Pivot! Diversifying your skillset

Ross Gellar, brother of Monica, addicted to marriage and terrible at moving sofas always struggled to find the right solution for the pickle he found himself in. In today’s climate, that last bit is something that many of us are now relating to.

Having entered a strange time of uncertainty, work (or lack of) worries and what seems to be a whole heap of time off, it may just be the perfect opportunity to look at ways of diversifying your skill-set to offset some of the losses from your regular client base diminishing.

There are many benefits for diversifying, from general self-improvement to kickstarting a new direction, so join us as we have a look into staying ahead of the curve with our new-found and unexpected available time.

Same skills, new horizons

While it may be a troubling time out there, it’s also the perfect time to re-evaluate your skills and see if they can be moved into other fields. Many people working within the world of entertainment will have vast experience but possibly shellshocked with the fact of losing all foreseeable work, they don’t realise what they even have.

Remember, your skills aren’t necessarily industry-specific, e.g. Tour Managers/Producers essentially fulfil the role of Project Managers, while your local AV company will have talent with experience ranging from fabrication to electrical as well as technical know-how (webinars anyone?). Also good to know that all these companies will have a fleet of transport they are keen to utilise should you need.

Top tip: If you’re stuck for ideas, use a careers site/quiz to see where your skills could take you.

Retrain

“I wish I could find the time…” is not something many of us can say right now. In a dramatic twist of fate, we’ve had that wish granted, whether we wanted it or not.

So, take that online course you’ve always wanted to take, learn that skill you’ve been dying to learn, pick up that instrument gathering dust in the corner. Checking out if local businesses you admire are offering courses/webinars or searching for video tutorials on sites such as www.udemy.com would be a great start!

Top tip: YouTube is stacked with countless free tutorials ranging from ‘how to fix a leaking pipe’ to ‘what the hell do I do with the Ukulele I got for Xmas…?’ Some good, some not so good, but that’s all part of the adventure!

Volunteering

Not only can volunteering be morally beneficial, don’t forget that it can have hidden benefits too. While charity organisations are screaming out for volunteers, it could be a perfect opportunity to work within different fields, learn new skills from others and even get recommendations and references. Who knows, it could even be used as a networking opportunity further down the line.

Shadowing

A more fun way (and possibly cheaper way) to diversify your skills could be to shadow a friend in their particular field. Perhaps you’ve always wanted to learn how to use that piece of tech but don’t want to sit reading a manual or maybe you’re interested in how a designer creates from brief to completion (which may help you write them better briefs in the future, trust us, they will thank you). With webinar software such as Zoom, Hangouts and Teams, there’s nothing to stop you shadowing a friend, colleague, associate and share skills, you’ll never know when you’ll need to rely on each other.

The amazing Daniel Ackerley Photography on Facebook is taking advantage of this and will be holding a free webinar to brush up your photo skills. So now you have the perfect reason to take photos of your food!

Top tip: explore Facebook groups within the industry you're interested in or check out local businesses that have been forced into quiet time.

Readdressing your audience

In a rapture-like moment, many businesses have suddenly discovered that their key clients just aren’t there anymore. Alongside transferring your skills it may be worth thinking of transferring your business. A great example of this is the Cambridge Fruit Company, a business focused on providing offices with fresh fruit who recently discovered all the offices empty. Rather than shut up shop due to the upturned apple cart, a quick focus shift to include an offering to residents who may struggle to get supplies meant that not only is the business continuing, it’s gone bananas!

Local Cambridge taxi companies Panther and CamCab has pivoted for the greater good and offering free delivery to the elderly and needy. Sure it’s a monetary loss, but we’ll certainly be remembering them in the future.

Brewdog, famous for their craft beers, have also had a swift direction change, with a lack of customers in their venues drinking their beer, they’ve expanded their knowledge of alcohol into a new realm, hand sanitizer! (and showing their altruistic side by giving away lots for free to those in need).

The opportunities are out there, there may not be the ones you had in mind when you first started your business but they are there. Spot them, embrace them, thrive in them.

Getting your house in order

How many times have you been meaning to do some work ‘on’ (not in) your business, but it always seems your client’s work is far more important? *safety wink to all our clients out there* Well, no excuses. Get working on updating that website. Write those blogs (and keep on writing so you’ve got backup when you get too busy again), readdress your business and marketing plans, and get your accounts in order. You were unprepared for this so be prepared for when this all blows over, we can finally leave the Winchester, and you are leaps and bounds in front of the competition.

C’mon, you’ve got this.