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There’s no doubt that the last year’s events and pandemic have taken a huge toll on all of us, mentally, financially, and economically, however there are plenty of lessons from lockdown learnt that will allow us to improve ways of working, our lifestyles and our personal wellbeing going forward.

While Covid-19 is still very much part of our present, and our future, as we start to emerge from what will hopefully be our last UK lockdown, I have been reflecting on what I have learnt from living through it. And as much as the Pandemic has been a horrendous thing, I still believe that there are many positives that we can take away from the past 12 months. 

In the latest GingerTree Marketing Minds series I’m revisiting the great minds that I spoke to at the start of the Pandemic to find out the 5 lessons they have learned from lock down. In this episode we meet up again with Joe Glover – founder of The Marketing MeetUp, the “posi+ively lovely community helps you become a better marketer” to get his “Lessons from Lockdown”.

Lesson 1: What you do isn’t what you think you do

Pre-Covid we were due to run 140 in-person events in the year. On that basis it would have been easy to define ‘the thing we did’ as being an events company. 

So when that is taken away from you, what do you do?

You go to the core of what you are there to provide. For us, that was a sense of community for marketers. While we now ‘do’ webinars, newsletters, Facebook groups and more – the impact we actually have is being a community. The channels are almost irrelevant. 

Lesson 2: There is opportunity in adversity

Time and time again it was proven that even though rubbish things happen – there is almost always a way to turn it into an opportunity for growth, learning, or even commercial success. Some of the moments that have come to define this part year for TMM have come from a place of ‘yep, this is rubbish… now what we going to do about it?’

Lesson 3: Love wins – as an input, but also an act

People shy away from the word love in business, but I think it’s integral. While you can’t control how folks will receive your work, you can control what you put into it. Graham Roberson, a marketer I admire, asks himself and those around him the question ‘do I love this?’ about his work on the regular. If the answer is no, then they try again. I’ve tried to make all my worth over this past year stuff that is created with love, because that’s what I hold for those in our community!

Lesson 4: Proactivity wins – looking to help people

Without proactivity, there is nothing. It’s one thing to have an idea, it’s another to do something about it. And, so regularly, these acts of proactivity only take a moment or two to put into action. Whether it’s sending an email to someone you’ve been meaning to get in touch with for ages, writing a handwritten letter to someone you admire, researching a new platform or making a decision – moments of proactivity move things forward.

Lesson 5: Honesty and humanity win

We all make mistakes, but when you do, there is nothing wrong in saying ‘I messed up, and I’m sorry’. This last year we’ve all been flying by the seat of our pants, so mistakes will have happened. Owning up to it like a normal human goes a long way.

On the positive side of that – it’s almost bonkers to say simply displaying care and humanity in your communications and intentions really makes you stand out. People value one another, so speaking like it, in my eyes at least, is a real ticket to wherever you want to be going.

If you’ve enjoyed my post with Joe then why not read the other interviews in the Marketing Minds series here and if you want to find out more about GingerTree then visit my homepage here.