October 2021 - January 2022
Priming your business for post-lockdown recovery MANAGEMENT
With many small businesses scaled back or closed entirely due to Covid restrictions, Prospa asked savvy business owners for some first-hand tips on how they’re using this time to position their business for the future
D
o things you’ve never had the time for… until now For Laura Heynike of Pocketspace Interiors, the lockdown and product supply interruptions could have been debilitating, particularly when the loss of income turned out to be more than double what she had expected. However, it was a new service she had on the backburner, with no free time to develop, that she saw as her “lifeline”. “So I sat down and spent an entire week at my desk and built Clkspace.” The platform allows clients to undertake smaller design projects remotely, in turn enabling Heynike to expand globally. While initially intended as an additional income stream, the project has allowed the interior designer to establish it as a sales funnel for her existing business too. “I was really happy with the outcome – building an entire company in a week!” Meanwhile, Heynike has used the downtime to expand her marketing and implement contingency plans to keep Pocketspace Interiors trading too. “Use this time to position yourself as an expert in what you do, and the perfect platform for that is social media. While a lot of companies have shut down their advertising spend, I’ve actually increased mine!” Find new ways of serving clients Professional speaker and MC Greg Ward saw the conference and events industry effectively having to shut down overnight. While most bookings were cancelled or postponed indefinitely after the nationwide lockdown was put in
44 safetynews.co.nz
