Launching a business during a pandemic

The rewards of working for yourself, following your own path or turning a side hustle in to the main hustle, are hugely rewarding. Although, it will come with some struggle too... To be in business from a multi-cultural background, you may run into more challenging situations because of your demographic. You will be expected to rise, to succeed, to fail and to rise again, which can be exhausting. However, the rewards on the other side, are absolutely worth it!

So if you have an idea, this is the perfect time to incubate and discover if your business has legs and how to run with it. To achieve anything, you must first start, you must visualise the goal and leap toward it, with both feet first.

Timing is everything.

There are often very clear indications of when is the right time to start your business, such as having extra time or money to invest, a clear gap in the market for your product or service, or maybe you have a great skill that friends and family are urging you to turn professional. So, you were all set to get started, but then who could have predicted a global shutdown of everything, right at the time you planned to launch. So how do you know whether this is still the right time to proceed? There are a couple of key questions to ask yourself:

'Is my business still relevant, considering the economic changes that have occurred?'

'Will people still need what my business provides now, or in the near future?'

If the answer to both of these is yes, then this is could still a great to launch your business. So continue with your launch prep, build a library of content, improve and expand your skillset. The key thing is to continue with what you was working on, as much as you can. It can be very easy to talk yourself out of starting altogether at the first hurdle, as our brains are wired to take us back to a more comfortable, easy place. It is true 'comfort breads complacency', although so we also know greatness can be achieved though dedication, hard work, a clear vision of your goal and keen focus on how to reach it. Having your own business can deliver a great a work / life balance, especially when your work is something that you love.
 

In the simplest terms, those are the main questions I asked myself too, ahead of launching ACE Entrepreneurs. In fact, what I found was; in these challenging times, to be able to reach out to other diverse, female, entrepreneurs for support, growth and motivation, is the exact reason why we needed a business like ACE now.
 

The juggling act.
 

Women are, almost without exception, expected to juggle everything - childcare, a home, the corporate ladder, assimilation to various environments etc, but never to mention any strain all this may cause. Mainly because there is no real empathy. We are expected to 'continue as usual', whether working remotely, or from the office. I sympathise with this. I have a toddler at home which means my work times (at the moment), are usually a stolen hour during nap times, or the late evening - a couple of nights a week. However, this is actually a good balance of my time, I am able to work without distractions or causing burnout.

I may not have a a traditional job, but I still organise myself with set time slots for work, care and rest. So can all the women reading this, take a moment to pat yourselves on the back. It is ok if you need to stop, remember to breath, enjoy play and realise - we are making good progress in many areas.

We must all remember though - a good work life balance is imperative.

Same day, different environment
 

So looking at this pragmatically I can say, three things have not changed for me personally.
 

1. I have always been my own self motivation. I want to continue to expand on this, not just for me, but for this a new community of diverse entrepreneurs.
 

2. Juggling a child, work and home has become my new normal, hence I'm writing this blog at 11:30pm. I don't have to get up to commute to work, which means I must make the most of this static moment. My mindset is always looking at the upside, of every situation.
 

3. Nothing is permanent. This moment will pass, business' will pivot, change, start and be reborn.
 

So these are my main reasons for launching ACE during a pandemic. If you are also considering whether to start or continue your business, you may want to start with these kinds of questions. Also ask yourself; can you sell online, can you work remotely, is this a real passion or a fleeting dream, do you have the skills to achieve your goal?

Ultimately - how can you use this time to work on your business and yourself. Just know, we can do this! Alone Together.