Virtual Working by Jane Singleton

Being honest, I felt completely panicked when lockdown was announced as I had clients who had pre-paid for services I was no longer able to deliver in person. I knew I had to pivot and adapt quickly to avoid having to pay out refunds.

After contacting all clients affected, I then focussed my attention on my Tiny Toes baby classes – I was half way through a course, and had an almost fully-booked course following that running in April/May.

Initially I decided it would be impossible to run live classes with my partner working full time from home, and my four & five year old boys to look after, so I set up private Facebook groups and pre-recorded the content for the remaining course content.

I then focussed on my new class block and again ran it via a private Facebook group, recorded the remaining class content and engaged within the group, and via weekly Zoom coffee catch-ups so the ladies could get to know each other.

I felt able to commit to this more informal setting, without worrying about my two little superheroes video bombing quite so much!

The approach evolved over the five weeks and I learnt so much from these experiences, and made some changes to my next class block based on the feedback.

I’m currently taking a little break from classes and am working on relaunching various Tiny Toes workshops and classes.

Once things began to settle on the Tiny Toes side of things I then shifted focus to my fertility work, and after a brilliant webinar run by Barbara Scott for ARR members, I felt confident to start working virtually.

It’s no coincidence that very soon after, I attracted my first couple who booked in a consultation. We connected over video call, and I’ve been working with them since over WhatsApp and video calls.

Other clients have followed since. I have to say, whilst I’m missing treating my clients in person, I’m also really enjoying working in this new way. I’m currently working on various strands of work to attract more clients in this area of my work moving forward, both in person and virtually.

During this time I’ve also completed my coursework to become a Gentle Release Therapy Practitioner, and have attracted three brand new clients already via social media who are receiving virtual treatments. I have to admit I would never in my wildest dreams have expected to be doing this kind of treatment virtually, but I love it and feedback has been great so far.

The challenges with all of this has (not surprisingly) been time and balancing everything around family life. I’m not going to lie, it has been hard and at times very stressful (mainly the Tiny Toes work in the daytime as I’ve felt like I’ve had too many balls to juggle).

It’s also been stressful financially. As a relatively new business I’ve been entitled to no Government help, and this has been a real driver for me to keep pushing forward.

But I now feel it has been such a positive experience in so many ways – a learning curve and a real eye opener. I’ve realised how many limitations I’ve placed on myself just working face-to-face up to now. Virtual offerings will very much be part of the way I want to work moving forward.

My mind is buzzing with ideas and I’m working behind the scenes to bring more services online, whilst trying to be kind to myself in the process, as I also prepare to (hopefully) welcome clients back from 4^th July.