Business under Lockdown - Amaiz talks to Verity Clarke Hair

“Don’t panic, run with it.”

Verity Clarke was one of the exceptional case studies that emerged from Amaiz’s survey on the effect of lockdown on UK small businesses in 2020. Verity started her current company in 2019, and, as she says, "they say your first year of business is challenging, but come on now." Verity talks through her experience in setting up and running her business and the COVID uncertainty that has defined the past year in this pragmatic chat. She describes the “Mad Max moment” of contacting her clients, although this is a very different type of apocalypse...

Keeping the marketing alive helped the business but also added necessary sanity to the situation. Channels like Instagram have proved their worth, as has support from allied trades, but the bank and government... Not so much. As a new business, Verity’s another enterprise that fell through the gap for government support, although it took some sifting through information and misinformation to understand that.

Verity sees a lot of potential ahead and busy times. Logistics and equipment were particularly crucial in an industry heavily affected by safety rules. An industry that was slow to move to cashless payments has seen a shift, although it’s worth noting that tipping has fallen across the service industry.

Find out more about the Amaiz business app and its payments, bookkeeping and accounting features and how they support small business at amaiz.com/features.