Get tips on running your business during the coronavirus. Look at strategies to minimize fear and focus on growth. Help your business thrive during challenging times. 

In just a few weeks, the coronavirus has affected nearly every aspect of our lives. Schools, salons, gyms, retail stores, and countless other businesses have shut their doors. Restaurants have switched to take out, and around the country, people have left their offices to work from home.

As the efforts to slow the spread of the virus have dramatically changed daily lives and as the number of people infected and the death toll continue to rise, people are facing intense stress, anxiety, and fear about the world. Running a business during this time is incredibly challenging, and to stay afloat, you need to look past fear and focus on growth.

In times of uncertainty, Tristan Stewart, an IT consulting professional with Integrated365 offers these tips that can help.

1. Emphasize Your Value Proposition

When sales are falling and funds are tight, people often drop vendors or cancel services to cut expenses. To preserve clients during this time, focus on your value proposition. What do you provide your clients? How do your services differentiate you from the competition? What extras can you offer to improve your value?

Explore ways to become a trusted and invaluable resource for your clients. Helping them through this time can help to secure your business relationship as you move into the future.

2. Communicate Often

People are full of uncertainty right now. They don't know when their kids will go back to school, when they can see their hairstylist again, and more importantly if their business can weather this storm. Frequent communication can help to keep some of these fears in check.

Make sure your clients and customers know what you're doing and how you plan to serve them. Whether you're reaching out to individuals over videoconference or sending mass emails to thousands of people, communicate often. If people aren't hearing from you, they're hearing from your competition.

3. Lean on Each Other

Although the people in your organization may be in different locations, you need to lean on each other. Set up regular video conferencing sessions so you can meet face-to-face, and use collaboration apps so you can easily work together even though you're all out of the office.

Remember to have a bit of fun too. In addition to staying focused on the job at hand, consider having some fun or supportive meetings just to check in with everyone's well being.

4. Focus on the Human Aspect (News - Alert)

Your employees, your clients, and your colleagues are probably all experiencing a lot of stress right now. Uncertainty breeds stress, and at the same time, people are trying to juggle having kids at home while setting up their own home offices. They don't know if the grocery store is going to have essentials when they walk in. They may be dealing with intense concerns about their own health or the health of their family members.

To cut through this stress, you need to focus on the human aspect. Be more than just a business person. Be someone who truly cares. When your clients, colleagues, and employees see you as a person, they become more committed and loyal to your business.

5. Stay Informed, But Don't Drown Yourself in News

Staying informed is important, but if you're on social media, watching the news, and reading articles all day, you can simply drown in excess information and stress. At some point, you may notice that you're just reading rehashed stories and opinions and not gaining any new information.

To help yourself move past fear and into a growth mindset, consider establishing some guidelines about your media exposure. Stay informed. Perhaps choose a single news outlet or a certain amount of time you want to devote to the news every day. Then, for the rest of the day, focus on what you can control — your business activities, communicating with employees, launching new projects, and finding other ways to stay active.

Running a business is always challenging, but it's infinitely harder during rough times. As you send employees to home offices, deal with the potential of reduced revenue, counsel worried employees, and work on retaining your clients, you need the right support. A managed IT services provider can help secure your data, set up applications to support your workflows, maintain your IT tools to safeguard productivity, and more.