Episode 21: Let's take care of ourselves during Covid-19
Sam talks about the impacts on the accounting and advisory industry, as well as on our clients, of the coronavirus pandemic. She explains why your physical and mental health needs to be the number 1 priority right now, and how that enables you to respond better in business. This is a marathon not a sprint.
Sam outlines what you need to do to apply first aid to your own business, and what you need to think about in terms of both what and how you communicate as a leader and a team right now. She also explains why shifting to upfront pricing and upfront charing is more important now than ever and the simple power and opportunity of conversations where you simply listen to your clients right now.
Please keep safe and strong. These are unheralded times and our normal has changed. It's okay to have bad days and it's okay not to be your most productive. We are in a pandemic and we've never seen the likes of it before. Get support, look after yourselves, look after your family, find joy in little things during the day, if you can.
We are all in this together, so let's reach out as a community and get together.
Listen to a snippet
What we cover in this episode
Why your physical and mental health needs to be the number 1 priority right now
The importance of responding rather than reacting to this crisis, knowing that this is a marathon not a sprint
What you need to do to apply first aid to your own business right now
What we can learn from our business clients about managing uncertainty in business
The opportunity we have as advisors right now to support our clients in their panic and help them navigate and make good decisions
The power of conversations and listening to your clients right now
What you need to think about in terms of both what and how you communicate as a leader and team
Why you need to be upfront pricing and upfront charging right now
Steps you can take to keep yourself mentally healthy in life and in business right now
What Sam is grateful for during this time
Quotes
“I really want to focus on you personally, on accountants and the leadership that's required in the accounting industry and and how can we can strengthen and make real opportunity and real growth out of what's happening right now.”
“What we're going through right now isn't a sprint. Over the last couple of weeks there has been that real adrenaline rush, things happening [quickly] and the stimulus [updates] coming through. As accountants we understand that, we can actually deal with it, to some certain extent we can control that. What's happening in health and the lockdown, we can't necessarily control. But we also don't have to solve all those problems now. This is not a sprint. It is a marathon.“
“The other thing that's super important right now for our clients is that we get our own businesses safe. So we do first aid, if you like, on our own businesses, and look at where we can push cash, what stimulus packages are available and what we might be able to benefit from.”
“9 out of 10 businesses are on our database, only 1 out of 10 come to us as a central advisor for most of their needs. This is the time that we can actually start filling that gap…Right now, the problem is that everybody is in panic in businesses. So we need to be checking in and reaching out to our clients.”
“If you have a team of people, you need to sit down first and decide not only what you're going to do, which is actually the simple part, but how and who's going to communicate it and how you keep that consistent. It is so important.”
“[Accountants are] going to actually save [clients] money, hopefully save some of their businesses and if we can’t help them save their businesses, we get them out as safe as we possibly can.”
“It is really important that we get paid, that we keep our staff paid and that we go forward so we can support this industry.”
Links
In this Together Tips for Health and Wellbeing Framework - HeadToHealth.gov.au
20 minute reach out call with Sam Dean - book your call here
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