By: Virginia Scripps
During the pandemic, most everyone has had their routine disrupted. In our personal lives, many have been willing — or forced — to try something new. Stress-relieving hobbies have flourished among normally busy type A’s stuck at home, whether it’s quilting, skateboarding, learning a complex TikTok dance, or reading stacks of actual, physical books. As lockdowns turned from weeks into months, we pursued interests we normally don’t have time to think about, much less master, sharing these on social media and surprising our friends with our newfound creative and DIY skills.
At work, many of us have had new ideas, inspired in part by our inability to do things the same old way. Working from home was only the beginning of the changes many of us faced professionally. For many creative companies, normal revenue streams were reduced, slowed to a trickle, or dried up completely. Company leaders were suddenly obliged to pry their minds open and consider saying yes to things that would normally be considered against the policy. In my company, for instance, we are normally too busy with retainer clients to accept one-off projects. It’s something that’s become de rigueur ever since our small PR boutique became a slightly larger company with a prolific client list. Turning down project work over the past few years has helped us avoid overwhelm, but it’s sometimes been tough, as non-clients have brought us newsworthy or compelling projects we hate to turn down.
When the pandemic hit, we turned our New York office into a remote one practically overnight, and — not surprisingly — our roster took a minor but somewhat immediate hit as client companies scrambled to survive. Thankfully, our losses weren’t as devastating as some marketing companies and, with a few structural adjustments, we were able to soldier on. One unforeseen development was that multiple interesting projects began to present themselves a few weeks into lockdown. We reflexively shrugged. “We’re just too bus—“, we began, but then thought, “Wait, what? Are we really too busy?” The truth was, for once, we could say yes to projects and give them the attention and passion they deserved. One case in point is the “Change the Lens” advertising industry initiative, which we proudly are still working on, learning from and gladly doing pro bono. Other company launches, news and COVID-related creative came our way. Not only have projects been a way to stay busy at our normal levels in times of flux, but this small but steady revenue stream was welcome and helped us avoid staff reductions. In fact, we have been excited and grateful that this project-friendly chapter opened up for Press Kitchen at the perfect time.
Another company policy at our bicoastal boutique is to hire full-time agents. Having full-timers is how we roll, and this keeps things streamlined and simple normally, and allows us to build a strong, stable staff. We find that great teamwork comes from having a collective of long term partners. However… during COVID, we pivoted and brought on two fantastic part-timers with specific areas of expertise we needed. These were hires we couldn’t have made if we were doing things the old way, and they’ve each been really valuable new members of our team. We are hoping to have full-time openings for them in the future and by then they will be well trained.
Chucking the rules this summer has turned out to be interesting and crucial to keeping our company healthy at a time when failing to make adjustments could be downright deadly. My partner Jenna Wigman summarized how our company rolls in the new world of COVID in four simple words: “There are no rules.”