No matter who you are or where in the world you live, your life has been impacted by coronavirus in the past couple of months.

How has COVID-19 affected freelancers and other small business owners? Some freelancers have seen their clients drastically cut back on assignments, while other niches are seeing a boom. The lifestyle of freelancers lends itself well to working remotely from home, so it’s not a huge adjustment. But like everyone else, freelancers do need to adapt to this new situation.

In this blog post, I’ll talk about how COVID-19 has personally affected my business and some of the other small business owners that I know.

Don’t Feel Like Reading? Check Out My Video On This Topic!

COVID-19: The Economy-Destroying Virus?

Everybody’s life has been changed because of the coronavirus.

Things that we used to take for granted like visiting loved ones, shaking hands, or going to a restaurant were suddenly outlawed overnight.

There’s a lot of uncertainty right now about when things will open back up, and that is going to have a ripple effect that hurts everyone from the largest corporations down to individual freelancers.

During a recession or other uncertain times, marketing and advertising is one of the first discretionary costs that companies will cut.

That really puts freelancers in a disproportionately bad position. Since a lot of what we do is marketing related. Like running social media, ad campaigns, and blogs for companies.

How Has COVID-19 Affected My Freelance Writing Business?

Personally, it’s hard for me to tell at this point whether COVID-19 has really affected my business yet or not.

In March, I had no work from any of my regular clients, and didn’t manage to land any new jobs. But it’s hard to tell if this was related to coronavirus, or just the natural ebb and flow of my business.

I had a good amount of work in February, so it may have just been that I had exhausted all my work for the time being.

Since I had no business income for March, I was eligible to receive the $2,000 Canada Emergency Response Benefit from the government, which was nice.

I’ve since had quite a busy April with lots of work. Some of my clients have websites in niches that aren’t necessarily impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, and some of them are actually in a great position with products or services that will do well during this time.

One client in particular has really leaned into the opportunities that the current situation presented, as opposed to retracting in fear. And as a result, I wrote nearly 30 articles for them in April.

Going into May, I’m a lot more uncertain about how things will go. I’ve had a few new potential clients approach me, but nothing is set in stone yet.

However, even if I end up getting less work in May because of COVID-19, I’m planning to take advantage of the downtime to start this blog on my website, as well as a Youtube channel for myself which I’ve already recorded about 40 short videos for.

How Has COVID-19 Affected My Social and Personal Life?

Business changes aside, COVID-19 hasn’t had much impact on me on a personal level.

I could see how for freelancers who are digital nomads, the current situation could really throw a wrench into things. Travel bloggers and people living abroad likely had to make some tough decisions.

But since I work from home, I’m very much used to an introverted lifestyle where I spend most of my time at indoors. So not much has changed for me day to day.

I do miss being able to go to brunch on the weekends, or go pick up groceries or do other types of shopping whenever I want. But aside from that, I’m probably one of the least affected people by this whole thing.

Having my wife working from home in my office next to me has been less of a challenge than I expected it may have been. While some other couples we know seem to have been at each other’s throats since a week or two into social distancing took effect, we haven’t really had any problems.

I imagine people who now have kids at home, or who are used to working outside the home may be going crazy right now. Especially really extroverted people that are craving human interaction and going a bit squirrelly. But luckily being both a writer and accountant tends to be associated with pretty introverted personalities, and I’m no exception to that rule.

Wondering how to keep making money during COVID-19? Check out my article How Freelancers Can Still Make Money During A Recession

Focus On The Positive

While some businesses have been hit really hard by this pandemic, there are some niches out there that are doing great.

If you’re a freelance writer, now is a great time to try exploring some new niches that you’ve always wanted to write about.

With everybody being at home right now, there’s a boon for some topics like entertainment and video games.

People are also learning how to cook at home for the first time, and looking for more Youtube channels to watch and subscribe to.

There are still customers out there who want to learn things like how to exercise at home, or who have gotten themselves a pandemic puppy that they now need to learn how to train.

So with a bit of creative thinking, there are actually a lot of great business opportunities out there if you know where to look. Either for businesses that you can start for yourself. Or opportunities to sell your freelance writing, video editing, or other kinds of services.

Conclusion

Some freelancers may have had their income devastated by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Personally, I haven’t yet felt that much of an impact. But I’m cautious about what business will be like for many months to come, and I’m expecting a bit of a slowdown that I just haven’t experienced yet.

That doesn’t mean there aren’t lots of great opportunities out there for all types of freelancers, even with all of the craziness in the world. People still need to buy things. Their priorities have just shifted.

And freelancers, like all other types of businesses, will need to adapt to some degree to this new business environment that we find ourselves in.

Many of us freelancers work from home and are already pretty introverted to begin with. So we may actually be some of the least impacted members of society when it comes to this pandemic.