30 Coffees. 30 Stories.
October 11th, 2021
Over the past three months, I’ve had over 30 coffee dates - over Zoom of course.
Around half the people I chatted with I already knew, the other half were strangers - aside from a little LinkedIn digging, I did not know them.
I reached out through LinkedIn messages and shared a public link to my calendar in social posts, set aside 30 minutes for each date and drunk copious amounts of coffee.
Everyone had a different story to tell, however there were a few correlations worth sharing:
1) People are tired.
As we creep up to the year’s anniversary of the dreaded Covid-19 initial lockdown, many folks are mentally and physically exhausted.
That’s understandable, right?
As soon as Boris Johnson uttered the words ‘Lockdown’ many business owners started sprinting (and have been ever since).
2) Survival is to be celebrated.
A surprisingly high number of people I spoke to smashed their 2020 business targets, which is of-course an incredible effort.
There was also a good chunk of people who were simply celebrating still being here.
For most small businesses, being able to make payroll, stay afloat and support their clients during dire times was enough of a cause for celebration.
3) There is hope.
Nearly every person I spoke to was optimistic about 2021; excited to meet their team for a BBQ, hug their mum, and move forward.
For many, the last 12 months have helped shape and mould their businesses into streamlined rockets ready for take-off.
30 people. 30 stories. Many new friends.
As ever, if you want to grab a coffee, find a time that works for you over at https://calendly.com/heslop/coffee-intros
[This post was originally on Linked in March 2021]