Category: For Businesses

Shop local initiatives have always been popular, but following the disruption of Covid-19, our local businesses need your support more than ever. From personal trainers to plumbers, restaurants to photographers – all businesses have been affected by the pandemic to some degree.

One of the best ways we all can help is to support your local businesses as much as you can. Here are our top tips on how to do just that. 

Leave reviews

When you leave a review after having a great experience with a product or service, businesses are hugely appreciative. It creates what’s known as ‘user-generated content’, which isn’t just them tooting their own horn, rather members of the public. 

When the business likes or shares customer reviews on their page, it helps instil trust in other customers. You never know, your comment might just persuade someone to shop with that local business versus an online retail giant. 

So often, we only think to leave a review if we’ve had a bad experience (which is why most companies on Trustpilot have a less than favourable score) so don’t forget to leave plenty of positive reviews too, especially for local businesses. 

Interact with their content

Something everyone can do for free to support a local business is to follow them on social media. Better still, give their page a view every once in a while. Like their content, and share it with your friends. Even posting a meaningful comment will help expand their reach, plus it will give some much needed emotional support to businesses who may well be struggling at the moment.

Shop local

It sounds like an obvious point to make, but given how easy it is to order from large online sellers like Amazon, these days, local businesses often get left behind. Yet, it’s these very businesses that give our towns and cities character, not to mention occupy spaces on our high streets. 

Remember, every time you buy from a local business it puts money back into your community, rather than going to global corporations instead. It can also be a great way to get to know people, especially as the owners may well be your neighbours or even friends of friends. 

Recommend to friends and family

While most of our marketing focus is on social media these days, word of mouth still holds incredible value. When it comes to sectors such as tradespeople, everyone wants to hire someone who will do a good job. So if you’ve experienced excellent quality or service from any kind of local business, don’t be shy in telling your friends and family about it.

From the businesses point of view, it’s also a nice pat on the back when someone calls them up mentioning a previous customer pointed them in their direction. If they are a little quiet due to Covid, it can take the strain off their marketing efforts if your kind words are promoting them on their behalf. 

To sum up

Sadly, the phrase ‘use it or lose it’ very much applies to local businesses. However, even a simple gesture such as liking their Facebook page or putting in a good word with friends can be of huge help. By also keeping local businesses at the forefront of your mind while making purchase decisions, you will help support your community at a time when they need it the most.

Coronavirus saw monumental changes to both how we work and where we do so. With 46% of people working from home during April 2020 due to the pandemic, you or someone you know likely switched up the office for the spare room or kitchen table. 

There’s no doubt that working from home has its benefits, not least with the reduced commute and being able to stay in your slippers all day. But without the structure of office life, how do you stay motivated? Here are our top tips to stop that procrastination in its tracks. 

Create a routine and stick to it

Hopefully, by now, you’ve figured this whole WFH situation out. But just because you don’t have to spend hours going to and from work anymore, it doesn’t mean you can get flexible with when you wake up. Make sure you set your alarm for the same time each morning, and that you start work promptly. Go to bed around the same time every night too.

While that might sound a little militant, creating a routine will hugely benefit your circadian rhythm. It’s also going to help you stay focused if you do the same tasks (such as checking emails, giving clients a call etc) at similar times each day. Otherwise, the day can slip away and before you know it, you’re having to ‘catch up’ on work late into the night.

Start with the difficult tasks first

Nobody is going to feel motivated to start that company report at 4 pm on a Friday. We naturally have more focus and attention in the morning, because we’ve only just woken up so we have more energy. But as the day drags on, our productivity falls. As we get towards the end of the week this becomes really noticeable, and we start to get distracted with thinking about the weekend.

That’s why you should always start with the most difficult or time-consuming tasks first. What’s great about this tactic is that once you’ve completed the task, you are free to relax with less pressing work. You’re also more likely to do a better job if you have your full concentration too. 

Avoid obvious distractions

The benefits of being out of the office are that you have all your home comforts within easy reach. On the one hand, this is great, but it can soon become a slippery slope. As an example, studies have found we check our phones up to 96 times a day. Then there’s the TV, especially with the likes of Netflix to keep us entertained in the background while we work. 

Removing distractions from your work area will help you keep focused because you’ll know that you can’t access them until your work is done. This in turn will spur you on to get everything completed, as you can use your distractions as a ‘reward’. By only allowing distractions to take up your free time, this will make you less likely to procrastinate. 

To sum up

Working from home has been an experience for us all, especially if it’s the first time you’ve ever been out of the office. Staying productive is one of the best ways to maintain your performance at work, and keep your mental health in check during the pandemic too. 

By following the above tips, you can learn to focus on the task at hand and save anything that’s not important until after you’ve logged off.

Until March 2020, staying at home due to a pandemic isn’t something any of us were very familiar with. Restrictions on how we live our lives have affected everyone to varying degrees. So, if you have noticed your mental health has declined since the coronavirus outbreak began you are far from alone.

If this sounds familiar, finding ways to constructively combat your emotions is essential. Here are our top tips on how to take care of your mental health during lockdown to tell you more. 

Stay connected

It sounds so simple given we are all attached to our phones these days, but staying in touch makes a huge difference. Everyone is feeling isolated to some degree, especially seen as we can’t hang out with our friends and family, or even go to the pub at the minute. 

Social media is ironic in that you may have hundreds of contacts who you never actually engage with. A simple ‘hi, how are you doing?’ is all it takes to spark a conversation. Better still, give someone a call who you haven’t spoken to in a while. You might just make their day, as no doubt they are feeling just the same as you. 

Digital detox

During the first lockdown, the average person spent 45 hours a week interacting with their phones, TVs or laptops. On the one hand, spending more time indoors can’t be avoided. Plus, a lot of people are now working from home too. But, the fact remains that too much screen time isn’t great for our mental health, especially with so much bad news popping up all the time. 

While it might not be feasible to stop screen time altogether, making a conscious effort to cut down can be hugely beneficial. Whether you read a book or go on a walk, try to take some time every single day that does not involve a digital device. Social media platforms in particular are designed to be addictive, and these can have a real drain on your emotions too. 

Personal training

Exercise is one of the best ways to boost your physical and mental health. But as you may have noticed, gyms have once again been forced to close during lockdown. However, you can still access personal training during this time, as many trainers have taken to online classes and individual sessions instead. Alternatively, it is legal to work with a personal trainer in an outdoor public place during lockdown too.  

There’s everything from pilates to HIIT training out there. Granted, it’s not the same as working out in a gym, but as this year has taught us the ability to adapt is how we get through it. Even an hour on Zoom a week will give you a fresh perspective, and it will also help combat feelings of loneliness as you’ll be making a new connection without even having to leave the house. 

Seek therapy

Even before the lockdown, 1 in 4 people reported having mental health concerns. Conditions such as anxiety and depression are common at the best of times, and no doubt lockdown has only made the issue worse. Whether you lack confidence, have experienced trauma or relationship difficulties, there are hundreds of different issues a therapist can help you with.

Sessions are held in confidence and during the lockdown can be carried out over the phone,  Zoom or even live chat. Getting to the root cause of any issues that are weighing you down will benefit you in the long term, well after lockdown is over. So don’t delay in seeking help, especially if you are struggling to cope. 

To sum up

The above steps will point you in the right direction to give yourself some much-needed breathing room. Whether you are worried about your finances or feeling the effects of isolation, you don’t have to go through it on your own. Talking to a neutral party in the form of a therapist, exercising and abstaining from too much screen time will greatly improve things. 

So here we are back in another lockdown. It’s so easy to focus on all the difficulties we are experiencing during this time. The reality is that there is a lot we cannot control about it, especially in the face of a pandemic. 

However, one way to use this time productivity is to work on issues that are preventing you from being your best self. Whether your sticking points are mental or physical, all of us have room for improvement. 

Here is our guide on how to come out of lockdown as your best self to guide you. 

Create some goals

Most of us have more time on our hands than we are used to at the minute. If you want to use the time productively so that you come out of lockdown in a better place, creating goals is the way to go. This can include working on yourself in the form of hiring a life coach. Compared with doing nothing, taking action by creating goals and an action plan to achieve them is much more likely to achieve success. 

Alternatively, if you own a business or have always wanted to start one, then why not give business coaching a try? Doing so can give you some valuable insight into whether your idea has legs or not. An expert opinion could also get you out of a jam if you are having problems with your business too. 

Seek counselling 

Lockdown offers a unique time of stillness in all our lives and is a great time for reflection. Counsellors are currently working virtually and can help you with any of the struggles you have been facing since the pandemic began. But, they can also help you process any long-standing issues to find a way forward. For example, dealing with anxiety, depression, phobias or self-esteem issues. 

Counsellors can work with you as a couple too. Lockdown has understandably put a strain on a lot of couples, and talking things through with a neutral party can be of huge benefit. Many counsellors specialise in relationships and compared with living in a home full of tension or unhappiness, it’s far better to talk things through. 

Revise your diet 

All of us are guilty of hitting the takeaway deliveries during lockdown. But, with the lesser distractions (seen as we can’t go anywhere), now is also a good time to fix your diet. Both dieticians and nutritionists can point you in the right direction, whether you simply want to lose some weight or have health conditions you’d like to combat through your diet. 

While you can’t visit a dietician or nutritionist in person, you can have a virtual consultation with them. By telling them your stats and issues you’d like to overcome, they can help devise a tailored plan for you. After all, if you want to emerge from this difficult time as your best self, you can’t do so if you are eating the wrong foods. 

Virtual personal training 

During lockdown, personal training is banned unless it’s carried out in an outdoor public place. But you can still work with a personal trainer virtually, at least until you can meet up in person. Exercising can offer a much-needed boost to both your mental and physical health and will put you in a much better frame of mind for the months ahead. 

Most people wait until January to start a new fitness regime, but if you think about it, that’s setting you up for a fall. After all, how easy is it to give up our New Year’s resolutions? Plus, most personal trainers get booked up during January. If you start during lockdown, you’ll be ahead of the game. 

To sum up 

Lockdown is a tough time that we all must go through. That said, there’s no reason why you can’t spend this time to improve aspects of yourself that are holding you back. From fixing your diet to seeking counselling, if you use this time to work on yourself, you will emerge from lockdown a much stronger person for it.

As we get to grips with yet another lockdown, it’s back to staying indoors and finding ways to pass the time. If you spent the last lockdown organising your closet, and there are no more walls left to paint or jigsaws to complete, you’ll be in need of some new ideas. 

We’ve scoured the internet to find some of the best lockdown challenges to complete. The question is, which one will you choose? 

Toilet roll challenge

The toilet roll hoarding situation of 2020 became so extreme, that one guy even checked in a 24 pack on a flight to Sydney. With the toilet roll aisles of Asda and Tesco once again becoming barren deserts, the chances are you have a few stacks of the good stuff lying around once more. Hence, it’s time for the toilet roll challenge. Essentially, it involves playing ‘keepie uppie’ but with toilet rolls. 

Everyone from Rio Ferdinand to Lionel Messi has given it a go. The idea is to challenge each member of your household to see who can get the most kicks in without dropping it. As the lockdown drags on, you can also look to improve your score each day. One plus of this challenge? It defies the ‘no ball games in the house’ rule. Your crockery will breathe a sigh of relief, no doubt. 

Plank challenge

Everyone thinks planking looks easy until they try it for themselves. The plank challenge will test your ability (not to mention your abs) to the absolute limit, as you try to out-plank those you live with. Some have even gone the extra mile by choreographing a dance routine in pairs that are centred around planking. Get ready for the high fives and leg kicks! 

Given gyms are closed during lockdown, it’s definitely one way to help strengthen your core. To keep a good form while you plank, extend your arms and keep your back straight. Be sure to record how long you can last before crashing to the ground and try to extend it by a few seconds each day. You’ll have abs of steel by the end of lockdown!

The spartan challenge

If you’re ready to create a potential ‘You’ve Been Framed’ moment, then the spartan challenge is it. In pairs, your challenge is to attempt to climb over the other person’s head and return back to the ground. Celebrities such as Leigh Anne Pinnock have tried it, and it is currently doing the rounds on Instagram and Tik Tok. 

Have your partner get into a squat position. Use their knees as a stepping stone to get above their shoulders. Wrap your arm around their waist and flip yourself over as you come down so that you land gently with your back on the ground. The aim is for your partner to not have to help you. It’s probably best to try this one where there will be a soft landing underneath! 

The gesture challenge

For something a little more gentile, try the gesture challenge. This one requires excellent teamwork not to mention symmetry. Working to the beat of a song you like, you need to both signal the same gesture at the same time. This can include a thumbs up or ok symbol, for example.

When you hit record on your video, you need to both sync up perfectly with each gesture. See how challenging you can make your routine, especially if you are trying to remember 20+ gestures in a row! Remember to keep it clean if your grandmother follows you. 

To sum up

We hope the above has given you some fun ways to entertain yourself during lockdown. Although it’s not easy, keeping busy and interacting with those you live with is one of the easiest ways to get through it. Plus, the challenges will keep your mind off of the situation while you complete them. Best of luck!