What Now?

(I think the only person not experiencing an entire life upheaval is probably one living on a no-contact island in the middle of the Pacific Ocean.)

I’m not even gonna pretend that anything’s normal or use “new normal.”

Nothing’s normal. 

What Now?

If you’re someone inclined to help people or inclined to take action, it’s hard to decide where to start. When everything’s on fire, where do you aim the hose? 

I’ve been working with clients on business management and initiatives over the past few weeks, and here’s what’s working. 

Simplify: Implement an MVP.

The MVP is the “Minimum Viable Product”.

Pick one course of action and implement, then add on. 

MVP for Garden Centers

For example: a garden center that is closed might start by offering a “takeout menu” of a few plant packages. These can be listed on social media or on your website. You can ask people to call in and order for contactless pickup. 

Example packages:

• Tomato Lovers (includes 1 cherry, 1 slicing, 1 paste)
• Sunny Perennials Pack (includes 3 plants: 1 coneflower, 1 Russian sage, 1 blanket flower)
• Salad Starter (includes 4 lettuce plants, 2 green onion plants, and two kale plants)
• Porch pick-me up (Includes 6 pansies, 2 alyssum)

Doing this streamlines your process and cuts down on the amount of inventory you have to manage RIGHT NOW. When you run out of those packages, make 5-10 new ones. 

You can even market this as your “Garden deal of the week!” “While supplies last.”

Once you get that going smoothly, if you want to add delivery, you can. 

Or, you can start a simple online shop with your packages of the week. 

You do not have to do everything at once!  Pick one thing and make it successful. If it’s not successful, pivot, quickly.

MVP for Speakers

Were all of your spring talks canceled? There’s no need to build a huge online course right now.

Here’s what an MVP could look like for you:

• Pick a topic that you know a lot about and that will help people. This could be, how to grow your own food. A lot of people want to know about that. Better yet, make it local!
• Start building an email list. (My webinar replay and handy links about how to do that are below, in case you missed it.) Your email list will allow you tell people you’re offering something new. 
• Choose which way you want to go: Offer online consultations for a fee (here’s an example), or offer to give your presentations via webinar. You could offer this to private groups for one fee (and each group member gets the link – they’re not in the same room, they’re in the same zoom), or offer to any individual who wants to sign up for a small fee.  (Upcoming: a webinar about how to do webinars, but I need to schedule it.)
• Publicize your offering.

Right now, I’m working with an awesome client to do just that. It’s exciting!

MVP for Helpers

Choose one thing you can do, and then add on. (Beyond staying home if you can.)

For example: 

Sew masks for your local healthcare workers.
or
Offer to cook meals and drop on the porch for a healthcare worker.
or
Offer to help another business owner with tech if they’re confused.
or
Offer to get on zoom with your friends’ kids and help them with school lessons once a week. (My friend Leslie offered this to her friends. Super creative.). 

Just pick one thing and focus on it. 

Email Marketing Webinar Replay

Did you miss the email marketing webinar? No problem. The replay is up on my Google Drive. 

Handy Files and Links

During the webinar, I mentioned a bunch of links.
Graphics for IGCs and garden communicators to use are in dropbox here.

Linktree:  https://linktr.ee/

Online signature maker:  https://www.docsketch.com/online-signature/

Canva:  https://www.canva.com/

Join by Text:  https://www.joinbytext.com/

TL;DR: Pick one new thing, get it going well, and then get another new thing going. If the first one doesn’t work, and you’ve really focused and tried your best, pivot, and pivot quickly. 

Quick Pivot Examples

There are so many examples of creative ideas that places are implementing to continue to provide service during this complete re-arrangement of the economy. 

Here are a few for inspiration. 

Garden speaker now giving online consults.

Pansy drive-through program.
(Thanks for sending to me Sid!)

Retail/wholesale nursery grower starting a referral program to help garden centers. IGCs, check this out. This solution might be a quick pivot solution for YOU. My team was super happy to help with aspects of this project.

Need Help?

Do you need help creating a quick ecommerce presence, setting up your own webinar series, getting your email marketing going, or have any other digital marketing needs? 

I’d love to chat and see if my team and I can make a difference for you. 

You can book a 15 minute discovery call here. (Please fill out the form completely so I can be of most help to you!)
 

Stay safe and well!