It’s Thursday mid-morning, I have a half an hour break in my schedule, Fleetwood mac “Dreams” is on my Bluetooth speaker, and an overwhelming sense of pride comes over me. …
What an unbelievable year we have all had.
Covid-19 has hijacked us all. We have all become comfortable with tap to pay instead of insert, yet our personal safety has never felt so vulnerable
The idea of using hand sanitiser and wearing a mask is no longer a costume for the nerdy germaphobe. The fitness industry like many was hugely affected by corona.
The theories and conspiracies around how the virus is spread and how long it lives on surfaces created hysteria amongst many. Gyms took a direct hit. Closed for 4 months with 12 hours’ notice. For my little business this was a huge hit. Twelve o’clock Monday 23rd March everything changed. I walked away not knowing what on earth I was going to do.
I drove straight to the sport store and attempted to be my best proactive self. I spent $300 on various irrational decisions.
I then drove home, sat in my car, and cried for 2 hours. A dear friend called in the middle of my melt down and shared that her staff meeting was told if anyone is outside of their usual area, they would be fines.
This was the first of many business pivots.
I suddenly felt like a was breaking the law, thinking about relocating my business to my home was now out of the question.
How was I supposed to engage with my clients?
They are all dealing with their own Covid trauma. How could I ask them to support me while things were so bad?
The absolute truth is, for the first 10 days of lockdown I think I cried as much as I breathed and was probably day drunk on a few consecutive days.
My positive outlook had taken a massive hit. I had no clue what to do…
At the beginning of week 2 I started to enrol in as many free courses as I could. After all I had plenty of spare time. Business courses. Online courses. Women in business courses. Business marketing courses. I even did a personality test to understand myself better, i thought it was a great time to practice changing some traits that were getting in my way.
Anything to move my thoughts away from my ” poor me” attitude it just wasn’t helpful.
The international best seller by James Clear “Atomic Habits” talks about changing your thinking from the big picture, and consciously doing little daily tasks that will eventually reward you with permanent change. Unbeknown to me I was already implementing my own “Atomic habits” during lock down.
Upskilling and educating, Outsourcing for a website. Listening to successful entrepreneurs’ podcasts and allowing myself to listen without self-judgment.
The fact that I had an opportunity to reinvent my business was an extremely exciting prospect.
I realised I could decide to sit and feel sad or I could keep redesigning and dreaming about my post COVID-19 business.
The first big milestone for me was the announcement of job keeper and access to superannuation.
The utility companies and banks where amazing, pausing payments and alleviating a tonne of financial stress.
My studio vision now had legs, I now had access to finances that I would never have in a non Covid world.
I didn’t dare say it out loud, but I was daydreaming about what my space would look like. An Inner-city chic boutique studio. That was my vibe. Between website writing, zoom pt.’s and the occasional minor melt down, I scrolled the internet for studio ideas.
I couldn’t be prouder to be part of Lismore’s community. My business has its roots here. Wherever I decided to open, my studio had to be as special as my clients. They have trusted me, cheered for me and completely enveloped my business ethos “Make movement your new normal”.
In early May I decided to travel to the gold coast and purchase all the equipment I would need to create my “inner city” studio. It was an exciting day. I was buying for my future. It was a risk. I had nowhere to go. I was putting trust in my “Atomic Habits” I had been doing during lockdown, my shopping spree was just another habit towards my permanent change.
I had a few disappointments locating real estate that was appropriate for my studio. And then I finally found it. It was perfect. And I knew exactly what it would look like when I finished refurbishing the space. A team of talent helped me make it exactly as I had planned. It took us 4 days to fit it out. I don’t think I took a deep breath until we had finally put the last touches up and locked the door ready for business on the Monday.
And I return you to my opening line in this blog…
That feeling of pride knowing that I backed myself. Challenged my self-belief and kept moving forward regardless of any obstacle.
The small day to day changed that had big effect.
Never feel that that you’re “not getting there”, because one day I promise you will look behind you and see how far you have come.
If you would like some help making some small positive changes to your day to day life you can contact me
