It's time to adapt

Unless you've been living in the middle of the Amazon for the past couple of months, I'm sure you've noticed the world adapting around you. COVID-19 has forced us as humans to relinquish the concepts of stability and routine. It has forced us to let go of what is comfortable. Maybe you're familiar with the concept of change, or maybe you're not. But either way, you WILL be forced to adapt in some form.

The thing is, you have done this before. You've adapted; maybe you just don't realize it. I know I have. Let me tell you my story.

I'd been comfortably working as a marketer for a few years at a local company when my husband and I started our family in 2017. Baby boy was expected in April; he decided to come in February. I left my desk at work for a hospital bed a few blocks away. I had work projects going that I was forced to drop at a moment's notice so I could be hooked up to an IV and baby monitoring equipment. Would I get discharged and be able to go back to work the next day? At the time, no one knew.

As it turned out, I didn't get back to my desk at work for a good 4 months. I had my baby boy (early but healthy), went through my own recovery, spent time with my son in the NICU, and eventually, took my maternity leave at home getting to know my new little human. The plan was that afterward I'd go back to work and our son would start daycare.

Daycare. Pretty normal, right? Not for us. Not for my son. My next 4 months of work consisted of sometimes hourly texts and calls from three different daycares about my child screaming his head off for 40 hours a week while I was away from him. I had used up all my vacation by the time daycare option #3 didn't pan out.

So, I quit.

With one days' notice, I quit my job. There was no one else to care for my child the next day, so it had to be me.

This is where the "adapting" came in. Our household income was about to be reduced by 50% if I did not find a stream of income. But I needed something that could be done from home, something that was child-friendly since I'd have my son with me.

What skills did I have that would fit that very tall order?

Ahh. Babysitting. Here was my first entrepreneurial move. For the next 2.5 years, I ran a small daycare out of my house. It kept my family fed and it enabled me to watch over my own child.

Great. Got that figured out. But what comes next? I had no plans of becoming a career daycare provider; I just needed to get through the early days with my extreme mama's boy. I wanted to get back in the business world. Needs vs. wants were tugging me in opposite directions.

Entrepreneurial move #2 came first as a wish: that I could be a marketer AND stay home with my son. And you know what? I'd successfully started a daycare from nothing; by golly, I could be a freelance marketer if I wanted to.

So, here I am. It's been a little over 2.5 years since I quit my job at a moment's notice, a little over 2.5 years of heating up bottles and changing diapers. It wasn't easy, but about halfway through that time frame, I started getting clients and started marketing again.

And you know what? I'm glad this all happened (okay, maybe not the almost dying during childbirth part, but everything else, yes!). The cliche is true: when one door closes, another one opens. Sometimes the other door doesn't appear right away, or it's just really dark. So you have to remember to bring your flashlight.

The flashlight being YOUR SKILLS and YOUR INGENUITY.

Got laid off recently? Put your skills to work and start monetizing them however you can. Maybe you're great at sewing. Start making masks and selling them! Maybe you, like me, used to babysit in high school. There are quite a few children without daycare or summer camp right now... those families could use your help!

Or maybe you own a small business that's STRUGGLING thanks to COVID. FIND OUT WHAT PEOPLE NEED AND PROVIDE IT. Even if it means changing your business model. Change or BE changed. Restaurants can become small curbside markets. Small retailers can start an online store.

So, how will YOU adapt?