state of emergency in Germany and the rest of the world. No recent event has had as strong an impact on society as the coronavirus. Companies everywhere must temporarily close. In some cases, particularly in the catering and hotel industries, businesses even have to shut down completely. But some are also lucky or have sufficient reserves to survive this crisis. The people who work in such companies are now at home as a result of federal government orders and are serving this time, in the hope that the pandemic will be under control as soon as possible. But what is the best way to use this time? Here are tips on how to make the best use of your time at home so that you can get started again after the crisis.

Develop new lines of business

gastronomy

Do you want to make more profit in the future or simply make more offers to your customers? Now is the time to look at such projects. In the catering sector in particular, this measure is currently essential, as restaurants have had to cease normal operations due to nationwide regulations. However, the delivery and preparation of food for collection is still allowed. Quick action is therefore required so as not to suffer from massive sales slumps. Even if you do not yet have the necessary funds for a delivery service, you can consider working with a delivery service. To do this, you simply need to register with one of these providers (e.g. Lieferando, SimplyDelivery, Foodora, Deliveroo). The advantages of this system are that these third-party providers use their own drivers who simply pick up and deliver the food. However, it must be taken into account that the services receive a commission (usually around 15%). You can find additional information in our blog article about Immediate measures for your restaurant Read up.

retailing

But a new line of business can also have a positive effect on operations in other industries, such as a small online shop from a retail store that allows you to reach many more people. In any case, there is currently a significant increase of 46% in online shopping, according to interrogations by Havas Media. So if you've been considering this option, now would be the time to start this project. You don't even need a great understanding of IT, as there are now hundreds of website builders that are affordable. Examples include Shopify, Wix, Squarespace, etc. There are also free ways to open an online shop. We advise you to look at the various offers and look at a few of the many comparison sites to find the best program for you.

gyms

Just like restaurants and retail stores, all gyms had to close their doors. But this creates time to carry out certain projects, for the period during the curfew and after the restrictions. These options include: Engaging and retaining customers by creating individual training plans for members in collaboration with trainers. This is useful in times of lockdown, as customers can keep fit and at the same time notice that the gym is taking care of them. In addition, you can offer training live streams or videos on the homepage. At the same time, this increases page views and offers members a very good opportunity to keep fit at home. This option can be of great importance even after the crisis. Perhaps some customers will get used to this offer and will also really like it. For owners, this means that they would have to offer such an offer on a sustainable basis. However, this line of business can bring a lot of positive things. Customers who only want to use the online offer and are not dependent on the proximity of a studio can use such videos throughout Germany via the Internet, as long as they are of high individual quality.

Organize finances

Who doesn't know the problem? There are invoices everywhere and no one has an overview of them all anymore and you've never had time to structure and organize everything. This option is now available and even though this can be a very laborious and monotonous job, it will help enormously in the period following the crisis. Having a good overview of your finances can never hurt and such “cleaning up” often results in invoices for services or subscriptions that you no longer need for a long time and can therefore cancel. Especially in this special time, it is important to save as much money as possible so that you can offset any outstanding liabilities that may arise. It can also help to collect the many invoices and files. A simple Google spreadsheet or an Excel spreadsheet can be enough to permanently have a manageable folder of invoices. There are already proven digital tools for this, too, if you are looking for a separate solution. Examples include: Debitoor, LexOffice, Cura Assessor or Keepek. Of course, it never hurts to be familiar with your own finances. Therefore, you can also carry out various cost calculations in order to be able to see exactly where you are financially and whether the Funding from the individual federal states and the federal government, through which you can read in our News Ticker be able to find out more, is sufficient or whether further measures need to be carried out.

Further education

How about a new ability to get out of this crisis? Otherwise, you'll never have time to dedicate yourself to new skills or interests. But if you can muster up the necessary motivation, you can get something positive out of this rather dreary phase. In the age of the Internet, you get the right articles and information on all topics in seconds, whether it's something completely new or a knowledge gap that needs to catch up because you've missed important facts somewhere. We recommend skills that you can use in your professional world or even save costs, such as the basics of Photoshop to be able to design your own advertising posters or learn how to set up a well-structured and clear website. There are also suitable e-books for download on almost all topics, which are also frequently reduced due to the current situation. You can use new languages, for example, with popular apps such as Babbel, Mondly or RosettaStone learn. To purchase e-books, we recommend websites such as eBook.de, Genialokal And also the Hugendubel e-book store offers a wide selection.

Optimize what you already have

Every process can be improved. You certainly know a few procedures that are simply not efficient or simply work poorly, or daily recurring tasks that are just annoying. Now is the time to consider solutions to exactly these problems. Can you automate something with simple options? There are often options already available that make everyday tasks faster and more reliable. Research is essential to find a suitable optimization for the process. No process or procedure is perfect, i.e. just because something works relatively well, it may still be that it cannot get even better with a small amount of work.

Plan for the first few weeks after the lockdown

A very important economic aspect of this crisis is the weeks following the lockdown, when society returns to normal. This is a particularly decisive time for companies, as they can generate revenue again after a long period of time. What is extremely important, however, is that restaurants, retail stores and gyms are not slowly ramping up their operations again, but are immediately getting started again with 100% of the work intensity so that the sales deficits of the last few months can be compensated as quickly as possible and no more new debts can be built up. This requires detailed planning of certain points: Are there sufficient resources on site at the time of reopening? Which employees are available? Are there an average number of customers expected, or maybe even more? And particularly important: communication with customers. You have to inform your customers in some way that you will be back to business as of a certain date. Socialwave's email campaigns are ideal for this purpose, with which you can inform your customers about the opening of the business. Here You can request a non-binding offer free of charge. This allows you to be sure that your customers will pay you a visit in the first few weeks after reopening and thus minimize the risk of making a profit. In addition, with the help of posters that are visibly attached to windows in the shop, you can draw the attention of passers-by that the shop will soon be back to normal business. You can also inform people again about the reopening date by posting on your pages on social media.

conclusion

The corona crisis is hitting some people harder than others, but you shouldn't lose heart right away. You should always keep in mind that this crisis too will pass at some point and that the economic regulations regarding the closures will be resolved again. We can only advise people who had to temporarily close their businesses to do something useful with this free time. One thing is clear: The crisis will bring changes, even if it is just a significant surge in digitization. Companies in relevant industries must be careful not to lose touch. And when is it better to learn something about new topics and trends than now?

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