Decline, Survival, and Restart: Handling a Start-up in a Time of Pandemic

When NCR was put on lockdown a year ago, we felt that the looming pandemic was not an iota. Have you any idea that this has never happened in the past hundred years since the Spanish Flu? We faced the more recent H1N1 and SARS before but COVID 19 appeared to be more deleterious.

Soon enough, the country’s economic center has declined. The halt was a clear threat for every economic activity, both big and small. Business owners began groping in the dark trying to navigate through the uncertainty of entrepreneurial ventures. Capital resources, raw materials, and goods, let alone human resources, had become scanter, inaccessible even. There was an economic tremor—and we at Lináng felt it too.

The business was going well not until the pandemic hit hard. Annual income down sloped dramatically as social gatherings were restricted and schools prohibit physical classes. Unfortunately, the majority of our projects banks on this type of market. Gross income declined up to 85%. But we were not overall defeated because creatives do not give up too soon in tough times. We learn instead. Here are some ways we managed to survive the decline:

We survived by resting. While work allows us to practice our skills and make a living, rest gives balance to work so we can make a life. Taking some time to pause means to appreciate the things that we tend to take for granted and trade-off for work: the gift of family and friends, our important dates, the serene nature, the unique skies, the dreamy sunsets, and ironically, our selves. Oftentimes, we compromise our physical and mental health, our personal development, and our solitude just to remain faithful to the grind. But the long pandemic pause caused us to realign our priorities and get back to the essence of work-rest balance.

We survived by cultivating ourselves. All of a sudden, we were given a plethora of free time that nonetheless entailed a promise of uncertainty. We got to find other ways to do business to survive but doing so was not easy. To cope with this situation, we invested in another basket called personal cultivation. We believe that self-investment makes guaranteed returns. If we flourish on a personal level, we advance on our professional service. Go get that gear you always wanted, that professional help you needed, that tutorial you always planned to watch, that shoes you always wanted to wear. As long as the investments we make contribute to our development, consider them assets.

We survived by shifting direction. The lockdown was a time when we learned new crafts, got back to gardening, read new books, improved on our digital skills, and explored new business ideas. Since the situation does not permit our existing business services to work, we felt an impression to shift direction, hence, this brand relaunch. So, stick around because new things are coming up soon! Indeed, change is inevitable to progress.

Different people responded in different ways to this pandemic. Some thrived, some plateaued, and some lost track as we did. Still, know by heart that if the only thing you did during these hard times is to survive, you are still remarkable! No matter how long the process of survival takes, the time is always right to get back up and try again.

For almost a year, business was down. But we are recovering in terraces, coming up with new plans, new perspectives, and new priorities. Cultivating creativity is our new mantra for yet another start-up and we would love individuals like you to flow with us through the stream of life.

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How did your startup business survive the pandemic? We would love to hear from you!