Our Coronavirus business plan

As a business, a brand and a mission that people really stand for and stand behind, we feel very loved right now. We know a lot of people care about us, our work and our mission in this world and I feel like I have a duty to share with our audience and wider community how we are doing in this time. 

Here is the e-mail I sent to our entire organisation this week about our financial position and business priorities in the next month. I want to share it publicly because I want whoever is reading to know how we are doing, to know we are still here and to know we are supporting people and the world like we always have. 

I’ve made some minor edits to remove financially specific information. 

I write this to reassure people that we are going nowhere and because I believe sharing openly and honestly with employees, partners and stakeholders is a duty in times of uncertainty. I’ve been inspired by many other business leaders who have been brave in their stance too. 

Here is our state of play.

Our business plan

Hello Sanctus. 

I’m writing to you in an environment that has changed dramatically over the last 2 weeks. I find myself sitting at my desk at home, feeling physically further away from Sanctus than ever, yet as emotionally connected as ever. 

As well as tremendous health anxiety in the world right now there is also tangible financial anxiety. The fragility in the economic market is having ripple effects across the world and we are not invincible to that.

I’m about to give you a transparent overview of our financial position as a company. I believe it’s our duty to do this honestly and whilst I appreciate there may well be a safety in not knowing, that’s not how we have chosen to work. You may well feel increased anxiety knowing more about our financial health and I trust whatever your response, that you’ll support yourself appropriately.

Topline:

• We have a healthy amount of cash. What this means in practice is that if we assumed no new revenue and nothing changed at all – we have cash until the end of the year
• Sustainability is expected by the end of Q2 with X being our profitability point. We are currently at Y, generating a loss and have some new partners joining us soon.
• We’ve currently lost one partner due to the outbreak.
• We have already seen new businesses pause making buying decisions for financial reasons.
• We have had increased interest from businesses around our virtual proposition and signed one new partner during the pandemic.

Worst Case:

• We onboard no new partners for 3-6 months or however long this economic uncertainty and turmoil lasts
• We lose a sizeable % of our current partner base, the higher this percentage, the bigger the problems.
• Stage 1: We have to cut controllable costs – office, general subsistence etc
• Stage 2: We have to look at salary/payment reductions. Our intention here would be to use the “all suffer a little, rather than a few suffer a lot” principle. It is unlikely we will get to this point and this is an absolute worst case if we lost a big % of our current partners.
• Keep Sanctus alive in 2020 by whatever means necessary

Best Case:

• Achieve X and reach sustainability quickly.
• Market Sanctus Virtual as a way to support employee’s mental health through a time of uncertainty and continue to grow new partners in this way.
• Use the time to experiment with direct to consumer products delivered at home to support people’s mental health and provide a space for them to connect
• Keep hold of 100% of current partners and create strong relationships and loyalty through a difficult time.

Sanctus #1 Priority

Safe and effective transition to Sanctus Virtual

Our top priority as an organisation in the next 2 week is the safe and effective transition from 90% in person coaching to 100% virtual coaching. The most important way for us to gauge this will be through attendance and it is our top priority to make Sanctus Virtual as accessible and as utilised as normal. This stands for our current partners and any new partners we are engaging with. 

We cannot control if partners go out of business. We can control the quality, safety and accessibility of Sanctus Virtual Coaching and every person in the organisation can directly impact this in a positive way.

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In conclusion, we have already responded exceptionally to this outbreak and I am incredibly proud of our response. The unity, hardwork and presence of the HQ team in particular has been phenomenal, I am in awe. 

We are in a financially stable and healthy position and have enough resources to ride out this challenging period and create more value and impact as we are riding these waves. I see this time as a huge opportunity for Sanctus and our mission. 

Everyone in the world is in touch with their health and their mental health right now, the ground has never been more fertile for us to have our impact and do the incredible work that we do every single day. 

There is more to come, there will be new news, there will be new developments and there will be hiccups and obstacles in transitioning to virtual. 

There is yet more to update you all on and I have focused here on our financial position as I feel like that is most existential. I’ll continue this regular cadence next week sharing changes in the team and how people can support with any new initiatives we launch in the next week. 

HQ – We will have space to discuss, process and answer any questions with you on our team meeting on Thursday. 

Coaches – you have been invited to an AMA (ask me anything) space on Friday morning where we can process and answer any questions you may have.

James x

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That’s my email in full that I wrote to all of Sanctus, minus specific financial details.

Thanks for reading x