COVID-19 has impacted businesses across the world, and many teams and business owners have been pushed to innovate, and have subsequently pivoted their businesses in response to the sweeping changes across cultures and industries.
We spoke to three members about their approach to business during the pandemic and how they have found opportunities to grow and adapt their products and plans as a result.
Events and Administration Management Service | Natalie Pullan, Managing Director
Events and Administration Management Services (E.A.M.S) was founded to support networking groups with end-to-end management of administration and events, as well as additional support to current administration functions.
Our mission is to provide exceptional and personalised service to these organisations.
How has COVID-19 impacted your business?
As part of our service we support the Melbourne chapters of YPO (a global leadership community of chief executives) with in-person networking and educational events.
Each year we help plan and orchestrate over 50 events for their members, but the onset of COVID-19 forced us to cancel a number of events planned out to the EOFY, and hold plans for FY21 events.
How has your business pivoted?
In response, we have pivoted our in-person events to a series of virtual events and networking meetings.
Our members have been connected to talk confidentially about their experiences, and we engaged global business, psychology, and economic experts to support them through this journey.
How do you see the next 6 months unfolding in your industry?
There are still a lot of unknowns within the events industry – we are aware our plans could be turned around if restrictions are brought back.
In the past, many of our resources were from overseas, so we’re excited about the push to focus on local Australian talent.
We see the benefits of retaining a hybrid model of virtual and in-person events to enable greater access to all.
What has been your biggest learning through COVID-19?
My biggest takeaway during this time has been the endurance of the human spirit and our power to adapt to ever-evolving conditions.
I’ve missed our connections at Hub and I’m looking forward to being back in the office.
AppDemoVideos | Adam Weiss, Founder
AppDemoVideos create promotional, training, and fundraising videos for technology products, increasing client revenue through expertly-crafted videos that drive new users to our clients’ products.
Additionally, we help start-ups connect with investors and find new markets through concept, pitch, and crowdfunding videos.
How has COVID-19 impacted your business?
Several contracts we were starting or negotiating were for clients in the travel industry, so global lockdowns took our production pipeline from fairly full to almost completely empty in about four days.
How has your business pivoted?
We’ve made two related big pivots:
We immediately reached out to existing clients in healthcare-related fields to see if they needed COVID-19-related training materials for products or services.
This led to us creating videos for telemedicine systems and onboarding videos for an app that helps track employees and visitors for symptoms of coronavirus. We’ve also connected with the Australian Government about creating videos to help people understand the COVIDSafe app.
Simultaneously, we branched out into live streaming, purchasing equipment to allow us to work with local companies and institutions and move events, training sessions, lectures, and interviews online.
We were lucky enough to get a grant from the City of Melbourne to help with this (which we first heard about in Hub’s newsletter!), and we aim to keep these services in our regular offerings even when things return to normal.
What other changes have you made?
The biggest is being asked to do a number of virtual talks on live streaming, online video, and other topics that have been pushed to the forefront of everyone’s minds.
I’ve always been a fairly regular speaker, but I think I’ve done more presentations in the past six weeks than I did in the prior six months.
What has been your biggest learning from COVID-19?
I’ve been impressed with how businesses have come together to help each other in this crisis. I’m relatively new to Australia, so it may be a cultural difference between here and the US, but the collaborations, offers of help, and new opportunities that have been passed between so many of the people I know here have been remarkable.
HerWit | Shamila Gopalan, Founder
HerWit is a profit-for-purpose female-focused business strategy and leadership consulting and mentoring firm, helping ‘womenpreneurs’ to start, maintain, and scale businesses with comprehensive Go-To-Market strategies.
We also assist female professionals from multicultural and migrant backgrounds looking to scale their careers by positioning them as subject matter experts.
How has COVID-19 impacted your business?
When COVID first hit, it wiped out almost all of my revenue. A lot of my work was face-to-face workshops/masterclasses, with individuals or groups or in partnership with learning and training centers.
I had to really look at my business and pivot it to survive in this climate and thrive in whatever new normal emerges.
How has your business pivoted?
The biggest shift was our service offering. HerWit started as a brand and thought leadership agency providing services from consulting to strategy to execution.
I realised that project managing and coordinating everything didn’t make sense from a cost/benefit perspective which wasn’t allowing me to grow.
When COVID hit, I re-evaluated the business and looked at the data to see my consulting and strategy services were providing more, and it’s also the area I enjoyed most. It’s where I’ve decided to focus my energy, letting me interact with clients and see the results in their success.
I’ve chosen to focus on working with a limited number of clients as a strategic consultant, and have put together a trusted collective of specialists to connect my clients to for all other aspects of their business production.
How do you see the next 6 months unfolding?
There will be a proliferation of entrepreneurs and startups as a result of this pandemic, as well as the market being flooded with job seekers. There is a tremendous opportunity with the rise of entrepreneurs.
