Throughout the past couple of months, businesses small and large all over the world have been struggling to make ends meet due to COVID-19. Whether it be the dramatic decrease in customer footfall in retail locations, the cutting off of vital suppliers to niche businesses or even the complete closure of non-essential companies, no business has come out of this unscathed. While the virus may feel like a short-term issue, its economic consequences will be long-term. Many of the affected businesses will never make it out the other side without serious government intervention.
I ventured into the depths of Reddit on the r/smallbusiness subreddit to ask some of these business owners how COVID-19 is affecting their lives and their bottom line. I asked each person the same three questions; the following are their responses.
Spencer Morris
I run a video production company called Moshian Studios that mainly does event recap and promotional videos for the entertainment industry and corporate world. We’ve been in business going on nine years. We currently do most of our work for agencies that are putting on experiential marketing events and activations for major North American brands. We also do more general videos, think startup explainer videos, music videos, case studies, training videos, and so on.
What effect is COVID-19 having on your business?
Over the course of a week, all of our event projects that were in the pipeline were cancelled. All promotional video projects for future events are on hold as the event producers are unsure whether or not they will be able to hold the events. For the work that isn’t postponed, it’s shrunk down in scope and budget due to the uncertainty.
Are you going to survive this, and if so how?
It will be close, and I may have to dip into credit cards to cover some costs. We do have some projects in our pipeline that aren’t reliant on events. And we have clients that still need marketing material for when we come out on the other side of this pandemic. We’re shifting our marketing efforts and making sprints to find new business. We think there’s an opportunity to film training and corporate videos in our studio, as well as the ability to create recap videos of online-only conferences.
Caitlin Daulong
My name is Caitlin, my husband and I own Kingdom Cycling & Experiences, a cycling & outdoor adventure company. We have two locations, one in Vermont and one in Connecticut, but we provide tours & experiences throughout New England as well as internationally.
What effect is COVID-19 having on your business?
It’s been disastrous. Beginning from the end of January when everything was coming out with China, we noticed a slight decrease in business. From there it has just gotten worse and worse, coming to an (almost) complete halt at this point. It’s very scary. There is no way to predict how this will unfold, and that’s perhaps the most alarming part.
Are you going to survive this, and if so how?
We will survive this. We are lucky that we don’t have much business debt and don’t have any full-time employees who depend on us. We’re pivoting pretty heavily at this point: focusing solely on private, local experiences and self-guided cycling tours. We won’t be running any group experiences for the foreseeable future, because we want to be responsible. No amount of money is potentially worth someone’s life. We are also using this as a time to provide a TON of value to our clients online i.e. putting up free video tutorials, lots of informational content, and just really trying to connect with and stay in contact with our customers. We care about them, and this is such a wild time in which we all need each other. Hopefully, that will eventually translate into good business once this boils down, but you never know. As long as we feel we’re doing the right thing, we feel we’ll be able to survive this and come out stronger on the other side.
Andrew Laws
I run a creative digital marketing company called Andrew Laws Associates Ltd. We use creativity to find new ways for our clients to grow their businesses. We have always marketed ourselves as an SEO company but have been slightly shifting our focus over the last year. I have been in business for nearly twenty years; this iteration of my company has been running for about eight years.
What effect is COVID-19 having on your business?
Almost as soon as COVID-19 reached the UK, we lost two important clients. One client has seen their business stop almost instantly. The other client told us that two years of Brexit related buyer uncertainly nearly put them out of business, and COVID-19 looks like the final nail in the coffin. An important charity event that I was booked to talk at has been cancelled. A huge exhibition we support a client at in Germany has been cancelled. Some cancellations have a graver financial impact than others.
We are expecting more clients to either fold or to reduce their marketing budget, thereby ‘pausing’ us indefinitely. The last two years of political chaos in the UK has decimated consumer confidence. COVID-19 has taken consumer confidence out behind the barn and put a bolt through the back of its skull.
Are you going to survive this, and if so how?
We are extremely fortunate to have relatively low overheads. I’ve been in business for nearly two decades and learned early on to make trimming the fat a constant process. If we lose more clients, then the business will become untenable. We have very little debt as a business, so I have to decide if borrowing money and creating debt liability is worthwhile.
I am more concerned about my clients that I am about myself. Some of my clients are responsible for paying staff. I work with a close-knit group of freelancers, each of whom appears to be quite robust. On a very simple level, we just need our brains and some sort of computer in order to be able to work. The bigger problem is finding clients who have the money to engage us. A couple of our clients have signalled their ongoing commitment to keeping us engaged, citing the crucial role of marketing in surviving difficult times like these.
We spend a lot of time giving out free marketing advice via our ‘Internet Marketing for Humans’ podcast and (almost) daily videos on social media. I’m hoping the free advice we readily give out will help business owners to survive.
Benjamin Cooke
I’ve been running a small coaching and agile consultancy for the past 5 years, working with a mix of big corporations, small startups and private individuals. My work is basically about helping people realise their true potential and be the best they can be. This can be mean introducing them to new ways of working, providing coaching, mentoring or running bespoke workshops and training.
In a typical week, I’m helping companies focus on their goals by removing impediments to them. I might be working with leaders to identify their default management style and assess whether they want to make changes or not. I could be helping teams to build resilience and flexibility into their ways of working. On the coaching front, I do a lot of work helping people to challenge limiting beliefs or behaviours that are holding them back.
What effect is COVID-19 having on your business?
Over the last few months I’ve been working 3–4 days a week working with teams in a large financial institution. This has been largely about face to face, immersive training or coaching interventions where I can work 1:1 with someone in close proximity at short notice.
Since the outbreak the teams have suddenly found themselves fragmented and isolated. Although challenging, delivering coaching remotely has become more crucial than ever. It is now essential to team members’ personal effectiveness and, perhaps more importantly, their well being.
Anticipating potential shutdowns, my client put the right tech in place a week ago to enable home working. However, we found that they needed a lot of support to help their employees find ways of working in this new context.
Two weeks ago I was worried I would be left without work but I am actually finding a far higher demand for my services than expected. I’m delivering team workshops over video call platforms and amending many of the other tools in my repertoire to work as well as possible in remote situations.
You might expect that 1:1 coaching done remotely would feel distant or disconnected. In fact, I have found my clients feel more at ease speaking to me when they are comfortable at home and not in a grey corporate environment.
Are you going to survive this, and if so how?
Absolutely. My work is about helping people to inspect and adapt. It advocates flexibility so I am well prepared to work through this period of great change.
We are all having to scrutinise our existing systems, identify what isn’t working and change how we do things. I’m working super long days at the moment as I adapt but I am confident it will pay off.
Alyssa Anderson
I am the owner of a bakery café in Seattle. Since I bought Piroshki on 3rd in 2016, the business has been growing steadily in both popularity and revenue. We even just finished renovating last November 2019.
What effect is COVID-19 having on your business?
That growth abruptly stopped when news hit that we had our first COVID-19 case in Washington. Our sales dipped about 10%, not that bad but still noticeable.
Then Amazon, the biggest tech company in Seattle, found that one of their employees tested positive for the virus. They immediately told their workers to work from home. Other companies followed suit. Since our store is in a business district, that 10% dip in sales became a 60% decline almost overnight. Businesses cancelled all catering orders as well. What was once a bustling street full of people going to and from work, became a ghost town.
With that, we decided to have a meeting with our team. I didn’t even have to say anything before our amazing employees started volunteering to cut their hours. No one has ever seen the streets, let alone the store, look so empty before. Everyone wanted to do what they can to help the bakery get through this.
With everyone cutting a little bit of their hours, the 60% decline didn’t seem as bad anymore. We thought we might just have a fighting chance. We signed up for Shared work to supplement some of the employees’ lost hours, we were polishing up our online delivery apps to find more avenues to bring our product to people, we still had some of our supportive customers coming in for lunch….we were hopeful and things didn’t look too bleak.
Until the Governor announced that the virus situation isn’t improving and that bars, restaurants, and any other recreational facilities must shut down. Restaurants are still allowed to provide take-out and delivery services, but in-dining isn’t allowed. Our delivery apps were already running at this point, so we decided to test it out for the next couple of days and have a talk with our staff to see where we’re at.
After 2 days, it was clear that take-out only wasn’t going to be sustainable. This sanction has even caused the hotel that we’re leasing our space from to close. We had a long and earnest discussion with the team. It was evident that temporarily closing was the only way we can effectively plan for the business’s future rather than reacting to the daily changes this pandemic has brought on.
While everyone understood, it was hard to let go of our 15 wonderful employees. To help them, we have shared unemployment resources and possible relief funds. Everyone’s keeping in contact and we will stay vigilant in researching any possibilities for support. We have allowed them access to the bakery so they can take ingredients home as they need them. They are also encouraged to find other job opportunities outside of the bakery. They know that once we are finally allowed to reopen again that our doors are always open to them.
Are you going to survive this, and if so how?
Meanwhile, we will still be taking orders for customized cake deliveries. We are honestly still figuring out our next plan of action as everything occurred at a rapid pace. We are open to exploring avenues to give back to the community and help support those that are going to be hit harder by the effects of this pandemic.
Alex Kenisson
I am a Lead Valet & Concierge at Allegheny Springs on Snowshoe Mountain Ski Resort. Snowshoe is a winter and summer resort that is tucked away in the Appalachian Mountains of Pocahontas County, West Virginia. Allegheny Springs is the luxury resort destination for guests who want top amenities on the mountain. I’ve worked here for two years in the hospitality game assisting guests with check-ins, answering phones, and supervising our valet service. There is never too crazy of a request to help a guest here in wild, wonderful West Virginia!
What effect is COVID-19 having on your business?
West Virginia was the lone state without a Coronavirus case until recently. The resort and ski operations weren’t affected until pressure from the state Governor Jim Justice started closing schools and sports events across the state. The weekend of March 13th-15th was our big spring break event “Ballhooter Spring Break” where hundreds of families flocked to the mountain for a late winter getaway. On Thursday evening Snowshoe announced Ballhooter and resort operations would remain on schedule as usual. The social pressure for gatherings of 500 people forced the resort’s hand to cancel the series of concerts Friday afternoon when several guests had already checked in. The reassurance of ski slopes staying open eased the minds of guests. The next evening our mother company, Alterra Mountain Company, announced they were closing all 15 of their North American ski resorts including Snowshoe. A staff email and social media announcement were posted at the same time giving the lodging department no preparation time or answers to provide angry guests that would soon be coming through the front doors.
Are you going to survive this, and if so how?
Allegheny Springs won’t survive the COVID-19 epidemic as the entire mountain shut down the following morning on Sunday, 3/15/2020. The announcement from Alterra stated, “Alterra Mountain Company will suspend operations at our 15 North American ski resorts, starting the morning of Sunday, March 15, until further notice. All lift operations, food and beverage, retail and rental services will close until further notice.” Guests had 15 hours where they had to check out of rooms, and 95% of the staff were out of work after that night. I had to explain to guests that we’re closing due to the virus. Throughout the evening, we had to break the hearts of dozens of families who booked their lodging with us. I regrettably had to tell the news to a dad who had six kids in the car that just arrived after driving 9 hours from Atlanta for their first family ski retreat. The Coronavirus will leave negative impressions that will blackmark Allegheny Springs and Snowshoe Mountain Ski Resort for years to come.
After speaking to a plethora of small business owners, I was approached by Rebecca on r/restaurant who gave a harrowing description of the reality for many gig economy workers and those dependent on tips during this crisis.
Rebecca
Spent 25 years managing an Irish restaurant in Long Island (NY)
This will be incredibly catastrophic for my bartender and server friends. They won’t get unemployment…many are off the books and even if they’re on the books, 90% of their income is tips. It couldn’t have happened at a worse time. St Patrick’s Day is the biggest money-maker of the year for every restaurant in a town with a parade, not just the Irish places. These people don’t live paycheck-to-paycheck. They live night-to-night. Within a couple of days, they won’t be able to feed themselves, let alone pay rent.
The smaller restaurants will be hit the hardest. The last place I managed was a 15 table Irish restaurant and bar where rent was $5,500 a month. I guarantee you they have 800 extra lbs of corned beef, 1000 extra lbs of potatoes, and 200 loaves of homemade soda bread sitting in stock along with and additional $3000-$5000 extra in regular menu perishable product with no one coming to eat it. The St Patrick’s week liquor order was probably $7000-$8000….about $5500 higher than normal. Yeah, liquor doesn’t go bad but that’s a tough bill to pay with no customers. The 7–8 extra kegs of Guinness on the beer order will definitely go bad so that’s another $1000 loss. It’s nice that the SLA (State Liquor Authority) is allowing liquor to be sold as take-out but who is going to pay $4.50 for a bottle of take out Budweiser when they can go to 7–11 and pick up a six-pack for $10?
Sure, the restaurants can pivot to only doing take-out food, but with the exception of the St Patrick’s Day, a bar and grill is not usually the first place people think of when deciding what’s for dinner. Take-out is probably less than 10% of sales in restaurants with dining rooms that don’t use plastic cutlery. Even if that quadruples you’re still looking at a 60% reduction in food sales and a 99% reduction in Liquor sales. Even so, nobody is keeping the servers and bartenders around. The kitchen will prepare, pack and even walk the food out. Maybe one person to help because, in most places, the kitchen staff don’t know how to use the POS (Point of Sale) and that one person will have a hard time anyway because, understandably, only about every third or fourth person will tip on take-out.
I don’t have a solution or even a suggestion. I’m just really sad for my friends and scared for the rest of us. This is one industry and we’re talking about 2 million people suddenly thrust into abject poverty. This is the peril of the industry. We all work knowing that things can go south at a moment’s notice, but none of us did so thinking that the usually easy-to-find next gig would cease to exist.
My conversations with this range of individuals have made clear to me that the effects of COVID-19 will be felt by businesses left in the wake of the crisis for decades to come. It is now up to the governments of each respective country to offer aid to these workers or risk the entire economy falling apart. Italy has started offering mortgage and tax holidays to its citizens and Australia has given a $750 bonus to its pensioners. These measures have already gone a long way towards saving people from complete destitution, but many questions remain. How long can this continue and what can be done when your government leaves you for dead?
If you liked this story and are interested in receiving more of my content, sign up by clicking this link so you can be the first to know when I post new content :)
