Monday 11th May to Sunday 17th May 2020
Previous installments
Monday 11th May – 32065 deaths – new opportunities
New opportunities present themselves as we enter week 9 of lockdown – life feels sweet today. Started the day with yoga with Fran – puts you into a positive mindset, so I plan to continue with that for as long as possible. I worked on my children’s picture book stories this morning and re-wrote 2 of them which needed more work. Also a couple of 121’s with two lovely business owners – Silvia from Pink SEO Marketing where there could be an opportunity to collaborate on websites and content and then Cemanthe McKenzie from Business Stories Photography who would like to work on a package for business photos and profiles. All very exciting.
Finished the day with a meeting about my social media – hopefully that will help to grow my online presence more.
BoJo bulletin: Boris is downcast on a bench in the Commons whilst Keir Starmer says ” There are lots of questions, but precious few answers” – I guess it’s pretty easy to ask all the hard questions right now. It’s a very tangled web to escape from.
Tuesday 12th May – 32692 deaths
What started off as a planned quietish day turned out to be long and busy. As I start to formulate my business model, which is evolving quite quickly at the moment, there seems to be an ever-growing list of things to get done. I’m starting to look at some of the things I can outsource to reduce that list down a bit.
Another great online networking meeting enabled me to meet lots of like-minded women business owners, some of whom might be able to help me with the tasks I need to get done.
The biggest challenge I have is deciding how best to grow my audience. There are so many Facebook groups – I personally feel pretty overwhelmed at the moment, so I don’t feel like I want to add to the noise right now. Maybe it will be something to come back to later in the year, when I have more time and energy for it.
The thing I love to do is to write, so perhaps I just need to go right back to basics instead of trying to build a more complex business model. I’ve got some time set aside at the end of the week to really trying to nail down what I want to do next.
Wednesday 13th May – 33186 deaths – more business opportunities
Today was a CRAZY Zoom day! I am shattered after 6 hours of meetings on Zoom. It’s my own fault, of course, for scheduling so many meetings on the same day – I only have myself to blame, but GOD, I am tired zzzz.
Again, Athena networking is fantastic. If you are a woman in business and you haven’t networked before, you will find amazing support, motivations and training as well as potential clients from these online meetings. All from the comfort of your lounge (study, bedroom, kitchen, garden, wherever…)
I’ve said it many times before but the benefits are unrivaled, especially at the moment when you can visit unlimited meetings each month. My owner group leader Rosy will be delighted to tell you all about how it works so get in touch with her by email.
Things are looking really bad for the UK economy, but it’s the same everywhere right now. It’s going to take a generation to recover from this I reckon. I feel particularly sorry for young people right now as it’s very hard to get work. My older son is still fortunately employed at his apprenticeship, but many have been let go. It’s pretty dire and depressing if you haven’t got much experience and jobs are hard to come by.
Anyway, I’m logging off my computer now before my head actually explodes. See you tomorrow.
Thursday 14th May – 33614 deaths
Today I cut myself a bit of slack as I did not pace myself well at all yesterday. I was totally zonked out by all the hours on Zoom last night so I had a much slower start to the day today, including yoga which helped to rebalance me.
Some more networking today has led to a few more good connections. I just need to find time to do the 121s.
I also spent some more time considering my business model and I think I’m nearly there with a good product mix.
So, what’s the latest shenanigans from the Government today?
This morning I posted this video of Matt Hancock on This Morning – I’m actually speechless.
(which means, that’s all for today, folks!)
Friday 15th May – 33998 deaths – we all know that’s not right
The death rate is most likely closer to 50,000 since there are likely many deaths in the early part of the pandemic that went uncounted as COVID. If you look at the excess of deaths in 2020 over the average deaths for the same period in 2019, it’s around 50,000.
I went to have a look at the Government briefing today because I haven’t watched it since Sunday – it’s the same old BS day after day. But, ARRRGGGHHHH! Matt Hancock – I literally cannot stand to watch him. He is abhorrent. So I can’t really make any comment on what was said. Blah blah blah probably.
I did something out of my comfort zone today – a short business video that I put on LinkedIn and FB. I know I need to do this more often but it feels unnatural. I’ve never been one for being in front of the camera. I totally love training, which is a performance, of course, but being filmed is so different.
Anyway, got to just get over myself.
So, if you don’t want to see me out there…don’t watch 🙂
Yummy Friday night Indian takeaway as usual – have to keep the local curry house in business. Delish!
Pretty tired so heading off to bed now (21.06 – party animal lol)
Saturday 16th May – 34466 deaths – opportunities for more deaths
Oh no, I can’t help myself…
I can definitely feel another rant coming on 🙁
The Government’s plan to send YR and Y1 kids back to school in June is totally flawed – from a health perspective. Anyone with half a cell can see that.
So, the plan is conceived then purely from an economic standpoint.
OK, OK, I get it.
Yes, we have to somehow gradually open up society – we CANNOT not. I really do get that.
BUT, come on Gavin Williamson, please please do not take us all for fools. You really are NOT opening schools for the good of children.
How can going back to school at the moment be a good idea, when the death rate is still not coming down consistently and, we are told, the infection rate is rising?
IT DOES NOT MAKE SENSE – and especially not with the pupils who are least able to be socially distant.
MADNESS.
(Yes, sorry I am ranting – but I am mad as hell)
School will not be anything like the school that these 4 and 5-year-olds remember. They will not be able to:
play with their friends
use many of their resources
sit together on the carpet
eat lunch together etc etc
This half-school will be damaging to children. They will not understand why they cannot hug their friends or be comforted when they are sad. The teaching will become secondary to the health and safety considerations of trying to keep everything sanitised, including hands, surfaces and equipment. In fact, there will be no time for teaching these little ones once everything else is taken care of.
So, why?
Of course, we know the reason – we need those parents to go back to work to kick-start the economy but now is not the right time. Things are hanging precariously close to the precipice when it comes to the R value.
I predict that within 2 weeks of YR and Y1 going back to school, we will see a second wave of the pandemic.
The Government has laid out its own 5 point checklist that must be met before things start to open up – let’s hope for once, they do not U-turn on their promises.
Onto something much better.
My very lovely friend and networking colleague Kerry Herbert of Cake Science is running a 3 Day Baking Challenge for mums and their kids to learn how to make 3 different recipes using the 4 staple ingredients of baking – flour, eggs, sugar and fat.
This challenge will give mums the confidence to bake with their kids and enable the kids to have fun and learn about the science behind how the bake works. What’s not to like?
If you have kids aged 4-10 (or even if they are a bit outside these age ranges) you can take part with great support in a Facebook group, video tutorials and science experiments that can be done in any kitchen.
If you are looking for something to keep the kids entertained this coming week AND you want it to be demonstrably educational, then join the group here.
I couldn’t wait, so I baked banana bread and it’s pretty good, if I do say so myself.
Sunday 17th May – 34636 deaths – almost too many opportunities
My head is buzzing this week with so many things I COULD do with my business. The question is, what SHOULD I do?
I know this will develop over time so I guess just keeping an open mind and trialing different services will help me to shape my offering.
What I have decided is to focus on lifestyle and wellbeing professionals at the moment. This is obviously a very wide scope in terms of who would be my ideal client but it definitely helps with marketing to nail down as closely as you can who you are actually talking to.
And so to week 10 (!)