Tag: covid

Customer Service And Mask Wearing

I continue to wear masks
as I can’t afford to be ill.

Whenever I shop or dine out
or do anything,
I prefer to deal
with mask-wearing people.

I am, for example,
much more likely
to enter a store
if I see at least one person
wearing a mask.

Yes, there are scared
and angry people
who are set off
by people wearing masks.

But there are also
plenty of people
who prefer to deal with
mask wearers.

They feel mask wearers
are safer,
more inclusive,
more accepting people.

Consider having at the very least
one mask wearer on your staff
and then protect that person.

News Means New

A buddy was surprised
when I told him
bird flu was still killing
thousands of birds
and other animals.

He was investigating
starting a free range
chicken farm.

He told me he hadn’t seen
anything
on the news
recently about bird flu.
He assumed it was over.

He didn’t see anything
on the news
because
media got bored of that ongoing story
and moved on.

News, in today’s world,
means new.

If it is
disastrous flooding
in Europe
or wildfires in Australia
or COVID deaths
…well…everywhere,
the news isn’t covering it
because all that
is now considered ‘normal.’

(And also because
covering it doesn’t sell
their advertisers’ products
or promote their owners’ agendas.)

Don’t assume
if it isn’t
on the news,
it isn’t happening.

Do your own research.

The Best Time To Start A Business

The best time
to start a business
is now.

This was true
10 years ago
and it is especially true
today.

Why is it especially true today?

Because climate change
and other issues
are making
doing…well…anything
tougher and tougher.

Resources will become
more and more limited.

We need resources
to start businesses.

And because we know
today we’re well enough,
strong enough,
passionate enough.
alive enough
to start a business.

That might not be true
tomorrow.

If starting a business
is a dream of yours,
start working on that dream
today.

For Their Health

A buddy in the the travel business
told me
they are seeing an increase
in bookings for vacations
for ‘mental health reasons.’

The world is a mess.
People are under
a lot of stress due to that.

They are searching
for ways
to decrease that stress.

Does your product/service
decrease stress?

Does it offer an escape?
Does it take some of the workload
off people?
Does it make their lives easier?

Stress that
in your marketing material.

Encourage prospects
to buy your products/services
‘for their mental health.’

There’s a growing need
for that.

Your Customer Service Sucks Right Now

In my part of the world,
1 in 25 people (or more)
are currently suffering
from COVID.

That’s one illness alone.

There are wars happening
that impact
people’s families and friends.

Climate change
is still impacting people
and their loved ones.

People are facing
many other challenges.

These people include
your sales and other customer facing
teams.

Customer service is,
as a result,
sucking big time.

And that is impacting
your customers
and your sales.

What can you do
about this?

You can build
more customer service
into your products.
Place a thank you message
on your packaging, for example.

Or/And

You can tweak your systems
to make customer service easier
for your employees.
You can take out steps
in the product return process,
for example.

Or/And

You can hire more employees.
Or give employees more paid breaks
during the day.
Or make their working conditions
as pleasant as possible.

These are just a few fast ideas.
Your customer facing employees
can likely supply more.

Your customer service
sucks right now.

Do something to ‘fix’ it
and improve future sales.

You Can’t Solve A Problem If You Don’t Talk About That Problem

If you run a business
that involves
partnering with people,
employing people,
selling to people,
COVID is,
right now,
a big f*cking problem
for you.

You and I likely don’t know
how big of a problem
it is
for us.

That drop in sales?
It is likely COVID-related.
That slow turnaround time?
It is likely COVID-related.
That demand for increased wages?
That is DEFINITELY COVID-related.

And the problem of COVID
isn’t getting solved quickly.

Why?

Because no one
is talking openly about the problem.
Many people
are pretending it doesn’t exist.

And that doesn’t
lead to any f*ckin’ solutions.

If you want
problems to be solved,
start
by talking about them.

We Can’t Afford To Be Ill

I can’t afford to be ill.

I live in Canada.
My stance doesn’t have
anything to do
with the financial costs
of medical care.

It has to do with time.
I don’t have the spare time
to be ill.
I don’t WANT to spend
time being ill.

I have books to write
(products to produce),
businesses to run,
other things I’d prefer
to do.

So I take precautions.
I wear a mask.
I wash my hands.
I improve ventilation
in spaces I occupy
(I have a personal air purifier
I hang on an lanyard
and wear around my neck.)

All of this
takes mere seconds.

I can then focus on other things.

And I save countless days
not being ill.

You and I can’t afford to be ill.

Preventing illness
has a huge return on investment.

Make that investment.

Take Chest Pains Seriously

We were informed
that yet another loved one
has passed from a heart attack.
He was young, fit,
full of life.

A day before his death,
he complained
of chest pains.
He thought he’d pulled something
during his workout.

The next day,
he was dead.

Take chest pains seriously.

You can’t build a business
if you’re dead.

Get your a$$ to emergency
and ensure you are thoroughly examined.

Then,
when you’re given
the all clear,
return to building your business
and changing the world.

Wishing To Be Wrong But Preparing To Be Right

I hope to be wrong
about climate change
and about COVID.

Being wrong
is the best case scenario
and f*ck,
I want that best case scenario
to happen
so f*ckin’ bad.

But I’m preparing
to be right.

I’m preparing for food shortages.
I’m preparing for mass disability.
I’m preparing for floods.
I’m preparing not to have
the ability to write books
or expend a lot of energy
running the business.

If I’m wrong,
and I hope
I WILL be wrong,
I’ll have extra food.
I’ll have extra funds.
I’ll have a business
that almost runs itself.

There’s no significant downside
to preparing.
But there is a significant downside
to not preparing.

Hope to be wrong
regarding the dire predictions
but prepare to be right.

If Problems Go Away

A scientist posted
about how many people
think ignoring a problem
will make it magically go away.

That’s because
for many people
that is exactly what happens
…for them.

Someone else,
likely someone like you or me,
puts in the hard work
and fixes the problem.

All the other people
have to do
is mention it IS a problem
for them.

They complain to the manager.
(That manager might be the general internet
or their spouse
or some other person/entity.)

And that manager fixes it.

The challenge we’re seeing
right now
is there are a lot of problems
to fix
and
not enough people fixing problems.

If your problems
go away
without you having done anything
to fix them,
someone else is doing
that work.

Problems
don’t magically
fix themselves.