Wow, that was the year that, well, wasn’t really. Most of us set out with an idea of our goals for the year or at least a rough sketch of how 2020 would pan out. I talked about my plans in How I got organised for the new year.
2020 was a year of shock, restriction, and grief. It was also a year of re-thinks, diversification, and adjustment – three things that the human race excel at, even when we’re reluctant to do so. We settled into a ‘new normal’, held our loved ones close, and waited.
Then a lovely thing happened – we began to help each other. Whether helping our clients to understand how to keep their businesses healthy, helping our neighbours with their food supplies, or just cheering each other up, people reached out (in a safe, socially distanced way) to other people.
In the light of the thousands of workers who were forced to work from home, I blogged about Healthy Working From Home and later, when the lockdown was eased, How your business can move out of lockdown limbo.
Many of my fellow freelancers decided to change their business offering, from moving into new services and products, like Sarah Donaldson of Northern Editorial’s Brand Books to taking current knowledge and turning it into a course and membership like Kelly of Cheer Up Marketing’s Cheer Up Collective. I’ll tell you more about how my copywriting business will change once I’ve got the festive break out of the way.
One thing you may not know about me is that I’m an author as well as a copywriter and in 2020, in response to the pandemic, I contributed to two anthologies of shorts that were compiled to raise money for the NHS Charities Together Covid-19 Appeal. To date, we’ve raised over £1,000 for the charity from sales of 2020 Together and 2021 Still Together. You can find both anthologies here. By the way, I don’t make any money from the anthologies – all profits go to the charity.
One of the problems many of us experienced in 2020, especially creatives, was a lack of motivation – me included. So I revisited two past blog posts and created More reasons to have a business blog and How to keep learning as a business owner: 5 more ways.
Christmas is racing towards us and not far beyond that is a new year. 2020 has been a relentless cat amongst our community of pigeons. All of us have been affected in one way or another. So here’s to a better, kinder, and more reliable 2021.
Stay safe, stay strong, and keep on being your beautiful self.
