30+ things to do in isolation

During the last week, I have spoken to so many other creative entrepreneurs, artists and small business owners and a lot of you are finding themselves in a difficult situation due to the spreading of Coronavirus. That’s why I decided to collect 30+ things to do in isolation or social distancing. Most of the heavily affected regions took measurements like quarantines or curfews or total lockdowns.

That meant for many of you to cancel business-related travels or meetings or that clients canceled or postponed projects and commissions. Now, most of you are staying home, with nothing much to do. But the good news is, we can use this time to do the things we always wanted to do but never had the time. Also, we can prepare now to boost our business when we are all trying to get back to normal. So, I wrote this post “30+ things to do in isolation” or social distancing, both business-related and personal. Although this article is for all of you, it is especially addressed to creative entrepreneurs. In addition to that read my article How to make money during isolation.

For your business

04. Prepare a potential client list
What would be your favorite clients? Brainstorm and search online or on social media for your favorite potential clients. After that, prepare a list with contact information and send your portfolio now or later when things get back to normal.

05. Update your social portfolio profiles
Do you have profiles on social portfolio sites like Behance, Dribble, etc? Then check if they are updated and maybe upload a new profile picture of yourself and write a new bio statement. I am only using Behance and LinkedIn.

06. Connect to your IG community
Now you also have the time to reach out to your social media community. Answer to comments, check out your follower’s accounts and so on. This will help you to organically grow your followers. I especially like the methods by The Shop Files. She also presented a way that is just 15 minutes a day. You can also use the Ask me anything feature on Instagram to let your followers ask questions about you.

07. Learn about your community
Learn about your followers as a target group by using the Instagram Poll function in the stories. Ask them questions and plan or adjust your products according to the answers.

08. Participate or start an IG challenge
There are a lot of super inspiring Instagram challenges out there and you can either participate and/or start your own challenge with a fitting hashtag. E.G. search for #isolationcreation or #lockdownphotochallenge2020.

09. Start collaborations with other creatives
Start conversations with other creatives on Instagram and think of ways you could cooperate or start new projects in cooperation with them.

10. Plan your content
Now you have the time to think about what to post next on your social media channels like Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and so on. Plan your social media content for the next two or three months using planner apps. There a lot of them and even some of them are free to use.

11. Create a marketing plan
Think about what you would like to accomplish this year and create a marketing plan for 2020 and 2021. Plan product launches using launch planners (my favorite one is by Saffron Avenue) and marketing campaign planners.

12. Create mockups
Do you sell actual or digital products? To present your products in the best possible way, create some mockups either using photography or set them up digitally. If you don’t know how to do that, you can take some online courses in product photography or download some ready-to-use mockups in Etsy or Creative Market.

13. Tape a video about yourself
Introduce yourself to your community and tell them a little bit about yourself and your work. Post this video on your website and social media profiles.

14. Think of new ways to make money
Work on new ideas to make passive income while being at home. I wrote an entire article with various ideas and info about that: How to earn money during isolation.

15. Rethink your branding
Think about the future of your business or brand and what you would like to change. Update your branding to reflect your new plans. Think of a beautiful color scheme, a simplified logo, sub marks and plan some brand photography.

19. Boost your productivity
Analyze your schedule and workflow and adjust if necessary. Try out new productivity apps or apps that could simplify your administrative tasks.

20. Start a new personal art project
To keep your creativity flowing, start a new art or creative project. Start small and just see where it takes you. You can use my art project planner available on Creative Market.

21. Do your taxes
Ok, this is my least favorite one but it still has to be done… Maybe you will get a huge tax refund this year, who knows?

Personal

26. Organize your closet
This can take some time but it’s worth it. Throw everything away (or better donate) that you didn’t wear for more than 6 months. There are a lot of people who love the new Marie-Kondo-method but I haven’t tried it yet. If you only have left the stuff you are using then you can organize it with the amazing StyleBook App to create your office outfits. Also, this post from the shoe expert Leila Alavi helps you to organize your shoes. Sorry, this is only available in German but it’s too good not to share.

27. Read a lot
In fact, I still have a lot of books at home that I haven’t read yet. How about you? If yes, read them all! Also, find some cool online magazines and read them. My favorite free online mag is SisterMAG. They also have a free app where you can download all the issues they ever published for free! Some well-known magazines also started to offer a couple of free digital issues, for example, Vogue Germany or Architectural Digest Germany.

28. Buy new books
When you finished all of your books at home, order some new books online and get them delivered to your home or download their digital versions. There are even lots of free books on various platforms.

29. DIY projects
Start some DIY projects for your home or with your kids. Use Pinterest as an inspiration and organization tool. The ideas are limitless!

30. Spa day
It’s spa day every day now. Take a long bath, put on a face mask and do your nails.

31. Virtual museum tours
Several museums offer free virtual tours of their exhibitions. For example, the Louvre in Paris, the MET in New York, the Smithsonian in Washington DC, and there are a lot more. Just google it.

32. Start a new hobby
If you’re still bored, start a new hobby. Start to play an instrument, plant new flowers and watch them grow, learn how to dance.

33. Learn useful skills
Learn how to draw or paint, how to photograph, how to repair things at home, and so on…

34. Declutter your home
Get rid of everything you don’t need or don’t like.

35. Redecorate your home
And I don’t mean rearrange your furniture and it’s done. Develop a color scheme, mood boards, draw a floor plan and get inspired by ideas in Pinterest or Magazines. By the way, I have an entire board collection on Pinterest with ideas on how to decorate with art.

36. Learn a new language
Ok, this one is kind of a long-term project but it is super useful. Improve your language skills and learn a new one.

Did I forget anything? Do you have some cool ideas, what to do or examples for some of the ideas mentioned above? Drop me a line and I will add it to my list! By the way, you can buy the drawings I used for this article and many more and use them as icons or story highlights.

Also, read my article How to keep earning money during isolation. And as you have time on your hands now, read some of my other posts. These posts may interest you:

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