58: Your flight ‘Canceled’ !

In 2020 our dear Almighty reversed the order for the human race. Humans were caged; animals & plants were free to thrive. Therefore I think for this article I should also reverse the order.

Let’s start with the moral of the story first. Lessons I learnt personally:-

And now the story itself:-

So last 4^th Tuesday of February 2020 I went to BNI Champions meeting. It was my last day at the meeting as a member. I had to leave BNI as we were moving to India with business still continuing in Dubai as usual. I came back home and booked cargo to send all our stuff to India. Within a few days, cargo people came and our major stuff was gone in cargo. A few days later for 16^th of March I had booked my flight to India. All this while the news of the virus was going in the background and I am sure no one on earth knew what is going to happen next.

On 14^th of March I get message from airlines “YOUR FLIGHT IS CANCELED!”. All the countries were sealing their international border one by one and flights were getting cancelled left , right , centre. Here I was with no idea what is going to happen next and baffled as I could be. From here onwards our business was going to take a new road….

 A little gist from the past –

My name is Divya Bhagtani. I am partner at accounting and tax consulting firm called www.accountantsbox.com which is operational since 4 years now. We deal with mainly SME business for their outsource accounting-related task here in UAE. We were on the verge of starting a new venture soon as planned. When the news of pandemic and lock down hit, I got a call from a few of our existing customers to stop assignment with us as there was no business for them. We had no choice but to agree. Few of our customers whose payments were due didnt pay us then. We were left with very little money in our bank account. Obviously, the situation was not looking good and we were not sure how we were going to manage the next few months.

Back to 14^th March & onwards-

There were too many thoughts in head but an absolute silence outside. We had to just wait and watch from our window to see what comes next. Few of our clients stayed with us and they saved the boat. From here we had to think out-of-the-box for Accountant’s Box. And so we did that.

We always believed in our business and knew that it is going to reach certain heights as expected. After one or two months when the entire feeling of pandemic was settled into everyone’s mind we started reconnecting with people. This time it was virtual meetings. Our business was always digital and virtually inclined with new technologies being part of it. This whole situation was rather in our favor as we knew how to work virtually. We met few amazing people after that and from there we got some good assignments.

Here I learnt: “Survival is only for the fittest”. If you are mentally, emotionally and physically ready to survive in any situation then you got to thrive. You just have to change your way of doing things.

As we got some good work in hand we had to deliver as well. We hired new people in our team virtually. We spoke to them online, trusted them and hired them. They help us with our business and we helped them in giving them work in such difficult times. Luckily they all proved to be a great choice.

Here I learnt: “Trust because that is the only choice you have”. As humans we survive by trusting and helping each other. Sometimes yes we do get ditched. But then again need to be mindful and trust people again. As this is how it is!

Now we all are in 2021. We all have lived this situation for a while and know how to deal with it. Well, Accountant’s Box is also thriving and has survived its hardship. Thankfully our bank balance is good with an extra zero with what we were left with last year.

All in all we the Humans of 2020 have learnt to….

1. Do business virtually and to be pro with zooming around
2. Work from our bedrooms with kids hopping on us exactly when the meeting starts 😉
3. Cleaning the house and attend a call simultaneously
4. And much more !!!