Navigating a small business thru Covid-19
Hello World,
So I’m writing this to tell a story that i feel needs to be told. We’re in February, almost a year into this pandemic and all the hardships it’s put unto us all. If i take a step back and look at how we have dealt with it all, especially here in Denmark, I think we have done an impressive feat, humanity coming together, this pandemic have moved us closer together both as families but also as communities and I love that. However running a small business thru it, have been hard, very hard and I want to share my experience of it all.
Graphical representation of my enjoyment of this experience
It all began last year before we closed down for the first time i march. I had a nice little business that supported me and my family well enough, I was financially settled. When we were told to close down I was sure everything would be ok since our government told us that stimulus packages would be on the way. I did not have any savings to help myself thru this, so i hoped that help would be fast for those of us who relied heavily on the stimulus since small businesses as my own dont have huge bank accounts and are very hard hit by closing down our revenue streams. The first forced closing lasted 3 months with 0 income. After 100 days i got a message that my stimulus was denied. By then, actually long before, all money was gone, along with everything that wasn’t necessary in the daily life. Think, insurance, car, new clothes for the kids, unions actually everything short of rent and food and not much of that either. The deadline for challenging the denial was a few days away and with no money to pay a professional to try and find out why I was denied the only thing i could do was wait for everything to open up again and start earning money again. Thankfully that came shortly.
With the business open again the customers were back and the stress of it all moved to the background, I worked my business up to where it was before the shut-down. None of the things I lost during the first shut-down was regained but i was positive to see the business spring back into action and felt like the loses would come back sometime in the future.
Then came the second shutdown, this time my physiotherapy was not forced shut but everything else was, with it my biggest clients whom contribute 90% of my revenue, and the day to day clients stayed home with the rest of society again. So we’re nearing 3 months of this again and the stimulus I can apply for haven’t opened up yet, and will I even qualify or be denied this time around. During the last year i’ve been forced closed about half of it with basically 0 income.
So what can i do, i’ve been trying to sell a few t-shirts online, thank you to everyone who have actually bought one, you have made a difference. But to actually pay my bills, I need to sell a lot of those and that’s not where we’re at :-) I’ve been updating my YouTube channel and my website to try and generate some attention, but in the end I’m a physiotherapist, that’s what I’m good at, working with people. But who knows I might learn to sell some t-shirts.
So what’s the point of this post, I dont know, maybe just blow a little steam off, and beg you all to support your local small businesses. Spread awareness that not everyone is getting any stimulus and many of those who do doesnt get enough to get by.
So spread the love, and can’t wait to see you all on the other side of this (shi… fu.. LEARNING EXPERIENCE).
/Malik
