A pandemic should not be when we stay at home and wait for everything to get back to ‘normal’. Yes, it’s essential to be healthy and stay safe in any of these situations. But what is more important is that this is the time to separate the doers from the thinkers. This period is a time where we can start looking inwards—taking a moment to see the possibilities around us and gathering the needed courage to make that first step. There is an opportunity at every single corner.

We can use this newfound disruption to work on ourselves. Learn a new skill set, or better yet, start building towards that new economy that will be necessary as we enter the post-pandemic chapter of life. Let us take the current situation and rewind slightly to before the pandemic. There was already a heightened level of globalization and digitalization with the latest revelation of the shared or ‘gig’ economy. Numerous companies joined the fold, from Uber and its competitors to food delivery mastery. In fact, during the recession in the early 2000s, several other companies emerged like Slack, Teams, Zoom, and Airbnb and have become staples in our everyday lives.

Fast forward back to this crisis, we have already built tools that could help weather the storm, as we were already heading in that direction. They now had the opportunity to show their full potential and strength in the time of their greatest need. This situation shows reason to believe that now we are at the point to develop future thinking products. Develop them not only from a technological aspect but also a social and environmental aspect. We might not necessarily need new tools but a new mission and vision guidelines on preserving what we have. This development means that those that want to enter the arena can do so.

The Just_NOK Brand

Just_NOK is a company that aims to take advantage of the possibilities from this pandemic. Instead of building ‘just another brand’ or ‘just another company that does something, our vision for the “Just_NOK Brand” is to build something impactful and meaningful. We can’t predict the future with this current situation, but we can decipher and implement our ideas. We can take a step back and watch the ripples of our efforts evolve in the world around us. The Just_NOK brand is doing exactly that. We are focusing first on why this is even necessary versus what it is going to do.

Instead of just following a quick trend and the group-think method of building an organization, the Just_NOK brand makes it its mission to develop eCommerce with the chance to bring sustainability to the world. The union of socio-cultural roots has us returning to a way where less is more, sustainability is excellent, and champion Functionality and reusability in products. Our mission is not to be a brand that exacerbates the problems around us even further in the future but to be a brand for a cause. An aim is to produce a cultural mind shift on how we consume goods in general.

Consume within our means during the pandemic and beyond

If this pandemic has taught us anything, it is that most of us went into survival mode. We consumed less, shopped differently, and reprioritized our needs from shelter to clothing. Mondain things no longer seemed a necessary staple in our lives. Instead, we started purchasing slower and thinking more about our needs versus our wants. We started thinking back to not keeping up with the Joneses but being more comfortable with ourselves. Because let’s face it, we have! Just_NOK understands that and built a small clothing line to represent that comfort and maintain that uniqueness. Our designs combine the cultural flare with dynamic generation. The Animal prints within our line pay homage to the resilient Perseverance Endurance of these animals to the world around them. Please take a look at them here.

Plastic is not our friend

Since there were reduced commutes to the office, that also meant reduced consumption of those lovely office salads packed in a plastic container and our plastic water bottle. In addition, we have become more strategic in our purchases which produced a significant short-lived impact on our environment visible in the air we breathe to the plastic pollution in the sea.

The Pandemic meant we lost that daily rush and commute to the office. We gained that renewed sense of time being slowed down to think sustainably instead of just being healthy. There was a rush to produce hand Sanitizers, packaged in cheap one-time use containers. We saw the trends with the rushed hand sanitizer business emerging and saw another dangerous channel evolving.

We quickly stepped up to create a reusable dispenser bottle to combat this. Our task was to create a product that would appeal to reuse, be optimal for adults and children, and portable enough to be accessible. So we designed “POP”, a portable dispenser that can carry various sanitary liquids from hand Sanitizers, lotions, perfumes, etc to fit your lifestyle. It comes in multiple colors and has three attachment options.

Remembering what a community is

This time allowed many to reflect on what a community was. It is people tied together for a common goal and purpose. With this knowledge, we developed the Just_NOK brand as an eCommerce solution to provide products and the beginnings of a marketplace. A marketplace for many to showcase their creativity and ingenuity. Our brand “Just NOK” will help support their dreams.

We see that the world intertwines within the fabric of our society, so we need to think and focus on it as best as we can. With this idea in mind, we have partnered with various non-profit organizations to help those in need within their neighborhoods. We are constantly expanding our out-reach and networking with organizations on the ground within these communities.

Some organizations are often strapped for lack of resources which Impedes on the desire and vision to give back. We want to help them with their sustainability by being for-profit in our mission while still driving by our need to support through a percentage of our profits. By aligning these values, we are able to balance the ideals and sustenance needed for the Just_NOK Brand, while also allowing us to continue to grow and give back at the same time.

Fighting the good fight in a pandemic or any environment

The pandemic itself has not stopped our mission in any way. We have still had our focus on the community during this crisis. With safety and health-first mindset, we have been able to support and run seven food drives successfully. These have fed over 800 hungry families, and that’s just the beginning. We’ve partnered with organizers on the ground and made things happen with little, imagine how excited we are to see what we will do in the future as we grow as a global brand.

As the new school season started, we began preparing for the back-to-school initiative and donated books to kids in our local partner orphanage. The smiles said it all, and we were happy to be a channel to provide the correct tools and materials to have the best school year possible. Every action matters, every good deed remembered.

Even before we focus on our profit-centered initiatives, our core mission values will always go back to the beginning, and that is our community. As we grow, we will be able to start expansion and funding on the above initiatives at an exponential rate so that we stay true to why we even started this company in the first place.

Our Mission for generating a better discussion

We want to generate a set of products and services that facilitate discussion, not just continue consumption. We had the opportunity to have a wake-up call, not just internally with ourselves and our loved ones, but we were able to take a step back and see the current state of the world. In just a short time, we noticed nature coming back to areas that seemed devoid of fauna; we ended up getting cleaner air and more time to be active. We had the opportunity for large corporations to adapt to this crisis and allow people not to have to pack into megacities anymore but start going completely remote while still providing for our families.

It was one of the first times in our history that people were not focused on negotiating their salaries but negotiating their freedom and work-life balance. The Just_NOK brand wants to help join that fight and facilitate this new normal. We want to focus on a curated selection of products while engaging our communities, from vendors and suppliers to end-user customers to the non-profits we partner.

The Solution in this Pandemic

Together, when we look at the pandemic, and its impact on us, we do not need to return to a pre-pandemic lifestyle but still take the time to find out what we want, as many of our societal burdens have been removed. We no longer have to just think about selling useless items or working with no benefit to ourselves. That is the impact of this pandemic, the so-called positive effect. After all the chaos, misinformation, and complete craziness, we can begin to take all of these as lessons and work in this new way.

Just_NOK will help guide many along this path and continue with this new journey. We can't do this alone; your thoughts, ideas, and experiences are priceless. Whether with our brand or not, remain true to your ideals and know that you have what it takes to affect the world around you. Don't let this moment or any hold you back... Dare to be unique!

Building a brand in a Pandemic