Writing this blog was hard. Like. Really hard.
I tried. Jaclyn tried. Pamela who has 3 kids and is now running a homeschool just laughed and said, “NOPE.” Now I’m trying again.
We are a business that is run from home. Each of us has a home office. We go out to client offices and coffee shops for meetings. We work on our own with pets and couches and all the benefits and distractions that come with working from home. We’re really good at connecting remotely through chat and phone and video meetings. We have all the tools to stay connected without leaving the house.
Nine weeks ago, our business was turned upside down when COVID-19 forced us all into isolation.
You’d think, “They’ve got this. It’s business as usual for them.” And yes, many things haven’t changed in terms of our tools and locations. But many things have.
Some of our clients have put things on pause. Some others have popped up using this time to work on projects that can be done from home. Writing projects.
But essentially, we’re finding work trickier these days.
Why?
We’re staying home and sheltering in place. Some of our family members still work outside the home, but the rest of us are home. Pamela and Jaclyn have kids at home. Not just around but with the expectation that they’re supporting their education. Old routines are out, and with so many unknowns, new routines are hard to develop and follow.
We’re all doing renovations. Painting. Sanding. Pulling things apart and putting things together. All the good things that we’d planned to do someday but now are doing to keep physically busy and pass time.
We worry. We don’t know how things will be one month, two months, six months down the road. Will our marketing and network keep us busy or will we run out of work? We talk about ways to change the way we connect to potential clients. But we also fret about things because no one knows how long this will last and how things will be different when it is over.
We connect. We check in with each other for work and for personal connections. We use all the same tools and try to remember to make sure we use them.
We are forgiving. To each other. To ourselves. To our clients who are going through their own challenges. We all need to be flexible and we are grateful for everyone who gives us the same patience in return. Even if it feels like you should sail through this, it's okay if you are feeling overwhelmed. Working from home during a pandemic is not business as usual, even for people like us who do it regularly.
We’re taking breaks. When schedules are off and work is irregular, it is hard to tell what day it is. Sometimes you need a walk or a nap. Other times you need a day off from everything. Those breaks help us to keep going.
We’re working. Some days we do great and push out a lot of work. Other days we remind each other to be patient with ourselves or with clients who are struggling. When we meet with clients online, we’ve noticed people are more apt to check in with each other with a sigh or a laugh about the state of the world before getting down to business.
How are we all doing?
Just like you. It depends on the day.
Total time to write this blog: 3 1/2 weeks.
Scriptorium is still open for business. If you have time to work on your company policy and procedure, or you want to build online course materials, we are here to support you. We can help you write policies and procedures to protect your customers and employees as your business re-opens during the global pandemic. Contact us if you need help.