Staying sane in these stressful times

This past month has gone from bad to worse to OMFG. What incredibly stressful times we are living in!

I am an introvert so staying home isn’t a problem for me but the uncertainty and timeframe of how long the lockdowns are going to go for is hard! I am a planner & I can’t plan anything right now! Having a lack of control is not suited to my personality at all! haha

Whilst most people in the world are being affected in some ways, many of my friends & all the clients of Atlantic provide close contact services so lack of earnings or lack of savings is making them all very nervous.

I have had so many clients and friends contact me, flipping out. The advice I gave them is the advice I am giving myself

Control what you can control and focus on getting through this the best you can

Make a to-do list yadda yadda yadda

Apparently I am good at advice, my brain is analytical but it doesn’t mean I am not flipping out myself too! My anxiety is thru the roof!

I have post-it notes all over my office with inspirational messages reminding me its not the end of the world & life will go on.

This entire thing SUX

I am a woman in her late 40’s, fit and healthy, residing in a town in country NSW, Australia.  According to what is being on said about Covid-19, I am not in the high-risk category from a health perspective.

From a mental health perspective, I could be doing better, I am struggling to sleep and relax. At least anxiety kills my appetite so I am getting a bit of a weight loss bonus lol

My husband works in the city and usually comes home on weekends but for now, he isn’t coming home in case he brings the virus back & it’s passed around our family. So that sucks as well but its got to be done for the greater good.

Cashflow…(ouch) stressful times!

2 weeks ago we started to have clients ask to put their upcoming projects on hold, totally understandable in the time of a global pandemic. Then I saw an article in the Independent: 

Coronavirus will bankrupt more people than it kills — and that’s the real global emergency

Reading that article gave me a massive wave of anxiety.  So last Monday me & my anxiety were up at 6am getting a start on the day and the week ahead lol 

Company & Personal Expenditure

First thing I did was look at my company finances. I have been a Managing Director for 20 years so I learnt a long time ago to keep 3 months of expenses in case something happens & we need it. Which thankfully I have, so whilst I won’t be taking a salary my staff are safe for now.

I am so glad I don’t need to fire anyone. First, it would break my heart to have to let someone go during this time but secondly, it takes a lot of time to find someone who is skilled in SEO and open to working in ‘adult’, then training them in this niche.

Fixed Costs Kill Businesses

I went thru my company bank transactions for the last few months and found a company who I thought I had cancelled, wasn’t cancelled. I was paying $80 a month for hosting that I wasn’t using.  I also looked at the subscriptions I have & what can go as they want not needs or looked at cheaper options

Digital Subscriptions

As a digital agency, we need tools and licenses and these can be expensive. Big-name tools often work the best but cost big $s whereas less known & cheaper products are well, lesser-known and sometimes not as good. But as we have time we can learn & test some cheaper options.

I found some good articles in the News.com.au lifestyle section on services that are reducing costs or offering free trials etc during the pandemic

I also looked at my personal finances & monthly bills. Obviously we don’t need Foxtel sports channel for the foreseeable future

Keeping Busy Helps

I am struggling a bit to keep focused. Being a project manager there isn’t many projects to manage lol

As much as I want to sit around and watch Netflix in my PJs eating chocolates, we have been working long hours, keeping busy & doing all those jobs we never have time to do. Like Redesigning Sarahs2cents.

I hope you like the new design of Sarahs2cents.com, it’s one of those jobs we never have time to do so YAY pandemic thanks for clearing our work schedule

I also have time to blog for the first time in forever. I am still slow, I started this one over a week ago ha

We have updated copy, updated images, sorted out lots of the mess including On-Page SEO and a backlink audit.

We have a few more days of work on Sarahs2cent including working on our backlinks profile and I want to queue up social media for the next few weeks (I use Hootsuite)

We have also been working on a new website for Atlantic with new service offerings. I am a bit OCD (most technical SEO’s are lol) so we have been checking timings & costings and all that before we launch something new in the next 2 weeks.

Audit your Life

My workweek is usually full of Audits. As an SEO I do Brand Audits, Website Audits, On-Page SEO Audits, Off-Page Audits, Technical Audits, Content Audits, Forensic Audits, the audit list in my life is endless haha

Auditing is basically going thru things with a fine-tooth comb and finding things you can fix, do better or do without. So I have been doing a bit of this with my life. Looking at what I have and what I can fix or do better

I have done a spring clean in Autumn and sorted out my wardrobe

Do I really need all those shoes? No, I don’t. Do I really need all those handbags… Yes, I do haha

Learn New Things

In the office, we have been trying out new tools, processes and procedures to that we may want to use in the future. I have been doing some online classes on things that I wanted to learn too.

I hope this blog has given you some ideas on how you can help keep yourself sane during these stressful times

Feel free to reach out if you need any help keeping busy. You are always welcome to guest blog haha