October is Mental Health Awareness month. According to the Department of Health, the objective of various government and private campaigns this month is not only educating the South African public about mental health but also to reduce the stigma the topic is all too often handled with.

The Department of Health points out that Mental health problems such as job stress, depression and anxiety are common; with an estimated 400 million people worldwide suffering from mental or neurological disorders or from psychosocial problems. These problems affect not only the individuals but their families, co-workers, and the broader community too. According to the Department of Health too few South Africans seek treatment for their mental disorders.



Unfortunately many of these problems have been compounded over the past 18 months due to various factors related to the Covid pandemic. Indeed, Covid has thrown many additional (and tricky to navigate) speed bumps into the path of so many.

Speed bumps. Road blocks. Curve balls… Call them what you want, the reality is that without something like a global pandemic one needs to expect the unexpected both in life and in business. Through our own network (and the various curve balls they’ve had to face) we’ve once again seen that it is how you respond to those curveballs that counts.

Here are a few stories of facing up. And then hitting it out of the proverbial park…

Illness

In early 2020 Kenneth Coetzer was knocked down by a severe case of Covid.

Coetzer, who recently became a board member and shareholder, was totally out of it for around four or five days having been in ICU with his blood oxygen level at around 36%. He regained consciousness around the 7th of January when most of his clients were returning from their summer holidays. Unable to work at all, Coetzer was in no state to hit the ground running. It was then that he approached Willem Haarhoff for assistance. With the strategic setup of the company’s franchise systems , Haarhoff and some of the other associates could step in and share the load.

Thanks to DoughGetters’, powerful cloud-based accounting tools and apps (and technology-based business model) Haarhoff and the other franchisees could log in and access his clients (with granted permissions, of course) and carry on with the work, as well as support his clients with queries.

According to Coetzer, as sole proprietor, if he were to have hired in stand-in accountants outside of the DoughGetters fold to service his clients during his enforced down time, it would firstly have been near impossible to on-board them, and secondly, for the amount of time that he was unable to work, would have cost a significant amount of money.

Motorcycle accident

In late August, it was Coetzer’s turn to repay the favour, Willem Haarhoff was knocked off his motorcycle in an accident which required hospital time and surgery.

The accident immediately triggered various systems and protocols within the business. As board member Melissa du Plooy notes, “it was just incredible to see different people and the way they respond, kind of like a sports team training and being coached and then there is just this moment where they run out onto the field and it’s like – ‘okay, everything you’ve trained for, everything you’ve been taught now it’s time to step up and put it into practice.”

For her and the rest of the team, as much as it was for Haarhoff, it was an affirmation of what DoughGetters is trying to achieve with its systems.

Here are some of his reflections:

• Life happens to all of us, untimely and indiscriminately. Use every opportunity to learn a new lesson, improve yourself or make a positive impact on someone else. Do not use your situation as an excuse for self pity.
• There are more people that love and care for you than you might realise. You don’t need a big life event to remind you of that. Prioritise and invest time in other people, especially those that are close to you.
• Be hyper process oriented in your business – create opportunities for your people – replicate yourself. Your business is bigger than you and should be able to run without you doing anything in it. If it can, you know that you have done a great job as a leader.
• Underestimate the relevance and importance of #remotework at your own peril.
• Where would we be without #technology.

Loss of income

Due to initial hard lockdowns and alcohol bans, freelance copywriter Jazz Kuschke lost a big corporate client in the entertainment industry as a direct result of budget cuts on their side.

After the initial shock, Kuschke approached the situation from a philosophical angle. “When it comes to freelancing, I subscribe to Coughlin’s Law from the 1988 film ‘Cocktail’ … In which bartender Doug Coughlin says: ‘There are only two types of people in the world – the workers; and the hustlers. The workers never hustle, and the hustlers never work’,” he says.

“While it resulted in a significant loss in income over the financial year, it also opened various other opportunities. You have to roll with those punches and bounce back stronger.” According to him it inspired him to hustle just a bit harder and look for writing work in subjects outside of his usual comfort zones.

Emotional burnout

For nearly 6 months, new franchisee Charmaine Nel was working severely long hours in a high stress position, studying on the side and still trying to be a mom to her two young daughters. It was all simply an unsustainable load on her and burnout was unavoidable.

It was negatively impacting her family life and relationships. It even got to a point where her two young daughters were asking her to write them letters just to tell them that she still loves them. The unrealistic hours and unhealthy work-life balance were heavily impacting her mental and physical wellbeing. Even though she gained invaluable experience and knowledge, she went from being an optimistic, passionate, bubbly person to struggling with bouts of depression.

She realised something had to change. “I literally started turning my life around when I joined DoughGetters,” she says. Unfortunately the curveballs kept on coming, with some unexpected emotional challenges.

“Betrayal and lies are some of the things that break us. You start questioning your self worth. What is wrong with me? How could I be so stupid to not see it coming? How could I ever trust again? And just so many why’s…



Anyway, it was in the moment of much uncertainty that I decided to take a break, embrace the hurt and clear my head. After giving myself that time to work through, I became intentional to take back control and establish a new plan. And I used a practical tool like Asana, created a project and took action to take back control over my life,” she says.