For small business owners with life savings and financial future at risk, how did it feel when the government declared your business "Not Essential"?
In hindsight everything worked out. Did you feel this way going into the shutdowns?
This requires a long, thoughtful answer that will bore everyone to death. Maybe half that answer will only bore everyone half to death.
It did not feel great when we were listed as "non-essential," but that was not a personal slight; it was a fact. I sell goods that (somehow) people can live without. (Music! How can you live without music?! But I digress...)
Business was already a struggle, so yes, on the first day after we were shut down, I was mostly curled up on the couch with a quarter of a xanax thinking, "What the hell are we going to do? We could barely pay the bills while we were open?"
One day. That's it.
Then, it was about making plans to fix it. I would read all the local ordinances (which kept changing) and find ways to get things done. At one point I tested actually walking my dog to one of my store locations (a few blocks from my house) so I could pull merch home and sell it online. It turned out not to be necessary because ultimately there were exceptions in the orders where one person could enter the building. But that was indicative of my thought process, and that's how we proceeded. I ended up keeping one full time employee on at each location to ring up less than I was paying them every day (via phone orders, curbside pick ups, and internet sales) while I full-time delivered groceries for Shipt (like Instacart) so I could pay my employees and some of the rent. To be honest, I don't know other business owners who went to that extreme. That's "how we do." Personal responsibility and all that. I absolutely *refused* to lose my house and have to tell my husband that we were losing our house because of my business going down. (to that end, I saved every bit of cash I could find, hidden in various places.) But I was fairly certain the business was going to go down, if slowly, maybe after Christmas. I don't have an attorney on retainer. I don't have an accountant working for me.
Some fortunate things: I had taken a "local government academy" class offered by our city in 2016. I was then appointed to an advisory board to the City Commission and served for three years. In 2020, the mayor was a graduate of my LGA class. He would call me and ask me how certain things would help or hinder my business. I could call him at any time. He would take my suggestions to the County meetings of mayors (along with others, I'm sure.) So I had input. We entrepreneurs are a scrappy bunch. When there was talk of a second shutdown, the Mayor gave me the contact info for someone who sat on the County Commission. He heard me out as well. I was going as far as telling him, "Although my business is not essential, it's much safer to shop here than Walmart or Publix. It's not unusual to have one customer and one employee at a time. We can work on an appointment basis, etc." I had plenty of ideas how to operate safely if necessary. He told me the County had no appetite for imposing a second shutdown. Also: code enforcement was not out to get anyone. If you were flaunting on the news that your gym was open with no masks, yes, they had to come after you. You wouldn't believe the number of businesses that suddenly put curtains (or plastic garbage bags) up over their windows. I thought that would invite trouble (we didn't do it) but no. Restaurants were able to set up tables in parking lots (which normally would require permitting.) As long as businesses were being careful and not flaunting it, they left us alone to do business.
We were closed for just about two months. Sales were less than one-tenth of typical sales. But, importantly, I was able to renegotiate things during that time. Most credit cards gave a three month break, and then put us on a payment plan. Same with car payments and mortgage (although we ended up paying the mortgage on time. My husband was instantly laid off, but the unemployment paid the mortgage.) My business loans first held off payments for three months, then extended our loan without raising the interest rate, cutting payments in half. These things were huge. Landlords and vendors really didn't want to make concessions, so I had to be forceful with them. I ended up getting maybe 20-25% off the rents for March, April, and May (even though we were closed for the entire month of April.) But that was something. Re: vendors: I was up front with them, but ultimately I paid only one of them so I would still have access to inventory, and the other vendors would have to wait with tiny holdover payments until we were up and running again (and what would that look like? Open but slow sales?) (If I had only made minimal payments to all vendors, I likely would have no access to inventory.) They were cool, not pushy, and all their gambles on us paid off in the end. We ended up making most payments ahead of time.
We didn't get the PPP loan until June. It was only a few thousand dollars, but it had gotten pretty dire by then. I was able to tell the two full timers they could work as many hours as they wanted (and there was less pressure on them to produce as much as they were being paid, so I was less cranky.) I spent 100% of the PPP on payroll. That loan was forgiven eventually, and we did get a second one for the same amount (even though payroll was higher at that time.) That has not been forgiven yet, but probably will. It wasn't until I think August we got the EIDL loan. That will have to be paid back over 30 years. That was more of a psychological boost than anything else. It made me less afraid to invest in inventory (which I had been selling at a loss just to have some money coming in throughout the shutdown) which in turn, increased sales. And again, I could pay that whole loan back in full right now. Maybe I will in a few years if things go well.
Not to pat myself on the back, but as someone who got kicked out of the house at 17, I know how to take care of myself and to go all out and make sure I don't end up in the gutter; and I know a lot of business owners who did not go all out like I did. I'm sure some businesses would have gone under regardless, and I'm sure some worked very hard and still went under, anyway. But some, for example, didn't have their employees on the books, so they didn't qualify for or were afraid to apply for the PPP. (Or they would just get a grant for $1,000 per owner.) I know some business owners who would rather sit back and blame others (including the government) while their businesses went down.
And again, business was better once we reopened. Even at 50% capacity restrictions - much like WDW, we never get to high capacity except for a few days a year, so that made no practical difference.
I think everyone has learned some things: 1. Full shutdown isn't necessary. Businesses can operate safely with reasonable restrictions, even non-essential ones. 2. While we were blindsided this time, next time government assistance should be swift and simple. I'm certain some businesses went under or began to go under waiting for that to kick in. We were fortunate (and scrappy) enough to be able to hang in there until assistance arrived. I realize that's not the same for everyone, and different businesses experienced different issues (restaurants, movie theaters, etc.) I'm also certain money was given out inappropriately or used inappropriately in some cases.
There are all kinds of people; therefore there are all kinds of business owners. Some had money to begin with. Some never did. Some had families to fall back on and help (I most certainly did not.) Some had spouses or children able to help out. Some chose to get out or retire early.
I knew I had *absolutely* *no* *choice* but to keep fighting until it was gone, and to protect my home. For reasons explained above, it never came to that, and I'm very grateful for that. We are in better shape now than we were in 2019. We were forced to learn lessons faster. We invested in more inventory. We invested in more employees. We are working on getting their wages up. We have excellent credit (both business and personal.) All of our local competition are still standing as well, which is some indication that we were just lucky to be in a business that was pandemic-proof (but not shutdown proof.)
If it came down to another shutdown for a month or so, another PPP deposit right away would go a long way to making me get through it with a whole lot less stress, even if it got added to my EIDL loan to be paid back. Employees could stay home and get paid. I could sit here and argue with you guys all day. (Oh, get real, I'd find a way to work.)
