Well, it’s the last month of this crazy year and secretly I’m breathing a sigh of relief and can’t wait for it to be over. I feel a pain in my stomach when I think of all the small business owners who are struggling to stay open and keep food on the table for their family.  Our whole life is wrapped up in our business and the thought of it going from “good” to “closed” in just a few months is scary and overwhelming.  I know many of us have considered finding other jobs to supplement our income, taking on more loans, and/or selling property for some income. None of these seem ideal for the health of our business, or are they?

If there’s one thing we’ve learned this year it’s be flexible and do whatever it takes to survive. As a fellow entrepreneur my mind is always racing, evaluating options, looking for angles, searching for opportunities. And the orders keep coming through the door and I’m constantly surprised and grateful.

But yes, we’ve had to think outside the box and step out of our comfort zone. One of the strategies that we decided to launch during this slow period is our on-line store. We haven’t received a lot of orders from it yet but this slow period has given us a chance to test the system and ensure it will work well for people when they access it. We are sign makers, designers and a marketing team – we aren’t technology gurus! Setting up an on-line store was something we were avoiding because we didn’t feel comfortable with it. But the resources were available to us and we did it!

So when I thought of taking another job to help pay the bills, I gave myself a goal instead. Spend the time and energy I’d use on learning another job to set up our on-line store and make it even easier for people to do business with us. I gave myself a month to do it. In the meantime, we did decide to sell our boat for some extra cash and we took the low interest EIDL loan the government offered. We’re survivors, we’re scrappy and hopeful that 2021 will ring in better economy and a diminishing virus.

We wish you all a Merry Christmas and an even happier and more prosperous New Year!