Ellen Sherberg, Bizwomen Contributor
Photo submitted by Suann Song
Suann Song CEO and Founder, Appointed, Washington, DC
Even as Omnicron makes its way through the United States, women strive to keep their careers and families together. Suann Song’s company, Appointed, creates desktop and paper goods, so organization is a way of life and work for her.
“I recently remarked to my husband that I’ve become accustomed to the constant pivot Covid requires. Between changes in school protocols, masking requirements, health and wellness concerns for staff or family members, and supply chain challenges — the pre-pandemic life seems like a distant memory of a simpler time.
As an entrepreneur and parent alike, you inevitably need to be prepared to pivot and modify your course of action, but the pandemic has amplified that requirement. Over the past two years, I’ve gathered several key takeaways that help me continue to navigate pandemic-life, both personally and professionally.
Professional:
Regularly remind yourself of the reason you started. Asking myself why helps me refocus and reprioritize during moments of uncertainty. At the early height of the pandemic, our revenue was down nearly 50%. Our team regrouped to ask the question: “What can we do for our customers?” Our solution was to provide a library of free, downloadable planning tools as they adjusted to homeschooling, remote work and more time spent in the kitchen. Fast forward to today — this collection is updated regularly and continues to be one of the most visited pages on our website.
Flexibility and backup plans are essential. As a manufacturer of goods, so many factors are beyond our control. Whether it be supply chain delays or labor shortages, there is always a demand to be flexible and adjust. Our team has shown so much adaptability over the last two years and I am so proud of their resilience in the face of an ever changing landscape.
Continue to strategize for the long term. Remaining focused on our long-term growth strategy proved to be a challenge while managing pandemic pivots, but I made it a priority to remain forward thinking. Fortunately, we’ve seen considerable growth during the pandemic due in part to our loyal customers, a strong brand and intentional decision making with the future in mind.
It is a cliche — but children are extremely adaptable. I have children ages 4 and 15. I worry about the stress and impact pandemic life has had on them. But time and time again, they’ve proven to be extremely adjustable and encourage me to remind myself to worry a little less.
We’ve become mindful of how we spend our time. A bright spot of the pandemic, while not always easy, has been our family slowing down and spending significantly more time together. We’ve enjoyed times together that have made us more conscious of how and where we spend our time now that things are reopening.
We’ve been through enough to know the future will not be void of new challenges. There are still plenty of lessons to learn and takeaways to gain. Reflecting on it all, I’m proud of how far we’ve come in the midst of these historically unparalleled years. I am committed to building a legacy brand through the products we’ve created and exhausting every resource to bring high-quality, American-made productivity tools to our customers.”
This is a time for virtual community and sharing. If you would like to contribute to this ongoing narrative on the impact of the pandemic on women’s lives, please send an email to esherberg@bizjournals.com.
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