Post -Pandemic blues affecting your revenue?

Is Covid-19 Still affecting your revenue? Focus on what you can influence…Are you struggling with the impact of Covid-19? Are you scared of going out of business? Is the uncertainty killing you?

Don’t worry, you are not alone – we have the same thoughts, but we will try to help (see our amazing offer below that will help). In German, there is a saying, “Geteiltes Leid, ist halbes Leid.” Translated it means something like shared trouble, is trouble halved. I am personally living by the motto “What I can’t control, I am not stressing about.”

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Difficult times bear the biggest opportunities.

Today we are reaching out to our clients, to hopefully help you by sharing what we are doing during this post-pandemic time. We believe difficult times bear the biggest opportunities:

• 1890: General Electric was founded during a recession.
• 1975: Microsoft was founded during stagflation in the US.
• 2009: Dropbox was founded during the last financial crisis.

What does this mean for us? It is the opportunity to work on what we can influence!

At Printulu, we are evaluating all angles to costs and ensuring liquidity while investing in our team and our brand. You should do this, too. Not later, not in 3 weeks. Right now. We do not know how long the situation is actually going to last. Therefore, we are taking the following measures in order to protect our Printulians and avoid any layoffs during these times.

Which measures can you take?

1. Cut fixed costs

• Rent: Our lease contract ended in December. From then on we were automatically on a month-to-month contract. As we do not know how long the pandemic will last, we cancelled our lease. Everyone was working from home in any case during the pandemic. We just extended this and created a hybrid work environment. 
• IT costs: We have been working on our platform for 6 years, releasing updated features every week. Sometimes on the front end, but mostly on the back end to automate processes or better track orders in production. Right now we have stripped our projects down to the bare minimum. IT is expensive and mostly pays off in the long run. Right now, it is a time to balance the long-term and short-term
• Other costs: We spent 24 hours going through our bank statements, line by line, to evaluate which costs can be cut. You will be surprised by what you will find. I have cut down on subscriptions to help automate marketing projects because right now we have the hours to do work manually. In addition, we cancelled a subscription for streamlining our hiring process – it is very clear, we cannot hire right now. Times are tough…
• Salaries/Team: We recommend letting everyone work from home (if possible). If someone is not able to work from home we encourage you to help everyone in this situation as much as possible.  If you have to retrench, try to base it on performance and not on the length of employment. This is important for the culture of your company.

2. Ensure short-term liquidity

• Grants: Up until now, it is not clear to me what exactly the South African government is offering to help to mitigate the effect on small businesses. However, we really recommend that you apply via http://www.smmesa.gov.za/. Let us see what comes out of it…
• Loans: If you have a loan, speak to your bank to get a repayment holiday. Most of them have already implemented it. In addition, speak to the bank for more liquidity. It is not going to be easy, but necessary. Maybe not for the next 3 weeks, but what if it takes longer?
• Investors: Speak to potential investors or friends (also called “Friends, Family and Fools”) to provide you with a loan or an equity investment in order to bridge a short-term liquidity gap. Prefer raising debt rather than equity. If you cannot come to an agreement, use a so-called safe note agreement. We have made use of this in the past and are also speaking to our investors to provide a financing bridge in case this situation goes on for 3 or even 6 months.
• Suppliers: Speak to your suppliers and revisit payment terms. Unfortunately, your suppliers will have many clients asking for an extension. In order to not harm the relationship and be able to act quickly after the lockdown, we really recommend working collaboratively with your suppliers.

3. Invest in your team

• Training: If you have a team, now is the time to upskill them and make your team more robust to any external shocks. Is there anything you always wanted to delegate, but never found the time for? If you do not have a team, make sure you upskill yourself. Read a book about cost-cutting, marketing, and leadership. Rather invest in courses from websites such as Udemy or GO1 to provide courses for your team (or yourself)!
• Analysis/Clean-ups: Do you need to follow up on some payments? Is your accounting, not 100% up to date? Is there an analysis you always wanted to do, but did not get the time for? Now is the time. Get it done and make every minute count.

4. Invest in your brand

• Contact clients: Make sure you contact your key clients and help them survive this unprecedented situation. Help now and have a loyal client forever. With this email, I am trying to make a small contribution in trying to help businesses.
• Marketing initiatives: Prepare all your marketing initiatives for the year. Get the designs ready, get the ad copy right and get the ball rolling so that you are moving strongly when the lockdown is over. Marketing is a variable cost – not a fixed cost adding to your underlying risk. Secure liquidity and invest the rest in your brand and product. In order to help you get your brand out there, we will offer a 20% off or R5000 discount on all online print products (whichever is lower).

Let us remember the words of Robin Sharma: “To the victim, adversity is bad. To the leader and warrior, hard times are life’s richest times of growth, opportunity and possibility.”

Here are a few steps you can take to help your business thrive post-pandemic:

1. Evaluate your business model: Take a critical look at your business model and see what changes you can make to adapt to the post-pandemic environment.

2. Invest in digital transformation: Embrace technology and digital solutions to increase efficiency, reach customers, and improve your bottom line.

3. Focus on customer experience: Make sure your customers are at the centre of your business strategy and provide them with a seamless and positive experience.

4. Diversify your revenue streams: Consider new products or services that can help you tap into new markets and revenue streams.

5. Foster a strong company culture: Building a strong company culture can help you attract and retain top talent, boost employee morale and productivity, and foster a positive work environment.

6. Adapt to changing market trends: Stay up-to-date with market trends and be flexible in your approach so you can quickly pivot if necessary.

7. Invest in marketing and brand building: Build your brand and invest in marketing efforts to reach new customers and increase your visibility.