Any small business owners here want to comment on how Covid-19 is impacting their livelihood?

[PETRUS]

If you own a small business, has the pandemic had an impact on your sales yet? Is your business open to the public? If so, what's happened to your traffic? If you have to suspend operations, or cope with lower sales, how long can you hold on?

[doc03]

1. I am not a business owner but for the first

time ever I stopped at the local fish market at 12 and
there was no line.

[PETRUS]

4. I am a business owner.

It's hard to gauge, but I know we're losing business. Several sales opportunities have vanished in the last few days, and the spread of the virus is the reason.

[MaryMagdaline]

2. We are a small law firm in Broward County

6 lawyers and staff. We have everyone except file clerks, receptionists and bookkeepers able to remote in on line. We have only forced 3 people to remote in ... me (because I have a bad cold after flying last week); one secretary who has bronchitis and another secretary who just returned from a cancelled Orlando trip with her child and 6 other children. They were never in a group more than 20. My younger partner canceled a Vegas vacation and is working from home.

We spent all day doing a practice run with forwarding phone calls to our cell phones and getting lap tops set up to log in. Our IT guy will finish everything by Saturday and if need be we can have 90 per cent of the office on line by Monday.

We will be less productive and we have told people who have sick family members or who are older that they may self quarantine if they choose, that no one has to lose their health over a job. BUT that means partners not taking a pay check for a while to make sure we have enough for payroll. We’ve done this routine for hurricanes but that down time is usually no more than a few weeks even when we get hit. With a slow moving virus, who knows??

It’s going to be a tough couple of months. We may have to lay people off if the economic recovery isn’t there. This is really sickening.

[PETRUS]

5. Hang in there!

My business has never faced anything like this and I'm not sure what to expect, but it's clear we're already taking a hit.

Best of luck to you, your family, your partners, and staff.

[MaryMagdaline]

12. Thank you! You, too

[Ferrets are Cool]

3. So far it hasn't, but I fully expect it to do so. nt

[PETRUS]

7. It's hitting us already.

I hope you're able to weather the storm.

[Ferrets are Cool]

18. Honestly, my business is the least of my worries...

wifey is battling stage 4 lymphoma. That is my PRIORITY. She is making great strides. We were being very cautious with her lack of immunity...now we have doubled down. She WILL beat this.

[PETRUS]

19. Well, shoot.

I'm glad to hear your wife is making progress. My wife and I are fortunate in the sense that the state of our business is our only real personal concern at the moment. Sending good, healing vibes your way...

[Ferrets are Cool]

20. Thank you Petrus...we will take all the good vibes you can spare

[ProudMNDemocrat]

6. I do Alterations d Custom Sewing from my home....

I am keeping plenty busy for now with Commissions already paid for. I have clients all over the country and that could dry up.

In a few weeks, might be a different story as Prom season is just around the corner if not cancelled. Alterations come and go.

In the meantime, I can be working on making more Doll clothes to sell this summer, my upcoming costumes for events, cleaning out my downstairs.

[PETRUS]

8. Fingers crossed.

I'm glad to hear you're set for now, and I hope things are settling down before prom season begins!

[cyclonefence]

9. We are regretting that

we didn't accept the offer to buy the financial planning practice six months ago.

[PETRUS]

14. Are you working at this practice now, just not as an owner? nt

[cyclonefence]

16. It's a single practitioner practice

I don't work at it (hence our long marriage) but there is a part-time bookkeeper. There were a couple of other employees, but as my husband began to wind it down over the past couple of years, he has not replaced them (one left to care for a parent; the other got married and move to FL). He works about 15 hours a week and does not accept new clients.

He has been dragging his feet on selling because his clients have been with him a million years and are all elderly, but he's getting tired and wants to spend his life playing bridge.

[PETRUS]

17. Ah, I get it.

I had it backwards - I though this was something you wished you had bought, not something you wished you had sold. Life is unpredictable, huh? I wish you and your husband the best.

[WVGal1963]

10. Pondering......

I own a small business - -a retail florist/gift store in a small town in, you guessed it......West Virginia! And I’m pondering. We have been in business since 1977, so we have weathered many storms. I tend to overthink, but I am also the type of person who sorts through the issues/challenges, makes a decision, runs with it and moves forward. “Innovate, Adapt, Overcome.” “Be The Competition.” “Stealth.” Well. You get the idea.

We have all kinds of loving, TRULY loving, relationships with hundreds of folks. We have big and fun personalities and our store is crazy/comforting/artistic/creative/colorful/, etc. And we have 3 shop cats who greet our friends all the time. Our store is known for being a great place to shop, hang-out, decompress, laugh, etc. We don’t hold back!!! We are silly, empathetic, huggers, high-fivers, or anything else you can imagine. Hell - - - we are 43 years old this year! People LOVE our quaint store.

But now it’s different. Totally different. It hit me yesterday when the WHO first used the word Pandemic. It hit me yesterday when the NBA announced, and then the dominos started falling with further cancellations/suspensions/etc. We border Ohio, and today, we learned that all Ohio schools are closing for at least 3 weeks. I expect the same will happen with WV schools, even though we have no “confirmed” cases. Our governor cancelled our state’s high school BBall tourneys, effective immediately, just a few hours ago WHILE the tourneys were going on in Charleston. Hmmmmmm.......

I’m used to facing competition. I’m used to facing small business challenges. I’m used to facing economic upticks and downturns. This? I’m not used to. And I’m not feeling any particular intuition. We are a family at my store. Our customers are a large part of that family. We are a beautiful tapestry, woven together by threads that are decades old. We all know one another.

This is such new territory. Such new territory.

Stay healthy, my dear friends! I know everyone here will do their part. I know everyone here will sacrifice whatever it takes to overcome this. But if you can, and if you are so inclined, check out your local little stores. Even one small sale might make all the difference in their world as our communities face this MIGHTY challenge together. High five, them. And then go back and do it again.

Now. Off I go to enjoy a glass of wine and ponder some more.

Hang in there! That’s what I plan to do. No matter what it takes.

[PETRUS]

13. I love shops like yours!

The kind of shop that isn't strictly transactional, but a place for people to connect. It sounds like you are a real asset to your community. I hope you and yours stay healthy, and that your shop survives this episode.

[treestar]

11. solo law practice

no discernible effect. Courts are sending out notices though. Good thing is where I got the flu annually when working in large firms, as a solo I didn't get that - my office is such that I am only exposed to my clients and the clients of two counselors. Courts around here are usually not crowded. There are people around, but there is plenty of space.

[PETRUS]

15. It sound like you are reasonably well-situated for an event like this.

I'm glad of it (if I'm correct about that). I hope you stay healthy and able to represent your clients the way you want to.