Okay so, handling stress, pressure, a reduction in income, figuring out how to be positive, remaining productive and profitable the lockdown.
So if you’re in the UK, we are in Lockdown 770 and I have done videos and content on this before and I have had four very common questions about the lockdown and I’m going to answer those four questions in some detail.
- How do you stay positive and productive when the world isn’t?
Well, you have to shut out the noise. It’s as simple as that. You have to cultivate your social media feeds very carefully, you have to curate your friendships very carefully and you have to be very careful about the media and influences you put into your head.
So, I’ve made a commitment through the lockdown that I’m only going to have one conversation per day about the government, about Boris, about Trump, about the lockdown, one conversation a day only, and that’s it. Why? because I have to protect my energy, people say time is money. I’d say time is energy and you must protect your energy.
Now, when you go down your feed and you see something that you don’t like and triggers, you block it, unfollow it unfriended, ban it and report it. You’ve got to because if you’re getting triggered by social media, triggered by politics, triggered by the divisive nature of opinion and the whole world is scared. On a mass humanitarian level, we’ve not had a pandemic of fear like this on a global humanitarian level, probably since the Second World War, and I wasn’t there to experience it.
So, the next thing is the books you read and the podcasts and audio programs you listen to you need to curate them very carefully. Now, the problem you have here is good news is not that exciting when you compare it to a good old debate, argument or discussion. We are programmed to be more linked to negativity. So you have to take control and not deal in drama, aim to deal in dollars.
- How to handle kids in lockdown, especially as an entrepreneur.
All right, look, homeschooling is hard enough, I mean, raising kids is hard enough and of course, it’s rewarding, but it’s hard but homeschooling is even harder especially if you’re a single parent and you’re also trying to run a business.
Everyone has found homeschooling hard but here’s a tip, get a routine and compartmentalise your diary and batch your time and manage your time really well before they get up and after they go to bed so you can get a good couple of hours of work in for yourself and your business.
Any single parent out there. I salute you, hats off to you, you are awesome. Remember that and don’t beat yourself up and adjust your expectations because the world has changed. Don’t compare yourself to how you think the perfect parent is in your head. Don’t beat yourself up about what you’re doing because in lockdown it’s tough and you can’t get help from nannies or others right now and there’s a lot of mum guilt about spending every second of every day with your children but you don’t need to, and you shouldn’t actually because it’s good for them to be around other people.
- Dealing with depression in lockdown
So, unfortunately, more people are dealing with depression in the lockdown and obviously, that hurts me to hear that. Now, I think the first thing is to define what depression is. Elation is seeing only good and all good and very good. Depression is seeing only bad and all bad and nothing but bad. So both are actually unrealistic or at least unsustainable because nothing is all good and nothing’s all bad.
So if you’re feeling depressed, it’s because you’re only seeing the downsides of the lockdown, the downsides of the homeschooling, the downsides of the reduction in maybe your income. But if you were to look at the upsides, going on long walks, connecting with your family pivoting to an online business model, maybe questioning what you want to do with the rest of your life, if you’re considering if you want to be employed or if you want to start your business or side hustle, these are upsides.
Now, when you focus on the problem and all the things that are wrong, you go down into it like going into a black hole. Whereas if you think about the upsides, the benefits, what you’re grateful for, how your future could be changed for the positive, where the opportunities are, then you’ll lift yourself out of the depression quite quickly.
And if you want to give yourself some help, then surround yourself with positive audiobooks and surround yourself with positive people. Because what you put in your mind will affect you so you have to be very aware and cognizant of what you’re putting in your mind.
Okay to add to this I just want to say one thing, if you feel like you’re really medically unwell or there’s a clinical element, please do see a doctor and please do reach out to a professional. Do not be scared to ask for help. Do not feel too proud to be vulnerable. Let people help you as It’s a great gift to them as well as it is hopefully helping you as there’s too much pride, especially with males.
The whole movement of vulnerability, I think, has been really good to help us talk more and for us all not to see asking for help as a bad thing and not having to fix and solve everything ourselves and suffer alone. And by the way, the people who suffer alone are often not the people you expect, the comedians, the celebrities, the leaders, the millionaires and the billionaires. No one is exempt, to feeling lost, lonely and alone. But you must reach out for help and take full responsibility
- How do you make more money during lockdown?
Okay so obviously, things like online deliveries are working very well as it’s accessible to anyone. Platforms such as eCommerce, Amazon, eBay Shopify etc are exploding and getting your products sold online and generating your leads and traffic online are growing areas.
And now these business models are probably even less risky and even more scalable than traditional businesses and another lower-cost version of that business model is informational businesses whereby you turn your passion into your profession. Turn the information in your head into income in your bank account and that’s what I was fortunate to be able to do.
I started in 2008 with my very first book has generated an eight-figure income per year from my information business. Now I’ve got courses, masterminds, mentorships, supporter programs, Patreon programs and it’s generated my business a huge amount of income and I’m really grateful.
Now, many of you could start a consulting business where you help other people and support them in their times of need starting their business or by acting as a coach, a consultant, a trainer or an educator and there’s no stock, no overhead, no premises, just information
You can set up some kind of membership site and record all your content and run a Webinar and create a good solution to a meaningful problem your target audience has and as a result, you will start making more money.
All you need to do is research where your new customers are and who your new customer is and solve the problems and pain that exist for them because the money is in solutions. So go and find these new problems, create the solutions and this will grow your income.
