As the virus spreads across more countries and continents, more and more local and state governments have issued shelter-in-place orders, closing borders and restricting circulation of their residents. The request is to stay at home and go out only if it is essential.

In this context, many businesses have taken a toll and are struggling to find solutions to survive until the coronavirus crisis will come to an end. From ballrooms, concert halls cinemas, restaurants, malls, to beauty salons, groceries stores, banks, transportation, travel & accommodation, wedding professionals etc – many business owners are now scrambling for solutions. 

The good news is that many governments have developed care packages that would help companies survive through the quarantine period. But without having a clear end to the crisis, it is up to the companies to find ways to adapt and survive, thrive and see another day. “Improvise, Adapt, and Overcome” is the unofficial mantra of the U.S. Marine Corps. Now it is up to leaders in business to apply this mantra.

My own businesses have been impacted by some of the measures above. With events such as weddings, concerts and parties canceled (or limited to a max of 8 participants for now), both my photo booth rental company and my party favor products have taken a toll. Clients have canceled their events – some without planning for a future date at all, while prospects have decided to limit their planning (and shopping) until the crisis ends and my heart aches for those who had to cancel their weddings for an unknown date after months of planning. For my businesses this has resulted in losing revenue, making refunds, and rethinking my income streams for the next couple of months. 

This is a situation that many, many business owners are faced with all over the world. While many of us are still looking for solutions, some have improvised, adapted and overcame this temporary hurdle. In doing so they have succeeded to save their businesses (at least for now), and some of them have gained some reputation points for taking actions that have benefits for the community and their own customers.

In this post, I’m sharing a couple of real life examples that hopefully will inspire you as well.

With social distancing measures in place, sporting events have been canceled. Two of the football clubs from the countries with the highest number of Covid-19 patients (Italy and Spain) have found ways to remain active. 

Barcelona has some of the best football players in the world and it takes pride in its training program, but with Covid-19 disrupting the ordinary schedule, the team had to improvise, adapt and overcome. The challenge was to find a way to keep players in top shape without having them train in the conventional method.

“They perform endurance sessions on the stationary bike or treadmill. Players have the objective of performing an interval work where they reach speeds and heart rates that can simulate the competition”, explains Andrés Martín, F.C. Barcelona U-19 strength and conditioning coach, and Doctor of Science in Physical Activity and Sports. “Players are not allowed to go outside; therefore, it is not possible to analyse GPS data, so, after each training session they send us the RPE (rate of perceived exertion), the distance and running pace in order to analyse the workload and thus be able to make modifications based on it ”.

While Barcelona found ways to adapt their training program, AS Roma on the other hand decided to focus resources on scoring reputation points within the community and their own customers. Italy is pretty much on lockdown, leaving many people isolated and vulnerable, especially the elderly. So AS Roma decided to do something about it and began to deliver care packages every season ticket holder over the age of 75.

The entertainment industry has been hit pretty badly as well, with concerts, parties, festivals being canceled or postponed for another time. Some theaters and hosts decided to increase awareness for their “products” while everyone is confined to their homes, watching TV and looking for something good to binge on Netflix. 

Cirque du Soleil launched its own digital content hub called CirqueConnect where viewers can enjoy never-before-seen angles, as well as tutorials, and soundtracks from past shows. The first video released is a 60-minute special featuring moments from the touring show KURIOS – Cabinet of Curiosities, which has never been performed on the Las Vegas Strip.