This is a slightly different blog post to what I’m used to. I won’t be explaining the different finishing effects of scabblers with a 200mm drum as opposed to a 250mm drum, or why I would recommend one dust extractor over another when removing a specific floor covering.
This post is to look at the life of a small family run business when the world went into lockdown at the beginning of 2020. So that we can look back on this in years to come and hopefully champion the fact that we all came through it.
On the 23rd March 2020, our Prime Minister, Boris Johnson announced lockdown over the UK.
That evening, we as a company decided that we would cease trading until more information became available from the government. We, as I’m sure every other business owner, bar Amazon evidently, had questions of “How long can we survive?”, “Where can we save money?”, “How do we do the best for our staff?” which began to fill the contaminated air. The days that followed had an inordinate and immediate sense of “batten down the hatches” until it was apparent that some construction work must still continue.
Some of our customers were still required to continue working on NHS & Military sites, therefore we were still required to service them too. We completely scaled back our staff to who was absolutely necessary and for the first time in 20 years, my father, our MD, became our number one delivery driver.
From a business perspective we were lucky, although “lucky” seems to be an obscure word to use, given the circumstances.
But our phones still rang, the orders continued to trickle in, and by the end of April, we seemed to be weathering the storm. Of course, at this point we’re only mid-May, so it’s too soon to know the long term affect, but at this stage we hope we aren’t foolish in feeling that we will get through this with a fully operating and profitable business.
From a personal point of view, the uncertainty and unfamiliarity of the circumstances have been hard to comprehend. I’m the type of person that likes to plan, to have a solution for each potential outcome, and to know how to deal with a crisis. But I had no answers, and I had to learn to go with the flow, whilst my husband continued to work for the NHS and I worked from home with a toddler in tow.
However, I have learnt that I can actually cook, but still hate to do so. My painting capabilities leave a lot to be desired, but my daughter will always praise me with, “that’s amazing!” and the power of a rainbow in a window can actually bring many a community together.
At this point all we can do is continue doing what we do best. Ensuring our machines are serviced to the highest standard, our deliveries are on time, and our level of customer service remains. All whilst the safety of our staff and customers remaining paramount. Oh, and hope the phone continues to ring, and I can put the skip I’ll need to contain my empty wine bottles through expenses.
