Small Business Growth Tips For the COVID-19 Pandemic

The COVID-19 pandemic has thrown entrepreneurs one curveball after another. But by going over your finances, launching new products or services, and changing up your approach to marketing, you can thrive as an entrepreneur. Captivate Teacher shares some resources that are packed with tips for small business owners who are ready to succeed in spite of the pandemic!

 Financial Management

 If you’re worried about paying your bills and keeping your employees on board, it’s time to review your finances to come up with a strategy.

• First, make sure that you’re ready for tax season by connecting with an experienced accountant for help in organizing and filing your documents.

• You can also meet with a financial consultant to ask about reducing expenses, making smart investments, and other cost-saving strategies.

Expand Your Products and Services

Do you feel like your current offerings are lacking because the pandemic has shifted your customer’s priorities? These tips will help you come up with new ideas.

• If you don’t already offer gift cards, now is the time to start — your customers can patronize you now and buy your products later!

• Want to create a source of recurring income for your business? Consider launching a subscription service.

• If your customers or clients would prefer not to visit in person right now, you can host a safe gathering through a virtual event.

• Could you teach your customers a skill online? You can create an educational online course!

• Need additional capital to fund your expansion? Learn about some small business grants.

 Adjust Your Marketing Strategy

Your traditional marketing methods might not be suited for the pandemic. These tips will help you come up with a new digital strategy.

• Make sure that you keep your company’s social media accounts active across every popular platform.

• Connect with your customers directly through their inboxes by kicking off an email marketing campaign.

• Want to provide your customers with continuous updates and new resources? Start a blog on your business website!

• Hire a search engine marketing professional to help new customers and clients find your business easily.

In these trying times, it’s easy for entrepreneurs to get discouraged. But you don’t have to give up on your dream of running a successful small business in Thorold. With the right tactics, you can see your company through this pandemic.

The Future of eLearning

Not very much has changed for me since the coronavirus outbreak. I've been working from home since about 2015 anyway. Adobe has cancelled some of the events that I had been invited to facilitate. The cancelled events are the Adobe eLearning Conference in Washington DC as well as the Vancouver and Toronto Adobe Professional Certifications for Adobe Captivate. At present Adobe still have me scheduled for the Phoenix session in September. Of course, there are new opportunities for me to share my knowledge with many of you. In June, we have a replacement for the Adobe eLearning Conference called Adobe eLearning World. While the schedule contains many of the same activities and times that would have occurred in Washington DC, people from just about anywhere can participate in this event. In fact, in many ways, it's far more inclusive. I know of at least several folks who previously didn't have the means to travel to another city and stay in an expensive hotel. As long as you have a decent internet connection, you can join in on the learning on June 23-25th for free! I don't know if there are limits to the number of attendees but make sure you register at the following link: https://adobeworld.elearning.adobeevents.com/

I think what changes moving forward is that eLearning will see a rise in popularity. In the past, it's gotten kind of a bum rap. Poorly designed eLearning, and there is a lot of it, is not as effective as well-designed classroom training. It's up to us to prove that eLearning is a viable alternative to getting a bunch of people together in a room. Don't just make slides of content with a bunch of back and next buttons. Instead , what you want to do is create amazing learning solutions. That's what the Adobe eLearning World is all about. I always try to think of learning solutions rather than just slides. Think about how you learn in real life and then capture that on the digital page. Use stories and provide your learner's experiences to solve on their own with the clues you provide them. Make it relatable to what your learners experience and they will not only enjoy the eLearning you design but look forward to the next online training they get from you.

Business Continuity and Where eLearning Fits Within It

I'm very fortunate to be a freelance teacher and eLearning designer, developer. With very few exceptions, I do most of my work from the comfort of my home office. The COVID-19 pandemic has had only the smallest impact on me. Part of my work, though does involve face-to-face training. For example, Adobe had scheduled me to be one of the facilitators for the upcoming Adobe Certified Professional: Adobe Captivate Workshops and a speaker for the Adobe eLearning Conference on the following day. As we now know, Adobe has cancelled these events. That means that I will not be earning revenue as a freelance facilitator and speaker for these events. Personally, this is a small price to pay for the safety of everyone involved.

More frequently, I conduct most of my business entirely online. If you require training on Adobe Captivate, I offer group and more often one-on-one training online. Customers can purchase an hour of my time. I will then meet with them online using web-conferencing software. One of the advantages is that this style of training is relatively inexpensive to conduct. All that's needed is an internet connection and appropriate software. More importantly, right now, this type of training is completely safe. There is no unnecessary contact as each of us can be in our homes while learning about Adobe Captivate.

I still also perform the role of eLearning designer, developer, and the same circumstances exist for this as well. For example, at the time I wrote this entry, I just spent an hour or so discussing a new job with a potential customer via Zoom web conferencing. If all goes well and the project is approved, I will spend the next several months developing online training for one of Canada's largest organizations without leaving my home.

Sometimes you will hear about the advantages of instructor-led training and how eLearning doesn't offer the same benefits. Remember, there are benefits to eLearning that you can't guarantee with instructor-led training as well. One aspect that comes to mind is consistency. You might have trainers across the whole country, and one might be more talented and engaged than the next. Perhaps the trainer in one region skips content he or she feels isn't as important. The result is that some employees may not be getting the best experience and learning in that region. eLearning can ensure consistency. Everyone receives the same training, and the course designer can ensure that delivery is the same regardless of location.

I've also heard people criticize eLearning because it cannot give you that engaging experience that classroom training can. I think it depends on the eLearning designer. If your designer digitizes the PowerPoint file for the classroom training and adds some Back and Next buttons on each slide, then the online training will be less effective. I like to design my online learning to include a variety of techniques to make it useful. I prefer to take the knowledge and skills from traditional training and transform them into scenario-based training. This type of training is far more relatable because it tells a story and challenges the learner to make choices that are not just based on the "right" or "wrong" answers but instead on the customer scenarios that they may encounter in the real world.

In the end, the most significant benefit is the reduced cost of making eLearning available across vast areas that a company may operate. It doesn't get much bigger geographically speaking than Canada. When I taught the store manager curriculum for a Canadian retailer who ran stores across Canada, I traveled from one end of the country to the other. When you add up the flights, the hotels, the meals, and all the cab rides to and from the various destinations, you may begin to question the validity of performing training in this way. The topics in this curriculum were reading profit and loss statements, scheduling employees, inventory management, and so on. I now see how all that training could be online. If I had stayed at the organization, I would have made that recommendation at some point.

So as you're considering your next training initiative, don't discount online learning because of the various items that it doesn't include that face-to-face training has. If you select the right eLearning designer, developer, they can address those issues, given the right amount of time and resources. If you would like to schedule a call where we can discuss your next online learning training initiative reach out to me using the link in the menu at the top of this page. I would be happy to have a conversation about how I can help you and your organization.