In the construction industry, we are designated as essential services, and we continue to operate. That being said, it certainly is not business as usual however, we are continuing to function amongst the ambiguity and continually reassessing and making adaptations. The stress of putting together crew schedules with limited staff per site and enforcing social distancing measures is a challenge but manageable. On top of this, there are many supply chain disruptions due to closure of manufacturers or delays due to reduced production staff or hours of operation which adds to the complexity of the situation faced by entrepreneurs. My heart goes out to the businesses who have been forced to close their doors. I can only imagine the level of anxiety and pressure that has been placed on them and their staff, financially and emotionally. Many of them have put blood, sweat and tears into building their companies and, unfortunately, some companies will be lost due to this pandemic. I believe that in the time being, we must cope with our ‘new normal’ and, hopefully soon, we will begin taking small steps working towards a better solution where businesses can reopen or expand operations once again. Each new state of normality will come with hurdles and we must continue to embrace it and learn to accommodate on both personal and business levels. As an optimist, which you must be as an entrepreneur, I am looking to the future and the progress we have made in terms of remote working and home office solutions. This stage of our ‘new normal’ came with the realization that we do not need to be travelling to a downtown core to do our jobs, face-to-face meetings are appreciated but not necessary, and we should take better advantage of our available technology. We will use e-commerce at an explosive rate as we have been forced to make the switch during isolation and have become more familiar.
CONTRACTOR’S STRESSFUL TIMES FOR ENTREPRENEURS AND SMALL BUSINESS OWNERS
by Dan Monk
A s you can imagine, during a global pandemic, it has become more challenging to be an entrepreneur and small business owner. I wanted to share with you some of my thoughts, challenges, expectations, and optimism. Firstly, stress is always present as an entrepre- neur. However, the additional stress placed upon business owners at this time is exponential. Being constantly concerned for the health and wellness of your staff, clients, subtrades, suppliers, and our family has added a level of stress that I have never experienced before in my business nor in my personal life.
lives and is a great source of information, but one of the main challenges is to sort the accurate infor- mation from the fake news. Another side effect of social media is potentially sensory overload. We are constantly being inundated with information regarding the crisis which makes it difficult to take a step back and relax. This is taking a toll on many people in our society which is causing higher levels of anxiety and fear, thus the hysteria. This hectic environment ultimately hinders our ability to focus, first and foremost, on staying safe and healthy. In many cases, shutting off or limiting the social media is necessary to maintain personal mental health and well being - entrepreneurs are no exception.
Social media plays an ever-increasing roll in our
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JUNE 2020 • SPOTLIGHT ON BUSINESS MAGAZINE
SPOTLIGHT ON BUSINESS MAGAZINE • JUNE 2020
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