Like many business owners, Leanne Fawcett from LEC Communications and Design began 2020 looking forward to a year of growth.
With an expanding pipeline of existing client work and new projects pencilled in to start during the first quarter of the year, it was set to be the best 12 months yet for the eightyear-old firm. But then COVID-19 happened and the picture quickly changed.
Here Leanne tells us how she has overcome the challenges the global pandemic has presented and why LEC is ending the year on a high with a renewed optimism for 2021.
Who’d have thought that when the first cases of coronavirus were reported, 11 months later we’d still be battling what has undoubtedly been one of the biggest health challenges the world has ever faced. I can remember sitting in the office chatting to a client as we made plans for the coming months, talking about the rise in cases and how it seemed like we were making a mountain out of a molehill.
How wrong we were.
Within weeks the country was in a national lockdown and within a couple of days almost £20,000 of projects were pulled as clients rightly felt they could no longer commit to ‘luxury’ spends when no one knew what lay ahead.
The following months were tough, though throughout the 12-week lockdown, I still counted myself very lucky that not only did I have my health but I was also able to continue trading – something many of my fellow businesses simply weren’t able to do.
So I said to myself that while any hopes of growth and profit were gone, there was still reasons to be positive and I used the time to review my business – where did I want it to go in 2021 and how was I going to build on the setbacks of 2020. Thankfully, as we approach the end of the year, things have really picked up. We’ve secured several new accounts, while existing clients that had gone off the radar are now very much back on board pushing through projects for completion before they head off on the festive break. And with the grant and funding support available to boost economic growth, which is encouraging businesses to spend money they wouldn’t have otherwise, there are plenty of reasons to be positive. We’re a resilient bunch in the North East so here’s to a better 2021 – albeit one that will continue to be anything but normal.
