The Making-Box: REMOTE TRANSFORMATION
Ahh yes. It’s the beginning of 2020, and The Making-Box is doing great. We’ve had our first million-dollar revenue year, classes are growing, shows are rocking…
As long as there’s no global event, which will prevent people from gathering publicly for two years, we should be in great shape.
Knock. Knock.
Oh, who that could be?
Hello. It’s COVID-19. It’s Time to Improvise EVERYone.
We’ve been telling people how to navigate uncertainty for years. COVID offered the chance to put our money where our mouth is. Our first step was to write this blog for our community, How to Improvise through COVID-19. Here we’re our next steps.
STEp ONE: Get those In-Person Classes Online.
We quickly experimented with hosting our improv classes and shows online, transitioning to a Zoom classroom in just two-weeks. We finished out the semester of classes online, gathering feedback and iterating our programming. Donations and community support started pouring in - and we had to tell everyone, “we’re fine! really!”
STEp Two: Get those LIVE Shows Online.
We made all our shows free and converted them to online formats. Our weekly webinar shows collected between 50-100 viewers a night. More than we could fit in our venue. We held an online special in May with Who’s Line is It Anyway’s Colin Mochrie, which attracted over 800 live viewers to the show. Our most popular event to date!
STEp THREE: ZOOM FaTIGUE.
As Summer rolled around, we scaled back programming and shows. Because more people wanted to spend less time on Zoom. We completed three special 6-week online Summer programs, but in June 2020, the world kept changing.
STEp FOUR: GEORGE FLOYD AND BLACK LIVES MATTER
As the pandemic continued to suppress our operations, revenue and the joy and community connection we thrived on. The world delivered more harsh truths for us to reflect on. We consulted with equity consultant, Kevin Sutton, who allowed us to create this new Accountability Contract where we reconnected to our values and reconsidered where the business was heading. We later updated it in June 2020 with results.
STEp FIVE: This is still hapenning? Yes, And!
Part of our business had always been doing corporate improv workshops for different organizations. As we looked at our values, and the future of our business, it became clear we could serve a needed niche of helping teams adapt to a new remote world. In ways that weren’t Zoom-laden bores.
Applied improvisation was a tool we offered to improve adaptability, creativity, and joy amidst uncertainty and the opportunity to spread our values to more people in the corporate world - where these values were desperately needed.
STEp SIX: NEW FREE ONLINE CLASS EXPERIMENTS
We experimented with professional development programming in a series of three free webinars: Improv for Business, Overcoming Creative Doubt, and Better Meetings (Improv for Facilitation). We gathered over 1000 attendees over the Summer of 2020 and early 2021. We sold out our first “Applied Improv Fundamentals” for individuals online. Gaining valuable product development info and contacts for a new B2B-focused business.
STEp SEVEN: New Business. New Brand.
Throughout 2020, as we ran these classes, Braeden led branding development for a new B2B-branded The Making-Box. The goal was to shift away from improv at the core of messaging (business people are scared of the word “improv). And contributed to the product design of a series of four corporate programs to enhance team adaptability. These new programs were called: Agents of Adaptability, Creative Confidence, Better Meetings, and Teaming with Joy.
Braeden and the M-B owners designed a new website from scratch writing foundational copy and hiring a designer to bring our vision to life. Braeden also set up a new project management system and marketing system using the Hubspot CRM. As well as co-creating new copy and design for proposals, email automations and program reporting.
Our First Year IN (NEW) BUSINESS
While it was a blurry adaptive flurry the dust settled with these results:
We completed over 150 adaptability, creativity, teambuilding and facilitation programs. We introduced new programs to over 5,000 people in two years. Collaborated with L&D and HR leaders at Google, Shopify, University of Guelph, University of Calgary. Canadian Pension Plan, Deloitte, and many more.
We introduced a Social Enterprise program called the “Give One.” For every company that purchased a program, we (tried) to give one for free to an organization in need. We completed over 50 pro-bono workshops for non-profits, community organizations, and more.
While revenue decreased for the first two years, now with less operational costs and a smaller team, the organization is leaner, processes are solidified. More marketing has begun in the form of newsletter campaigns and CRM automations. Our contact list has tripled in size! We now reach the same amount of people we did in our theater, but in offices of leaders around the world.
Our first one-month newsletter campaign in December garnered nearly 100 signups for webinars promoting new 2023 programming and AQ (Adaptability Quotient) Assessment Certification. It’s already shaping up to be a year of growth with workshops already booked into November of 2023.