How an Organization’s Founder Built Up New Parts of Her Business During the COVID-19 Pandemic
How an Organization’s Founder Built Up New Parts of Her Business During the COVID-19 Pandemic
Facebook BusinessWhen Noni Banks founded The Diva Movement, a membership-based business and leadership development organization for women, she relied on in-person events to create community and bring people together for opportunities like networking, skill-building and training. Since its inception in 2012, the Columbus, Ohio-based organization has served close to 4,000 people at its events.
Then the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic hit, causing businesses to close and cease in-person events and gatherings. As a result, various parts of Noni’s business started to suffer. “People began to cancel their memberships due to economic concerns, I had to lay off my assistant, all of my events had to be postponed or moved online,” Noni says. “It seemed like overnight my business was slashed by 80 percent.”
Noni had a problem to solve, so she tackled it head on, with the same optimism, perseverance and resilience she’d been teaching to her community for years. If you go to the section of The Diva Movement’s website, you’ll see her mantra in all caps, “DON’T GIVE UP.” She didn’t.
Noni took a step back and identified ways she could adapt her business, developing its more nascent parts, like coaching and consulting, so she could make up for membership cancellations by ramping up new revenue streams. She moved in-person events online by learning how to use digital tools she’d never tried before, then built credibility by teaching others how to use them. Since helping people is at the core of The Diva Movement’s mission, we asked Noni to share her story.
Once in-person events were no longer possible, what are some ways you pivoted your business?
Events were an essential part of my business prior to COVID-19 hitting, so I moved everything online. I started to bring female entrepreneurs on my Facebook Live events to talk about various topics, like mental health, reaching your goals during a pandemic, parenting, stress and thriving versus surviving as an entrepreneur during tough times. After each live session, I always invite people to join me on a discovery call to discuss their business goals and their social media and marketing challenges. I now spend a significant part of my day talking with entrepreneurs and helping them create action plans and strategies to improve their marketing efforts. These live events have become a great way for me to generate leads and help other entrepreneurs grow.
How did recent events influence your decision to invest in some of The Diva Movement’s newer services?
I had always intended to ramp up the coaching side of the business, but I didn't intend to do it so quickly. In January I launched our social media consulting and coaching services, so I ended up increasing my marketing and advertising efforts for those. I also started to explore other technologies that would allow me to improve my customer’s experiences and interactions during online and social media events. I now incorporate my reviews of these products and tools into my live streams, coaching sessions and training. The efforts resulted in a 90% increase in the number of women who are now my coaching clients and individuals who are taking my social media bootcamp training.
How has the way you’ve used your platforms evolved since the pandemic started?
I started by sharing resources on my Facebook Page about disaster funding for businesses and ways to keep employees safe, then shifted to posting resources in our Facebook Group. Group members were great about posting information they found as well; I really saw how women supported each other during these times. I also realized that female entrepreneurs were discouraged about how they were going to continue running their businesses while managing, working from home, teaching their kids and being quarantined. I started using my Page as a source of encouragement to provide strategies, tools and resources to help them market and grow their businesses. I had also never used Instagram Live before the pandemic, but have since hosted my first Instagram Live interview. I have always used a variety of social media platforms and tools, and while I have leveraged these platforms in new ways, the biggest change is how I teach others to use them.
How has the COVID-19 pandemic impacted how you think about The Diva Movement’s future as the country continues to open back up?
I plan to continue to grow the marketing and social media coaching service and am revamping my current membership structure. I am also launching some additional digital products this fall. The number of in-person events will be limited going forward, for at least the next nine months, so I plan on continuing to grow our groups and social media presence.
What advice would you give to other small business owners who are figuring out what to do next?
Don’t stop creating. I have created more products like ebooks, templates, infographics and content in the last 90 days than I did all of last year. Even when you think you’re an out-of-the-box kind of person, you can get caught up in the daily grind and you can lose sight of making sure your company and the services and products it provides stay fresh and relevant. My mother always says that if you stay ready, you don’t have to get ready. I took a lot of things for granted before the pandemic. I was not as vigilant with some areas of my business that I should have been. This pandemic reminded me to keep my head on a swivel, to be aware of my blindspots, potential threats and possible opportunities.
We’re continuing to explore how we can help support businesses through this challenging time. Visit our Business Resource Hub for tips, industry-specific guides, inspiration and more.
Has your business adapted during the COVID-19 pandemic? We’d like to hear from you.
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Interviews
June 22, 2020
How an Organization’s Founder Built Up New Parts of Her Business During the COVID-19 Pandemic
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Then the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic hit, causing businesses to close and cease in-person events and gatherings. As a result, various parts of Noni’s business started to suffer. “People began to cancel their memberships due to economic concerns, I had to lay off my assistant, all of my events had to be postponed or moved online,” Noni says. “It seemed like overnight my business was slashed by 80 percent.”
Noni had a problem to solve, so she tackled it head on, with the same optimism, perseverance and resilience she’d been teaching to her community for years. If you go to the “About Me” section of The Diva Movement’s website, you’ll see her mantra in all caps, “DON’T GIVE UP.” She didn’t.
Noni took a step back and identified ways she could adapt her business, developing its more nascent parts, like coaching and consulting, so she could make up for membership cancellations by ramping up new revenue streams. She moved in-person events online by learning how to use digital tools she’d never tried before, then built credibility by teaching others how to use them. Since helping people is at the core of The Diva Movement’s mission, we asked Noni to share her story.
Once in-person events were no longer possible, what are some ways you pivoted your business?
Events were an essential part of my business prior to COVID-19 hitting, so I moved everything online. I started to bring female entrepreneurs on my Facebook Live events to talk about various topics, like mental health, reaching your goals during a pandemic, parenting, stress and thriving versus surviving as an entrepreneur during tough times. After each live session, I always invite people to join me on a discovery call to discuss their business goals and their social media and marketing challenges. I now spend a significant part of my day talking with entrepreneurs and helping them create action plans and strategies to improve their marketing efforts. These live events have become a great way for me to generate leads and help other entrepreneurs grow.
How did recent events influence your decision to invest in some of The Diva Movement’s newer services?
I had always intended to ramp up the coaching side of the business, but I didn't intend to do it so quickly. In January I launched our social media consulting and coaching services, so I ended up increasing my marketing and advertising efforts for those. I also started to explore other technologies that would allow me to improve my customer’s experiences and interactions during online and social media events. I now incorporate my reviews of these products and tools into my live streams, coaching sessions and training. The efforts resulted in a 90% increase in the number of women who are now my coaching clients and individuals who are taking my social media bootcamp training.
How has the way you’ve used your platforms evolved since the pandemic started?
I started by sharing resources on my Facebook Page about disaster funding for businesses and ways to keep employees safe, then shifted to posting resources in our Facebook Group. Group members were great about posting information they found as well; I really saw how women supported each other during these times. I also realized that female entrepreneurs were discouraged about how they were going to continue running their businesses while managing, working from home, teaching their kids and being quarantined. I started using my Page as a source of encouragement to provide strategies, tools and resources to help them market and grow their businesses. I had also never used Instagram Live before the pandemic, but have since hosted my first Instagram Live interview. I have always used a variety of social media platforms and tools, and while I have leveraged these platforms in new ways, the biggest change is how I teach others to use them.
How has the COVID-19 pandemic impacted how you think about The Diva Movement’s future as the country continues to open back up?
I plan to continue to grow the marketing and social media coaching service and am revamping my current membership structure. I am also launching some additional digital products this fall. The number of in-person events will be limited going forward, for at least the next nine months, so I plan on continuing to grow our groups and social media presence.
What advice would you give to other small business owners who are figuring out what to do next?
Don’t stop creating. I have created more products like ebooks, templates, infographics and content in the last 90 days than I did all of last year. Even when you think you’re an out-of-the-box kind of person, you can get caught up in the daily grind and you can lose sight of making sure your company and the services and products it provides stay fresh and relevant. My mother always says that if you stay ready, you don’t have to get ready. I took a lot of things for granted before the pandemic. I was not as vigilant with some areas of my business that I should have been. This pandemic reminded me to keep my head on a swivel, to be aware of my blindspots, potential threats and possible opportunities.
We’re continuing to explore how we can help support businesses through this challenging time. Visit our Business Resource Hub for tips, industry-specific guides, inspiration and more.
Has your business adapted during the COVID-19 pandemic? We’d like to hear from you.
Tags
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