WHAT ARE 3 KEY POSITIVES COVID-19 HAS HAD ON YOUR BUSINESS ?
JULIA : The first positive is that Covid-19 has allowed me to take a step back and look at the way we were running and I realised that I didn ' t need to work crazy hours in order to have a successful business . All of a sudden I was eating dinner every night with my family and I took up a hobby and reclaimed my weekends . The second positive has been my amazing teams in both Melbourne and Sydney who took all of this in their stride . My Sydney team kept the store operating without me during Melbourne ' s Stage 4 lockdown and my Melbourne team coped with every setback we had along the way ( including having to go through a second round of cancellations and refunds when we should have been opening up again ). Miss Biscuit would not be where it is today without them and I ' m incredibly grateful to have them on board . The third positive and one that I ' m also very thankful for is the wider Miss Biscuit customer community who have been so understanding , so supportive and very kind to us during this time . Our customers sent us flowers , cards , chocolates and messages and I will never forget what they did for us when we were stressed and unsure about the future .
MONICA : I could list a hundred positives Covid has had on my business . I was only chatting about this with some industry friends in recent weeks , but to save your reading it all , here is a couple in point form :
• Planning . I now plan a year in advance .
• I have learnt the importance of making marketing a priority .
• Use the tools you have at your disposal first before you look elsewhere .
• International branding was on my list for 2020 . I still achieved this , but I needed to change my perspective on how to get there . Anything is possible when you are determined .
• Networking , communication and support – all vital ingredients to success and becoming known .