You’re back!

The new year has arrived and you’re likely already inundated with all kinds of “new year, new you” stuff. You may have received multiple nudges from newspapers, social media, friends, and your junk folder to start this year off with a bang!

We’ve often been encouraged to imagine each new calendar year as a blank sheet of paper, on which we can write anything. That we can turn our back on the previous 12 months - something we know that, after the absolute cluster that was 2020, you definitely want to do.

The year of the COVID-19 global pandemic, some of the most intense fires ever seen across the world, hurricanes, civil unrest, economic uncertainty, and so much more…. That was a year of constant, unrelenting crisis.

At Admin Slayer, we (somehow) thoughtfully prepared you for 2020 with our 2019 theme of resilience. We swear we had no idea what the turn of the decade would bring. It just kind of worked out. Throughout 2020, we brought you stories of our clients, who were making use of their incredible resilience, to make hard decisions in increasingly difficult times. We also quickly turned out some resources for everyone who needed a little helping hand while the world spiralled.

2020 was all about doing our best to stay the course. The seas were rocky, and everyone riding them was just hanging on to whatever boat, surfboard, or raft they had at hand.

As we enter into 2021, we definitely have no idea what these next twelve months will bring. What we do know is that you might be dealing with some shock, and no little amount of trauma. It’s not humanly possible to have experienced the tumult of the last year - no matter how large or sturdy your ship - without having been impacted.

Just as we helped you build resilience in 2019, and stay the course in 2020, we’re here in 2021 to help you recover.

Regardless of where this year takes us, we need to recover in order to remain resilient, stay the course, and hopefully move that much closer to our goals. We need to take the time to process, to think about what we want now, in a world that has changed so much, and to strategically plan our next steps.

That’s what January is all about, every year, even when we’re not reeling from multiple crises.

Getting Started

Take Stock

As much as you have left that nasty, nasty year behind you, it’s worthwhile to take a look at what has happened:

Did your business lose staff? Did the way in which your staff work change drastically?

Did you lose clients? Gain clients? Have an entirely different breed of customers than you’ve ever had before?

How did you have to change your business - or did your way of working remain the same?

Where are the holes in your ship? What repairs are needed?

What do you still have? Did you find your core strength during this intense testing period? Did you find your core weaknesses?

What are the indelible lessons you learned?

What do you need to prioritize - what do you work on first?

What Do You Have Control Of?

When so much has felt outside of your control, it’s incredibly valuable to itemize those things that are absolutely in your control, such as:

Your responses (better than “reactions”): Only you choose how you show up, every single day.

Your brand - both business and personal: Who are you? What do you stand for?

Your values: These likely haven’t changed, but perhaps they’ve sharpened. How you live them might be just a little different, now that they’re so sharp.

What is Outside of Your Control?

For those holes you found in the hull of your ship as you rode those waves, what is the plan to strengthen them before you set sail again? What things that are entirely outside your control can you find a way to monitor, and manage, as they inevitably arise? What would you have done differently, if only you had known about the crisis-filled year that was 2020?

Use this hard-earned knowledge to create the Risk Management Plan that will see you and your business through just about anything the world throws at you this year, and into the next.

Your 2021 Theme

Each month throughout 2021, your Admin Slayer team is going to help you take everything you learned over the past few years and use that knowledge to strengthen your business, and yourself. We’ll be writing about leadership, communication, strategy (is a pivot in order?), team management and building, institutional memory, marketing, finances, business development, technology, and so much more. Stick with us all through this year, and if you need an extra helping hand, get in touch.