The Coronavirus pandemic has put an estimated 6 million small businesses in the UK in a, ‘financially precarious’ position, following a warning from a London business school. However, with the end of our third lockdown in sight I spoke to Lesley Muir, owner of two separate businesses to discuss how the pandemic has impacted her work life. 

 

Firstly, Muir founded Good PR in 2007, a content creation and digital marketing company, where she works as a PR consultant and a writer. 

 

Moreover, she became a qualified yoga teacher in 2018, and has since started her own company named, Be Happy Yoga. She runs multiple yoga sessions a week, for people of all ages and abilities. However, as a result of the pandemic she has had to completely re-think the way she operates her business and adapt to online teaching via zoom. 

 

Although at the start of the pandemic, Muir explained that a few PR clients, ‘panicked a little bit’ and consequently scaled back on their marketing, operations have generally continued as normal, stating that, ‘now, if anything I’m busier than I was’. On the other hand, Muir said that her yoga teaching has, ‘completely changed’. Not only the location of lessons but also her teaching style as well as length of the class.

 

Whereas, before the pandemic she would ‘rent a hall and do face to face teaching’, within our current Covid climate all lessons are now carried out over zoom. Initially, she explained she found it all, ‘a little bit strange’ however as time has gone by she can recognise that there are both, ‘pros and cons’ to this new method of teaching. 

 

Moreover, Muir said she could be more, ‘adventurous’ during face to face lessons, including moves such as, ‘headstands and handstands’ in the sequence. However, nowadays with everyone practicing from home these potentially dangerous exercises cannot be completed as she isn’t able to adjust her clients to ensure their safety, instead she focuses on movements that are more, ‘universally accessible’.

 

Muir compared her online lessons to a, ‘youtube fitness video’ as she is now more physically involved and focuses more on, ‘demonstrations’ rather than explanations. This is to ensure that participants are clear on the specific positions even through their screens. Additionally, lessons before were much longer and more of a, ‘sensory experience’, involving ‘essential oils’ explained Muir. 

 

I later asked Muir if there was anything she was grateful for in relation to her businesses as a result of the pandemic. She said that with regards to her public relations company, Good PR, she believes that the virus has made people more, ‘relaxed, and accepting, and understanding’, claiming that lockdown has allowed us to, ‘see the human side of people’ more, specifically drawing upon the humbling example of people doing conference calls in their bedrooms. 

 

In terms of Be Happy Yoga, although she noted that she was initially, ‘really apprehensive’ about the new medium of teaching she explained to me that she is grateful to the pandemic for making yoga more, ‘accessible’, particularly for teenagers who feel, ‘less threatened because it’s remote’. Additionally, teaching via the internet has attracted people from beyond the, local area for example; a new client in Cambridge. Furthermore, as people are at home most of the day they have more time to participate in yoga, meaning they can now attend more sessions than before as they no longer have to worry about external factors such as the commute. 

 

We finished the interview by looking forward into the future of the two businesses. Muir explained that with regards to her public relations company she thinks people will be, ‘more accepting’ of people working from home and that clients will be less insistent about having as many physical work interactions, becoming more ‘flexible’ and ‘open minded’. Secondly, in relation to her yoga company she is investing in her own studio, where she will teach a mixture of both physical and zoom classes and she maintains that she will be, ‘guided by the people that come and what works for them’ as she looks ahead. Nevertheless, she is excited to be, ‘re-united’ with her clients in any form this may take.

 

If you are interested in researching more about either companies then follow the links below to their websites:

 

(Good PR) https://good-pr.co.uk/about/

(Be Happy Yoga) https://www.behappyyoga.fit