Written by Tom Adam, the president of the Phillip Business Community.

Most of us will remember 23 March 2020 well – in Canberra, it was the day we entered lockdown. After months of bushfires, then hailstorms, and then a once-in-a-century pandemic, it was nothing any of us had seen before.

In February, I had completed my Executive MBA. Four years of studying part-time, late nights, and Sundays filled with reading and assessments, but it allowed me to build a network of contacts around the world, and all of us were watching the pandemic unfold. I watched my colleagues in the US as they started to react – and I made plans of my own.

As it unfolded, I tried to get my head around how you take a face-to-face contact service business online. I planned, I purchased equipment, I had it installed on the Friday, tested it on the Saturday morning, and by Monday evening, we were 100 per cent online. For months before, I had said there would be a need to go online. Some thought I was mad, others prophetic. Either way, I was scared.

But it wasn’t fear that gripped us all. It was grief, and everyone went through the five stages at their own pace. Customers’ expectations and reactions varied; many were cognisant what it meant for me and my business… many were not, and the abuse flowed from them. It was hard not to take it personally, and some of it still hurts now.

In December 2019, I had possibly the most amazing month of my life. I achieved two personal goals in my training; I was elected President of the Phillip Business Community; and my business was hitting every goal I had set for it the year before when I went full-time (after eight years as a side gig).

Then in April 2020, venturing through Phillip during the first lockdown – remember how we could still do that? – businesspeople were turning up to their empty shops with no customers.

Many were still figuring out how to adapt to the new business environment. Some industries were rubbing their hands together; uncertainty brings out the vultures seeking out business carcases. Most of us survived the first lockdown, partly due to our customers and partly due to the Government. However, sadly, the politics of the first lockdown haunted small business. The ACT Government pointed fingers at small business for the sins of the big ones (nothing new in Canberra, really).

Just over 12 months ago, we asked the ACT politicians what they were doing to prepare for a second lockdown. Instead of substance, we were received with process, even waived off: “We will never do X, Y, Z.”  A week later, we had a single case in our nation’s capital, and snapped into another “short” lockdown that turned into 11 to 13 weeks for businesses like mine. First to close, last to fully open. Then the lockdown merged into the Omicron wave, and hasn’t really stopped.

And yet, the ACT Government was forced to provide support – and how you could tell that they hated doing it. Instead of the previous model, connected to employees, they chose an arbitrary model that ended the day the full-lockdown ended… not when our businesses could operate at full capacity. (“Tie someone’s hands behind their back and make them sing and dance,” I recall hearing one business owner say about my business.)

They told us that business was “back to normal” but did not think that the support after the first lockdown allowed most small businesses to get back to their knees at least. This time, it was cold turkey, and no end in sight for the pandemic. Business has a “new normal”. Oh man, I hate that phrase, but we all must find new ways of providing products and services.

PTSD still grips many business owners. They’re tired, they’re stressed – just like everyone else. They’ve had to cover someone’s shift, had staff not turn up, had customers pull out of a deal, been forced to arrange payment plans with the Tax Office. (Yes, you can earn $1, spend $1, and still have to pay the tax man $0.15 – I’m sure I’ll get grief for that fact.)

Something the politicians cannot fathom, or come to grips with, or maybe even understand, is that business is interconnected. Businesses don’t just open up, sell, and make money. Businesses rely on other businesses, like cafes and printers that support Public Service offices. If the people aren’t going to their offices, they’re not printing materials, they’re not purchasing coffees or lunches. Sure, some people will claim: “But we know all this”, but the fear language that pervades Government messaging scares people away from offices and personal services industries that require people to come to their business – not every business can go 100 per cent online.

It’s been a doozy of a year for business: high inflation, wage increases, a massive change in the way that superannuation is paid (and the increase). While most business owners will never begrudge paying their staff more – we even pay above award for most of our staff, because they’re awesome – overall, businesses are seeing the cost of just providing the same service outpacing their ability, or willingness, to increase prices. And while Big Business seem to just increase their prices, and most of it goes to profits, those sorts of decisions aren’t as simple for local business owners.

Now, if you’ve read this far and you’re thinking – are business owners just complaining? Nope. This is all just fact. Business owners are optimists, generally; you wouldn’t open a business if you weren’t certain it was going to succeed. But after the last two years, they’re tired, and most don’t get four weeks’ paid vacation each year or sick pay. All too many of us have had to cover for staff when we’re unwell, cancel travel plans, or more. But we do this because we have a passion for our business and the communities we form around us.

So where to next for Small Business in Canberra?

I’ve created this list of five steps to take:

1.) Re-align / re-check your business model:

• Reassess your products and services,
• Redo your sales funnels, and
• Create a plan to get you back to where you want to be and beyond.
• Important! Find someone to keep you accountable.

2.) Reach out to business minister Tara Cheyne and shadow business minister Leanne Castley about business issues.

3.) Join your local traders group (like the Phillip Business Community).

4.) Stay engaged with your local business owners; we rise together.

5.) If you are struggling financially or with mental health distress, please, please seek out help – no one will be ashamed of you for seeking help.

For me, I bought a dog in 2020 – I knew the black dog was coming, so I got a black dog (then another), and they keep me sane. I’m on the way back to February 2020 professionally and beyond, I’ve regained my passions and future goals and plans.

What I want from Canberrans right now is … go out and buy your next purchase from a local business. Wherever possible, choose to purchase from a local business instead of a big national brand. And, while you’re in there, ask them how they’re going. You might make their day or even get to know them. 

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