INCOMING

The big question

When lockdown first hit, business and personal life changed dramatically, with many of us having a lot more time on our hands. What do you consider to have been your greatest/most satisfying achievement during lockdown, personally and professionally?

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@biz_cornwall /businesscornwall

businesscornwall.co.uk

ADVERTORIAL

AN OPPORTUNITY IN A POST-COVID WORLD

Coronavirus has impacted on all of our personal and working lives and will continue to do so for a long time to come. Stephens Scown LLP’s managing partner Richard Baker feels that although times are challenging for many businesses, there is reason to be optimistic.

SHELLEY WOODLEY

SW Virtual Business Assistant

I left my job in January to take a few months off to spend time with my son before I looked for a different role in possibly a different field (I didn’t really know what I wanted to do). And then lockdown happened and opportunities ceased. I have loved supporting my son with his schoolwork; learning more about him and how he learns or expresses himself, I even enjoyed doing some DIY and painted the outside of my house! But my biggest achievement happened when I launched myself as a freelance virtual assistant. It has been a steep learning curve over the past month; building a website, logo, professional email account and gaining a domain; learning how to use social media and then changing my LinkedIn profile as well as all the other stuff. Lockdown has given me the time to think about what I really want to do and the ability to give it my best shot to make it a success.

EDWARD CHAPMAN

Trail Running Man

Lockdown and the move to online meetings has enabled me to mix with a more diverse group of people. For example, I attended a sustainability festival hosted in Singapore that had an international audience. Mixing with people from different cultures helps me see things differently, identify new business opportunities and solutions to problems. I now attend a chat session with a group in South Africa for about 40 minutes every weekday morning. Unfortunately, 7am UK time!

The scale of the lockdown and its far-reaching impact will ripple through our economy for years to come. For many businesses it remains incredibly challenging but there will be opportunities too.

One impact of the pandemic which is being reported is that more people and businesses are recognising the benefits of moving out of cities to rural areas, to enjoy a better lifestyle.

With the combination of some of the fastest connectivity in the country, involvement in fast developing sectors such as green energy and space, and its

LYSSA-FEE CRUMP

Kraken Marketing

In April, one month into lockdown, I started Kraken Marketing, my own marketing agency. I am now working flat out, full time for my retainer clients who include Bluefruit Software, hiyield, and Agile PR. As well as some other exciting projects with tech and e-health companies. My website went live last week, and I am super proud and excited for the future.

NATALIE CROUCH

Peaky Digital

One of the things we’re proudest of at Peaky is how the team has come together throughout lockdown. We’ve kept up great morale, staying connected by organising regular team wellbeing calls, keeping motivated with weekly team exercise workouts on zoom and enjoying Peaky-organised takeaway meals for team members and their lockdown partners. Our team already worked flexibly, with some members based remotely, but we’ve made sure to be even more connected over the last couple of months, supporting each other and growing as a team.

KAREN BARNETT

Parc Signs

As lockdown happened we had just completed a huge project with the NMMC and Monsters of the Deep. We went from being flat out to everyone around us closing and with many clients doing the same completing any further works meant natural environment there is no reason why Cornwall cannot become one of the best places to live and work. However, we need to seize the opportunity and ensure that when new business owners move here, they use Cornish advisors and suppliers. To ensure they do that we need to be ever more focussed on customer service and experience. There is an abundance of professional and other talent in our region and we need to shout about it. That in turn will encourage more talent into Cornwall so we all benefit from the opportunities ahead. we needed to do likewise. We did keep a small amount open to assist the NHS with essential works but in the large part it was a very different time of working. The team took to Whatsapp to keep in touch, share achievements in the world of baking, gardening and home DIY so as a team we went from posting photos of sign work to baked goods. I can now make a decent pasty and have mastered the art of saffron bun making!

MIKE KING

Cornwall Development Company

CDC has embraced lockdown, no furlough and all working from home continuing to deliver across all our projects. In the first three months we saved 161,599 miles commuting, spending 5866 less hours in the car and reduced our car on emissions by 64 tonnes of CO2. Lockdown = big contribution to zero carbon Cornwall.

RACHEL JONES

Fit ’n’ Fun Kids

During the lockdown period, childcare was referred to nationally as the fourth emergency service, however, for many reasons many settings were unable to provide a childcare service during this period. At Fit N Fun Kids we made the decision that we would remain open throughout to ensure we were able to support critical key workers and vulnerable children. We have a team of 25 staff, furloughed 21 while myself and three others remained on site working ten hour days. We

would not have had it any other way! To contact Richard please call 01872 265100, email solicitors@stephens-scown.co.uk or visit www.stephens-scown.co.uk