You don’t need me to tell you how challenging times have been during this last nine months.
No matter whether you are part of a global operation, a national brand, a regional SME or a one-man band, it’s been a tough old year for us all.
But, whatever the size of your business, or the sector in which you serve, you have got to take stock and look at how you can come out of the pandemic in one piece and look forward to a time when you will be even stronger.
And that means if opportunities are out there, don’t hesitate, grab them with both hands.
Show the resilience that got you into the position you were in pre-March, pre-lockdowns and pre-restrictions.
Demonstrate the strengths that made you the strapping competitor you were in the race for business 12 months ago. The strengths that gave you the confidence to promote strategies that generated growth for your company. And the strengths that saw you overcome any obstacles that were thrown your way.
I’m sure many of you took a shaking in 2008 when the financial crisis led to a global recession, and the UK suffered a severe downturn. Over that period thousands of businesses shut down and more than a million people lost their jobs.
That was the downside. But there was an upside. And that was that thousands of businesses didn’t shut down. They didn’t panic. They took stock and planned their way out of the recession by planting seeds for future summers of success.
For a lot of businesses it was a water shedding. A time to reflect and look to the future. And that meant investment in new expertise, technological advances and modern machinery. In some cases it was a not-before-time out with the old and in with the new.
Admittedly, at Monks with waste haulage, plant and drainage being at the heart of our service, we have been classed as an essential service during the pandemic, and may not have been hit as hard as others.
But we could have sat back content that as key workers we had been allowed to stay open for business although at a reduced service. But that’s not our way.
Instead, despite facing significant challenges like the temporary closure of household waste recycling centres, we pressed ahead and drove forward with our growth plans by expanding the company’s fleet and staff numbers.
I am sure that come Easter, when the government is hoping the economy will be back on the rise, businesses who have gauged the situation with optimism and not allowed themselves to get sucked into the doldrums will be the businesses who fly out of the blocks first to take on the new challenges that lay ahead.
Chris Monks, Managing Director