As we navigate through this new normal and ever-changing world, we wanted to provide some advice on ways you can help your customers adjust to their new routines.

Working from Home

Many people are experiencing working from home for the first time and don't know how to adjust. The uncertainties of the current world situation can make it hard to stay productive and on track with business goals, and many businesses need to pivot or change their goals. A few tips to help your customers break through all the noise and get back on track are listed below - feel free to keep them in mind for yourself also, we have:

1. Create a dedicated workspace: staying away from distractions is key, whether that is a pet, loved ones, TV, or keeping up with realtime news. If possible, find a separate room or area that is only used as you workspace. This allows for direct separation between work and leisure and encourages productivity (during both of those activities!). Make sure your desk is clutter-free with room for the tools you may need to get the job done. Ensure that you have a comfortable seating arrangement.
2. Establish and maintain a routine: plan for a regular working day, including typical working hours, is an important way to ensure that you can plan your day effectively. Establishing a routine will also create a more clear separation between work and leisure. Keep a to-do list and dive into it first thing in the morning. This will help you get into work mode. When working from home, we tend to spend a lot more time immobile. Make sure to schedule breaks to take a rest from the screen and get in a few stretches, or some social distancing fresh air!
3. Get dressed: we know that many of us have been changing from our day pyjamas to our night pyjamas - and we don't blame you! However, getting dressed in comfortable, casual clothes can help put your mindset on track and take you from relaxation mode into work mode.
4. Make healthy lunches & snacks: while activity level is low, appetite level seems to be at an all-time high! Boost your brain with some healthy food options such as berries, nuts and seeds, dark chocolate, fish, whole grains, and kale.
5. Get social (online): working from home can feel isolating. Take the time to virtually check-in with teammates, either through chat, over the phone, or best of all, through a video call. Share tips and tricks on what's working, or what's not working, with your current set up and regularly check in on coworkers and friends.
6. Limit distractions: try and abandon anything that may distract your train of thought during your scheduled working hours. Some actions you may choose to take include: switching off notifications on your personal social media, ensuring your work area is away from the TV, and putting your phone away when not taking breaks (and if not a critical form communication for your work!). A great way to encourage yourself to limit distractions is by setting goals and rewarding yourself once this goal is complete (for example: coffee only comes after all the morning e-mails have been read).

Get Moving

Encouraging your customers to get moving throughout the day is proven to increase their endorphins and concentration. However, it can be demotivating to work out once you're seated on the couch, watching all the shows streaming services provide. So, we've called upon the Hexonet team and pulled together some of our favourite and most effective online workouts to help you stay motivated and on track:

1. Yoga: Texas-based yogi, Adriene Mishler, has a versatile YouTube channel with many follow-along yoga workouts. Videos include 30 day challenges, meditations, yoga for beginners, advanced classes, yoga for back pain, and much more. Our recent go-to's have been from her "Yoga for Busy People" series that features 10-20 minute videos perfect for short breaks from the screen!
2. Bootcamp: Barry's Bootcamp is offering fee Instagram Live classes multiple times a day. Many classes require none or minimal equipment. Get your heart pumping with these 20-minute daily workouts that are high-energy and an effective way to blow off some steam.
3. Boxing: New York-based kickboxing gym, Work Train Fight, is offering free online boxing workouts. Beginner? Not to worry. Each move is explained and demonstrated in a way that makes it easy and fun to follow along.
4. Barre: try something new! Barre exercises can be great at-home workouts because they typically use smaller, more targeted movements, making it easy to work out in smaller spaces. Barre Fitness is offering a free video library full of Barre classes for all levels.
5. HIIT: high-intensity interval training, or better known as HIIT, is a great way to get sweating! FITSQR is a 30-minute HIIT studio, now offering free classes on their Instagram account daily.

Learn Something New

As we spend all our time at home, many people have a lot more free time on their hands. For that reason, now is the time to learn something new. Encourage your customers to enhance a skill, or learn a new skill altogether, that will be beneficial long into the future. See below for a list of easy to access online learning websites:

1. Creative Mornings: Creative Mornings hosts monthly talks in 214 cities across the globe, for free. All past talks are posted online, and right now, all new talks are being broadcast virtually. Each month has a new theme that is shared among all 214 cities, so you can see how each speaker chooses to elaborate on the theme with their personal talk.
2. Code Break: a perfect activity to keep kids engaged and learning, Code.org offers weekly computer science classes great for anyone from beginner to a more experienced coder. Special guests are featured each week, with past guests including Hill Harper, Mark Cuban, and Lyndsey Scott.
3. Codeacademy: now that your kids know how to code, it's time to teach yourself. Learn to code, or perfect your skills, with Codeacademy. From web development to programming and computer science, Codeacademy offers something for everyone.
4. Lynda.com: Lynda.com (LinkedIn Learning) offers thousands of courses online ranging from topics like software development, design, web development, business, and photography.
5. Skillshare: explore new skills with classes taught by industry experts. Some key topics include: animation, design, illustration, business, writing, lifestyle and photo & film.
6. Rype: there's no better time to learn a new language than right now. Become fluent in any new language with live 1-on-1 personalized lessons from professional teachers. Languages include Spanish, French, Mandarin, German, Italian, and many more.

Marketing Projects

While work can be a little slower at this time, there's no reason to abandon your marketing plans. Instead of continuing as "business as usual", we encourage you and your customers to shift perspective and adjust your marketing projects to changing customer needs. We've created a list of marketing projects you and your customers can work on that will help adjust your goals to the current needs of your target market:

1. Rethink your brand strategy: while your strategy may have worked well in the past, your customer wants and needs are most likely shifting due to COVID-19. Now is the time to research what your customers need and how you can adjust your brand strategy to best fit those new needs. Don't hold back from reaching out to customers through e-mail, phone or video chat to discuss how your brand can best support them at this time. First-hand feedback is invaluable.
2. Clean up your SEO: with most businesses turning to a fully digital focus, it's time to go through and clean up your SEO. Look for broken links, title tags that need to be updated, short page word count, and more.
3. Content is king now more than ever: focus on your content, new and old. Go through old blog posts, website pages, etc., and using data and analytics, find pieces or pages that aren't performing well and take the time to rework them. As for new content, use the customer research you conducted in step one to create content that matches your customers' current wants and needs.
4. Change up your delivery: start brainstorming, pick up on old ideas and challenge why you do things the way you do. Now is the time to shake things up and test new forms of delivery. If you are a bricks and mortar business, how can you adjust to deliver the same value in a digital format?
5. Revamp your website: remember that A/B test you've been planning to do on your homepage for a few years now? Get to it! Start testing and adjusting old content and design. Use data to analyze what your customers are reacting to. Connect with a UX or UI expert and take your website to the next level!

Get Set Up Online

We have tools for anything your customer may need to get set up online. Whether they are starting a new business, a blog, or just expanding on their current business, see below for a list of ways we can help them get online:

1. Build a website: connect quickly and easily to a website builder with Hexonet's web app tools. We offer website builders such as Weebly, Squarespace, Blogger, and Shopify to get your business, or blog, up and running today.
2. E-mail: connect your domain to your e-mail address for a professional-looking e-mail. Get it done easily with one of our e-mail web app tools like GSuite or Greatmail.
3. Short links: use your domain name to customize your links using link shortener tools like Bit.ly and Rebrandly found among Hexonet's web apps. This is great for social media posts, e-mails, campaigns, and more. Link shortening tools create shorter, cleaner looking links while adding tracking and data analysis software onto your link.