What to do when social media goes down? — Sharon Z Jewelry

I mean, what are you supposed to do when the number one way that you reach followers (i.e. Instagram) goes out? What do you do when this same platform has been bent on convincing creators that theirs is the only platform that you’ll ever need?

What will be the future of your small business?

There is never a better time than now to think ahead to the future of your business and to think about how you can make it better able to respond to changes.

It’s OK if you didn’t start it yesterday, or last week, or last month – now is great!

Shore up your business

This won’t be the first time that I have talked about the need for all of us as small business owners to shore up our businesses, and it certainly won’t be the last.

And I say all of this without judgement – we have been sold on the idea that we only need one platform, one channel, one way to find customers and one way to sell to them. If you thought this too, you are not alone.

But what happens when that one platform changes the rules? Or disappears for hours? In the moment it can be cause for the twin feelings of shame and panic, but it doesn’t have to get the better of us.

We can, as a community, take this moment to reevaluate our business practices, to turn to other avenues, and to treat our businesses holistically.

Here’s a short checklist

Check out this short list of ways that you can shore up your business now so that it is built to weather changes that come your way.

Think of this as the start of your earthquake kit, your go bag for wildfires, or your back up generator:

If you currently sell only through Etsy:

• Now is a great time to buy your domain name and pick an eCommerce platform.

  • Squarespace (aka the platform that you are reading this on) – simple to use and find good layouts, simple to upload your products from Etsy and start selling.

  • Shopify – for those focused on robust eCommerce sales, Shopify has the most powerful eCommerce platform.

  • Wix also an easy web platform, and can be customized easily, or by using a web design service like WebGem.

• Now is also a great time to direct traffic to your own eCommerce site rather than your Etsy site.

If you haven’t implemented any financial tracking practices:

If you haven’t built an email list:

(Pssssst – especially in light of the recent social media outage, having a second channel like email to speak directly to your customers is vital)

If you currently sell mostly to stores and galleries:

And one last thing! (Several last things, really)

Remember that done is better than perfect:

• Building an imperfect but shoppable website is better than no website.

• Building an email list with only 40 people on it is better than no email list at all.

• Having some systems in place to track your money is better than having the perfect system.

Start from where you are and use what you have. You’ll get there and I am here to cheer you on!

What questions do you have about setting up your business for success and stability? Post it in the comments!