2021 is finally here and we couldn’t be more stoked to usher in a new year of possibilities and hopefully uneventful adventures!

2020 was certainly an interesting year! To many the year was tumultuous and trying and to some others, it was a year of self-discovery and change. Regardless of where it took us, 2020 was a year of overcoming the odds as a nation and as a company.

As a company, we like to reflect on what we had experienced and learnt during this year, before we embarked on the new year.

Where 2020 has started?

Like everyone else, we anticipated 2020 as if we would foresee the year to be of a better one than before. Envisioning the new year to be full of opportunities while it gets ambitiously filled with new goals waiting to be met.

However, whispers of a virus made its rounds. We brushed them off as careless whispers. Slowly we could not ignore its strong presence anymore.

Soon, many countries started closing their borders and imposed travel restrictions, as the first wave of COVID-19 pandemic wide swept across the globe. And that was just only the beginning, coupled with the restriction of mass public gatherings, mandatory social distancing practices and the wearing of masks to the eventual months of lockdown as the pandemic spread like wildfire. Talking about crazy, this was just only during the beginning first quarter of the year.

Ever since then, this ongoing rampant outbreak of the COVID-19 has made drastic changes to the world. The months ahead during this year were coupled with uncertainty. Like every one of us, we faced many obstacles along the way this year that mostly changed our lives, be it as an individual or an agency or a company or an organisation.

Mind set to overcome obstacles

Being faced with obstacles are an essential part of our growth and development as a business. When overcoming any obstacles, we approached them with these simple mindsets:

Be open-minded

Having an open mind to welcome new ideas from everyone is the first step to solving a problem because no idea is a bad idea. The idea can come from anyone and it doesn’t matter if that idea is from an opposing voice or something that we don’t resonate with. This brainstorm of ideas opens up room for further discussion that enables us to think critically in fresher perspectives and making constructive arguments to improve it. Being open-minded has provided more possible solutions to the problem, rather than being closed-minded with limited solutions.

Ready for any project

No project is too difficult for us to handle and we are ready for any type of project. From content creation, branding, publishing, digital marketing, design, brand management, photography, and videography, we can deliver them all. Even though some of these might not be of our top niche, we as a creative agency look forward to collaborating with our partners who are experts in such areas. When faced with difficult projects or challenges, we take them as a learning opportunity and experience to improve as we go along the way.

Stay positive

Having a positive attitude helps to overcome obstacles, as it boosts morale and keeps everyone motivated. Especially in this uncertain and challenging year, it is almost impossible not to feel negative. Some might even felt like throwing in the towel just because the situation was too bleak. We did not give up but instead, we tackled head-on. While at the same time remaining hopeful that the situation would eventually get better.

Obstacles faced in 2020

During this COVID-19 pandemic year, we were widely affected by the new rules and regulations passed in conjunction to manage the spread of the pandemic.

The Circuit Breaker measure, meant that we had to stay home while being hopeful about work and life. During the Circuit Breaker period of close to two months, we all worked from home and stayed connected online via video conferencing software. To add on our woes, we could not meet face-to-face with our team and clients in the office. It was an awkward transition, sometimes our messages got lost in translation, along with technical glitches. Also, conducting an online meeting just lacked the human connection as compared to a face-to-face meeting. It took some getting used and today it has become the norm and we see the benefits of doing so. It saves us travel time and meetings have become more productive as we tend to get straight into the meeting.

While being faced with technical and logistical challenges of working from home, this pandemic year has also brought about budgeting and costing challenges. With many mass gatherings or events being cancelled due to COVID-19 measures, this means that a part of our jobs that supported creative services for events was totally put to a halt. Having said that, we became very prudent in managing our budget by cutting down the cost.

Silver lining in every cloud

There is a silver lining in every cloud, during the circuit breaker, even though a majority of our work had to be put on hold, we decided to take this period as a break to re-evaluate our efforts and direction as a company. Instead of just sitting around and waiting for time to pass and feeling very negative about the situation, we took the much-needed time to reflect, re-strategise and reinstate new efforts for the company.

We also started planning for new upcoming opportunities that we can focus on in extending our services as a creative agency in the future when we enter the “new normal”. Such as sourcing for potential partners that we can collaborate with in future while staying connected and supporting our current partners in such difficult times.

2020 as a Game changer

If we were, to sum up this year, we would quote the famous Albert Einstein saying of, “in the midst of every crisis, lies great opportunity”.

We see this year as a game-changer year, simply because even though the pandemic has changed our lives and minimalised human contact, but the new digital technologies complements human connections and improves our lives.

Here at WriteHaus Asia, we #KeepRelevant by constantly keeping ourselves upgraded and adapting to any upcoming trends in years to come. We learn and grow together along the way on our business journey.

In the meantime, we wish everyone a Happy New Year!