Ultimate Covid-19 survival kit for General Insurance Intermediaries

So… you might be thinking we are a little late with this one; when the rest of the world have already done so.

It was our strategy to wait for everyone else before curating the best of the best survival kit relevant to you! 

🙃

As we enter hopefully the final stretch of this extended CB (come on guys, less than 24 days to go!) we hope this curated Covid-19 survival kit will be that extra boost you might need to get through it.

Of course, this kit will be useful even after the CB as well lah

We have segmented this rather long survival kit into the following categories:

• • Kids or handling them
  • Mind and Body art to loosen your mind, exercise to tighten those muscles
  • Grants a quick directory of links to find out more about gahmen grants
  • Convenience not your run of the mill food delivery apps or online shopping suggestions
  • Productivity how to increase business efficiency even during this pandenmic

In each category, you will find useful links and tips to help make your life, hopefully, just that much easier.

KIDS

Half the battle won if you have this part of things sorted out. Promise.

We placed this as number one on the survival kit list because we have encountered TOO MANY times our e-intro sessions have been interrupted, paused or abandoned because of kids.

Yes. We love kids too. Just that…

So here are some resources you can refer to, to keep them occupied and learn at the same time!

Primary school:

• From virtual trips to the zoo or museum to DIY science experiments, this is one part of MOE’s Parent Kit series of tips that comes in the most handy.
• From the creators of TED Talk comes Ted Ed where parents can browse hundreds of animations, talks designed to spark your child’s curiosity. You’ll also find thousands of other video-based lessons organized by age-level and subject. TED is like the tree that cannot stop giving
• From quizzes to simple interactive online games, National Geographic Kids definitely is a life-saver for many parents who are running out of meaningful things for their kids to get busy with

[HIGHLY RECOMMENDED] Learn. A. New. Language. In. A. Fun. Way. Try. Duolingo. We tried this and were surprised how much we learnt in a short period of time and at how hooked we were on it.

• Just a really good collection of bite-size videos to brush up on your science we mean your kid’s science

Nursery and pre-school

• Beanstalk Singapore has plenty of videos on its Facebook page that provides parents with content to share with their young children (age 7 and below) to learn and grow
• Checkout Kids Matters a treasure trove of home-based activity resources and interactive lessons you might even find some fun yourself!

MIND AND BODY

The CB has indeed turned our already sedentary lifestyle (okay, not everyone, so we speak for ourselves) even sedentary-er.

I mean, previously, we will still get our butt off the seat to get to work, buy lunch, walk around the office etc.

Many have taken to increasing their outdoor exercise activities to combat this and to also nourish the mind and soul by just getting out 

Lai. How many of you have that friend who cannot even be bothered to walk to get his own kopi but since the CB, seem to have morphed into some marathon runner in-training?

But for those of us who want to remain indoors, there’s hope as well! 

Check out these resources to motivate you to do some simple home exercises or to help relax your mind with some artsy fartsy cultural stuff

Arts and culture to loosen the tense mind:

• Nothing beats a little bit of awesome orchestra sounds. The Singapore Chinese Orchestra is recording its concerts for its #DabaoSCO series to be released on its Facebook page.
• The A list mentions that ‘Culture carries on while our physical spaces take a brief interlude’ – probably says it all!
• Into musicals and opera? Transport yourself to the Royal Opera House or Broadway and start streaming away on your favourite operas, musicals or ballets. Both of these services offer some form of free trial that will get you through CB!
• Closer to home, get your theatre act going with the acclaimed Wild Rice theatre company and their GO WILD@HOME! Initiative.

[HIGHLY RECOMMENDED] Google is really just godsent aren’t they? – check out their Google Arts & Culture and be amazed by their virtual walk through of museums like the Musée d’Orsay – try to zoom in to some of the high-resolution classical works and be impressed by how you’d be able to see every individual brushstroke. Wow.

Exercise resources to tighten those muscles:

• Some cool collection of workout ideas from ActiveSG here. From 60 seconds challenges to picking up a new sport skill, you really have no excuses now!
• You do not have to be repetitive about your exercises. HealthHub has got you covered – just go on everyday and check out their daily list of workout videos you can follow.
• The above two a little too intense? Check out the PA virtual CC where you’d find a more varied list of 30-minute workouts for different age groups and fitness levels
• Still need to go to the parks to workout? At least visit Safe Distance @ Parks for more info on the crowd levels – if it is crowded, don’t add to the crowd!

GRANTS

Tough times indeed. I am sure we all have seen, heard or read some form of depressing news the pandemic has brought unto us.

Of course it is always better to help than seek help. 

However, for the unfortunate, be it yourself or a friend you know of, here is a directory of links you can use to start finding out about the various grants and relief schemes from the government.

Let’s not try and exploit k? Only if you really need the help. Ah kong watching ah.

So all in all, there were 3 budget announcements – The Unity, Resilience and Solidarity Budgets

Here’s a breakdown of these…

The Unity Budget

• Summary of all measures in the Unity Budget
• Want to get the full lowdown? Read the full transcript of the Unity Budget speech along with Annexes of the various grants and schemes.
• Check out our write-up on the SIRS (Self-Employed Person (SEP) Income Relief Scheme) if that is want to find out more about, specifically

The Resilience Budget

• Summary of all measures in the Resilience Budget
• Further information and breakdown of the measures here
• And if you really are into transcripts Read the full transcript for the Resilience Budget along with annexes 

The Solidarity Budget

• Summary of all measures in the Solidarity budget
• Full transcript of the Solidarity Budget speech with Annexes of the various grants and schemes.
• You can also check out specific information about enhanced support for households and businesses/self-employed persons

CONVENIENCE

Okay we know that you know that all of us know about the GrabFood, Food Panda, Shopee, Lazada, Redmart, Carousell etc. 

And yes, the above apps would really suffice for our daily necessities yes, online shopping is a necessity for some (like us!) but here’s a little extra something to add some variety…

• For those on medication, check out this list to find out how you can order your medication Singhealth, Healthub and so on. We honestly did not know about this till we did our research.
• Cannot find your super organic grocery needs from the NTUCs and Redmarts? Maybe try out Organic Delivery or buy straight from an Organic Farm
• Fresh produce do not get fresher than those from Yaya Papaya (fresh fruit delivery), Open Taste (a collection of straight from the farm produce) and MarketFresh (they claim to be an online wet market – we checked them out and well they get street cred for naming their Sea Bream ‘Angkoli’)
• If you are local boi like us and need your hawker fix, check out Hawkers United 2020 – a facebook group created for hawkers around the island to advertise their food / delivery options.

Really need to go out to get grocery instead? 

We understand in this period this is really one of the few joys left to indulge in 

Promise to visit Space Out for more information on which malls are less crowded during different times of the day k?

PRODUCTIVITY

Yes. Let’s try to remain productive even during these times.

Sounds counterintuitive but trust us, there’s just so much in the wide world of web that we can leverage to improve and upgrade.

There’s no better time to ‘head back to school’ by taking up short e-courses to zhng your soft-skills like negotiation techniques or presentation skills.

Or… leverage these online platforms that helps with business efficiency:

• Trello has been around for some time now, and if you are someone who is working with multiple parties at the some time, try them out to organize and prioritize your projects in a fun, flexible, and rewarding way.
• Need a communication tool purely for work and that is not whatsapp? Check Slack out… Once again, a platform used by many organisations today already, Slack has some pretty nifty features to help you communicate and collaborate more effectively.
• If you take notes frequently, give Evernote a go. Available for every device and operating system, Evernote allows you to take notes on the fly, whether you type, speak, or handwrite them.

Or… if you want an all-in-one business efficiency tool tailored specifically for your General Insurance business, it’s got to be us, Surer 🙃 

Find out how Surer can help by rsvp-ing for a free e-introduction session now and get your hands on a free trial.

 

—

We hope the above survival kit will give you that final booster to get through the CB and this entire pandemic.

Stay safe and healthy!