{"id":5436,"date":"2020-05-20T17:12:53","date_gmt":"2020-05-20T16:12:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.franchiselocal.co.uk\/news\/?p=5436"},"modified":"2020-06-01T17:15:42","modified_gmt":"2020-06-01T16:15:42","slug":"everything-you-thought-you-knew-about-your-business-before-coronavirus-is-fiction","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.franchiselocal.co.uk\/news\/everything-you-thought-you-knew-about-your-business-before-coronavirus-is-fiction\/","title":{"rendered":"Everything you thought you knew about your business before coronavirus is fiction"},"content":{"rendered":"Reading Time: <\/span> 3<\/span> minutes<\/span><\/span>

From his home in Bulgaria, locked down with his wife and baby, entrepreneur Rune Sovndahl considers the brutal and dizzyingly commercial impact of COVID-19. The facts are simple \u2013 if somewhat shocking: 50% of his company\u2019s bookings have disappeared. And, after much thought, he believes that any talk of an instant bounce-back is a sugar-coated delusion. This businessman does not see customers waltzing back as soon as life \u2018returns to normal\u2019. Instead, he is, certain that reviving his business will take an enormous amount of effort and will demand the creation of as-yet-unknowable new business models. After the pandemic, nothing will ever be the same. Business as usual no longer exists.<\/p>\n

Not surprisingly, Rune \u2013 like most of us \u2013 feels fear. However \u2013 and here\u2019s the thing \u2013 that\u2019s not the only over-riding emotion he feels. A powerful and energising sense of excitement and opportunity also drives him.<\/p>\n

Massive shift<\/strong><\/h4>\n

Rune\u2019s business, Fantastic Services \u2013 a digital company that allows customers to book services such as cleaning, removals and rubbish collection \u2013 was born amid the 2008 recession, so this entrepreneur is no stranger to building companies in challenging times. However, he feels that the coronavirus environment \u2013 either living with the virus or dealing with its aftermath \u2013 will be much tougher than the banking crisis.<\/p>\n

He says: \u201cShifts happen, and this is another massive shift. I think that this will be trickier because there are so many factors are at play. What will come out of this, I can\u2019t predict. However, it\u2019s going to take a lot of reinvention. Not every recession requires reinvention, but this one most definitely will. Many companies I know have already gone into administration.\u00a0Some people underestimate how big this is.\u201d<\/p>\n

Wracked with fear<\/strong><\/h4>\n

All the more reason, then, to wonder why Rune is so full of excitement in spite of the worry. But before we do, let\u2019s look at how he\u2019s responded to the crisis.<\/p>\n

He says: \u201cWhen the UK government announced the shutdown, I was staying in a B&B in King\u2019s Cross. I knew I had to fly back to Bulgaria to be with my wife and child, and I had a sleepless night. I was wracked with fear. I was afraid of losing my business and of letting the special people who I\u2019d spent ten years working with go.\u201d<\/p>\n

Positive response<\/strong><\/h4>\n

But, after absorbing that fear \u2013 and coming to terms with the financial hit \u2013 Rune began to respond positively. He and his team rapidly launched an \u2018anti-viral sanitation service\u2019, built an app for self-shielders and came up with a new \u2018crisis\u2019 pricing structure, which includes free services for NHS staff. He has also won some new contracts for website projects and created a new working regime, consisting of daily live conference calls and lots of planning.<\/p>\n

He says: \u201cMy focus has been on retaining our 400 staff to make sure we\u2019re ready for whatever comes next. And the leadership I see in the company is inspiring. Everyone is working harder than ever. Personally, I\u2019m now putting everything back into the business. I\u2019m not going to see a salary for at least a year, maybe two, which means that financially I\u2019m back to where I was 15 years ago, so I\u2019ll be moving to a smaller flat.\u201d<\/p>\n

Excitement & optimism<\/strong><\/h4>\n

So where, then, does Rune\u2019s sense of excitement come from? What is there to be energised about?<\/p>\n

His optimism comes from deep within his entrepreneurial bones; from the raw chemicals that power his internal batteries. He explains: \u201cI\u2019ll tell you a secret. This crisis excites as well as scares me. I went into business to solve problems \u2013 that\u2019s what drives me. I founded Fantastic Services because I wanted to create the easiest place in the world to book services and I\u2019m still on that mission. Yes, this is the biggest financial blow we\u2019ve ever taken, but it means that we\u2019ll have to get better at what we do. That\u2019s how we will weather this storm.\u201d<\/p>\n

Pressing the \u2018reset\u2019 button<\/strong><\/h4>\n

Rune also offers a more strategic assessment, arguing that now is the right time to build efficiency and resilience: \u201cThe period straight after a recession is when you see the fastest growth. Everything\u2019s in flux so many people give up and companies fail. But, if you\u2019re organised and efficient, you can survive, pick up their business, and thrive. So, we\u2019re pressing the reset button. Everything we thought we knew about our business is now fiction. It\u2019s history. It\u2019s time to reset\u2026reboot.\u201d<\/p>\n

Start-up buzz<\/strong><\/h4>\n

And already, Rune and his team are working flat out to establish new ways of selling, booking, and being more productive. And it\u2019s that feeling of starting again \u2013 the launch buzz that comes with a sense of new opportunity \u2013 that\u2019s energising Rune.<\/p>\n

But it\u2019s tempered by deep concern. He says: \u201cPeople who are waiting to see what happens \u2013 wake up!\u201d he says. \u201cWhatever you thought was coming back, it\u2019s not. That world no longer exists. Reset your plans. Change your mindset. What\u2019s coming is the deepest recession for a century. That will give you many opportunities and many things to capitalise on, but there is no business as usual. You\u2019ve got to anticipate and act fast. You\u2019ve got to act\u00a0now<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n

CLIC\u2019s final word<\/strong><\/h4>\n

This interview highlights the meteoric impact that coronavirus is having \u2013 and will continue to have \u2013 on entrepreneurs and businesses. It also provides insights into how business leaders are feeling, and the two responses \u2013 seemingly at odds \u2013 that it is creating. On the one hand, there is fear; on the other, a sense of excitement and opportunity. What makes Rune so different is that he shows how it\u2019s possible to feel both contrasting emotions at exactly the same time.<\/p>\n

By accepting and reacting positively to the fear, while gaining motivation from the buzz of new opportunity, Rune shows how entrepreneurs can start to find a way to climb out of the catastrophic meteor crater that is being created by COVID-19.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

From his home in Bulgaria, locked down with his wife and baby, entrepreneur Rune Sovndahl considers the brutal and dizzyingly commercial impact of COVID-19. The facts are simple \u2013 if somewhat shocking: 50% of his company\u2019s bookings have disappeared. And, after much thought, he believes that any talk of an instant bounce-back is a sugar-coated […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":5437,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[745,37],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5436","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-fantastic-services","category-cleaning-franchises"],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.franchiselocal.co.uk\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/coronavirus-is-fiction.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.franchiselocal.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5436","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.franchiselocal.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.franchiselocal.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.franchiselocal.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.franchiselocal.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5436"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.franchiselocal.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5436\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.franchiselocal.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5437"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.franchiselocal.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5436"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.franchiselocal.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5436"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.franchiselocal.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5436"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}