Stay safe, stay strong

Running a business at any time is challenging – running a business during a global pandemic when the majority of your customers have been forced to close is, well, a nightmare no one could have prepared you for.

Of course, the government has stepped up to the plate with an unprecedented range of financial support initiatives for businesses, and for many this has been a lifeline in their time of direst need.

However, regardless of how elegantly it manages the easing of the lockdown measures and simultaneously winds back some of business support packages over the coming months, I don’t think anyone can pretend that the print industry that comes out of this pandemic will look the same as the one that went in.

But then, the industry’s business leaders won’t be the same either.

In the past month or so, you have been forced to make decisions and take actions that you never imagined you would have to take. Not only that, you’ve probably only had hours to make many of them.

You’ve also had to rip up your forecasts and budgets that you spent months preparing, and in a matter days, if not hours, you have had to reforecast the next few months and possibly the rest of the year. In fact, you’ve probably gone through the above process several times already, and likely you will go through it several more in the coming months.

While the focus right now is quite rightly protecting our magnificent NHS and saving as many lives as possible, we all know that there will be significant business challenges ahead and, I suspect, many of you, like leaders everywhere, will have to make more difficult decisions as the new normal beds in.

But I hope that if you think about what you’ve been through since March, then hopefully you’ll quickly realise that you’ve got this!

Stay safe, stay strong.

 

 

 

 


Darryl Danielli
Editor, Printweek