The past nine months have been one crazy ride for all of us. Our world, our country, and our workplaces will never be the same. We’ve used more hand sanitizer in one year than in our entire lifetime combined, struggled to create “new normals” during this “unprecedented time,” and had the word “zoom” take on a whole new meaning. As we have navigated running a business during this 2020 pandemic, we’ve learned four important lessons that we thought we’d pass along:
1. Relationships are key.
Trusted relationships are the bedrock of good business. That statement could not have been more true during this wild year. During this crisis, clients valued their trusted agents more than ever. Keep building those relationships!
2. Prioritizing is king.
Whether it was doing a task for your family first and then answering an email for your business next, 2020 taught us to organize our lives in a way that got stuff done. We learned not to sweat the small stuff and to make sure all the little things were in order (like being compliant with our CEs), so that we could focus on the bigger, better things like growing our businesses and taking care of our families.
3. Be flexible.
In 2020, more than any other year, we’ve seen the need for innovation and flexibility. In order to navigate this new reality, our businesses have had to develop new and different ways to engage with clients, carriers, and almost everything and everyone else! The businesses that have “rolled with the punches” this year will be the most successful ones in the years to come.
4. We can’t do it all.
Finally, if 2020 has taught us anything, it’s that we really can’t do it all. While this might be a disappointment to some, for others, this idea is hopefully freeing. We can’t be and do all the things for all the people, and that’s ok. Sometimes life and circumstances will get in the way of accomplishing everything we want to get done. But, instead of overworking to try to compensate, we can take the “speed bump” of bad circumstances to pause and recalibrate and see what is truly important.
Although we are all craving a more “normal” way of life, 2020 has taught us how to adapt and what resiliency really means. And even though this year was unimaginably hard in so many ways, learning how to be ok with not “doing it all,” prioritize what is most important, innovate constantly, and focus on relationships this year will most definitely help our businesses in the long run. Here’s to 2020 finally coming to an end and to all the new, exciting things that will happen in 2021!
