Write up a mid-year “State of My Year” post.
Well these writing prompts are really throwing it at me. So, how is 2020 going?! To say that least 2020 isn’t going to plan!
Starting the year I was finishing up a contract at the CW Chamber of Commerce helping run their ICT Project which looked to help local businesses understand the availability of super-fast broadband and how it can enable new ways of working. This was a great project to be working on and I not only made some great friends at the Chamber but got to understand a whole lot more about the local business environment in Coventry and Warwickshire. This project was delivered using a mixture of face-to-face one-to-many training sessions and some one-to-one time spent within the business to help implement the learning. (To summarise, we did great and hit target!)
This was always a fixed term contract and due to finish at the end of March 2020 and my plan was to continue the training sessions under the website https://encode.training helping local businesses with learning how to use WordPress and craft their own digital presence, and an introduction to SEO to cover Google’s Search Console and Analytics. Between the two workshops, each business owner should then have the confidence to craft and create great content, and make sure they are seeing a return on investment for the time and effort they put in.
That was the plan…
Little did I know that a week before I was due to get back into being a business owner this little thing call Covid-19 would hit and the world including my business world would be turned upside down. The face-to-face workshops went out the window.
Thankfully (and I am) I am in an industry that has been able to continue during this period. The complete stop at the start of April gave everyone the opportunity to sit down and think about how their websites are working for them. What new opportunities this situation can bring them? What can be improved?
Where I thought I would be using business networking as a route to market, to help build a prospect list, thank fully I have had enough enquiries through the door, and it has also given the chance to regroup. Working with Gema, my wife, in the business, and a business advisor from the Chamber of Commerce has also helped shape my thoughts giving new ideas and helping me to formulate actually what I want to do rather than what I need to do. Getting back to marketing and building websites to help local SME’s get their place on the web, but also so that their websites actually work for them.
Onwards and Upwards
So, August is just around the corner and before we know it the leaves will fall and night will get shorter, but what will the rest of the year consist of? Hopefully not a second wave, and hopefully a vaccine, but one thing the first half of the year has show is whatever happens, life continues. Even if it’s not how you thought it would.
How is your year? Let me know in the comments below.