Some Covid thoughts as a business owner
It's June 2021, and Newcastle isn't technically in lockdown (well, yet) which means that we are business as usual.
We are still open 7 days, full staff (masked of course). Our costs don't change and there is no government help because “technically” we aren't in lockdown.
What happens is, our business goes dead. By dead, I mean… realllly dead. Over the weekend, our trade more than halved. While we totally understand the voluntary stay home mandate, limiting exposure etc (in fact we support it) because we don't want to be a hotspot for this either.. but we are searching our brains for the solution for our business during this time.
Newcastle is a town that's built on small business and we aren't alone. So many of my business friends are concerned for where this will land.
I'm not really sure what other words I can say here, I guess I just wanted to express a thought or two surrounding the greater effects of lockdowns.
My business is lucky because we can transition to online easily, but other service based businesses such as coffee shops, it really takes a toll.
Casual hours are cut, income is lost… it's all a bit frustrating. We are also not able to work from home which complicates things even more!
I really feel for my friends in Syd, I hope everything lifts quickly. But I also am grappling to understand how small businesses make it through such a massive loss of trade. Anyway, thanks for reading some of my thoughts..
I'm just on my own journey of figuring all this out!
Anyway, sending love to everyone in this crazy time... again.
