Remote work, crisis pivots, and funding strategy for scaling businesses

Executive overview

The COVID-19 lockdown forced businesses to rebuild operations overnight — remote collaboration, client engagement, and revenue models all had to change at once. Three coaches (brand strategist Deb Gabor, funding expert Ami Kassar, and neuroscience-informed coach Anita Cabell) share what's working across their practices.

The businesses that thrive through a crisis are those that ask "how can I be indispensable right now?" rather than waiting for normal to return.

Making remote meetings and collaboration work

• Zoom fatigue comes from missing nonverbal feedback loops and constant self-consciousness about being watched.
• Pop-in video calls replicate office interruptions but create anxiety; ask permission first and default to phone.
• Camera angle, even lighting, and a directional microphone make a significant difference to perceived quality.
• Breakout rooms in groups of two or three generate participation that whole-group calls never achieve.
• Ask participants to report what they heard in breakouts rather than what they said — lowers self-consciousness.
• Sessions of around 90 minutes are the practical limit before fatigue sets in; structure multiple shorter sessions over several days rather than compressing into full-day blocks.
• Collaborative whiteboard tools (Mural, Miro) combined with pre-built templates replicate in-person sticky-note workshops.
• Green-screen slide backgrounds let speakers stay visible while presenting — eliminates the tiny-thumbnail problem.

Team culture and connection during lockdown

• Daily standups kept on schedule regardless of location maintain continuity and signal normalcy.
• Weekly surprise gifts sent to employees' homes (cookies, coloring books, play dough) build morale at low cost.
• End-of-day "sanity hour" informal video touchpoints replace lost corridor conversations.
• PPE fashion shows, art competitions, and chef-led cooking events create shared experiences across remote teams.
• Giving people uninterrupted private work time matters as much as structured connection time.

Pivoting the business model

• The key question driving successful pivots: "How can I be indispensable right now?"
• LVMH retooled perfume factories to produce hand sanitizer and met France's national need in 72 hours.
• A dry cleaner with a van network pivoted to: Covid-clothes laundry for frontline workers, restaurant food delivery, and community-donated wash-and-fold for healthcare staff.
• An audio equipment company switched plastics and materials production to face masks and PPE, creating a new safety division.
• Webinars and online content — previously avoided — expanded audiences and generated new-business pipeline without direct selling.
• Brand loyalties shift during crises; customers adopt new suppliers and rarely revert to old habits.

Funding and capital strategy

• PPP loans were widely treated as a forgiveness-maximisation game rather than a bridge to growth — a missed opportunity.
• The Main Street Lending Program (as of late April 2020) offered loans of 4x last year's EBITDA minus existing debt, minimum $1M, at low interest — largely ignored while businesses obsessed over PPP forgiveness calculations.
• Cheap available debt used to prop up a broken business is dangerous; cheap debt used to build a war chest for acquisitions and talent upgrades is strategic.
• Businesses that prepared balance sheets and credit lines before the crisis had far more flexibility than those that hadn't.
• Distressed competitors, stranded talent, and abandoned client relationships are acquisition opportunities for businesses with capital and the right mindset.

Strategy and coaching

• The SWT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Trends) exercise — a more strategic SWOT variant — surfaces the pivot that gets a business from surviving to thriving.
• Scanning trends outside your own industry is where the most useful intersections appear.
• A coach accelerates the shift from reactive crisis management to a "future-back" conversation about where the business is going.
• Accountability structures and shared visibility of priorities make it easier to identify the levers that actually move a business forward.