#15 Is everything fucked?

Time since launch: 20 months
$ spent: $1.2 Mil +
Current challenge: COVID-19.

It’s been 13 days since my last update. Are we fucked? Yes.

The question is how fucked? And for how long?

It’s a challenging time right now for businesses across the world, and of course, the people that run, work for and service them. The uncertainty is crippling. What can we do? This is a critical time, one where many of us are being asked to step up.

I don’t have all the answers. However, I remind myself what people and businesses alike have achieved before, and gotten through. This might be tougher. It might be the toughest thing I have to get through in my life. I think about my friends’ babies who one day will be told about their parent’s generation’s recession; when the economy stopped but the tweets did not.

Overnight, our air freight charges were 7x the original price. They are changing every day.

Overnight, we made the decision to temporarily close Fluff’s Studio. We’re in the business of people touching their faces. So we figured this was best. OBVIOUSLY.

Overnight, we all began working from home.

Overnight, we had to re-forecast, and re-budget, for what feels like the millionth time.

Overnight the ‘t’ on my keyboard stopped working and made writing just about anything 10 x slower and more painful.

I feel exhausted and wide awake all at once. I have never refreshed my inbox or social feed so many times in one day. I don’t know what I’m waiting to see. I have cried into a bowl of granola at 5pm, laughed and drank wine at 3pm, ran past a bustling cafe, and walked past a deserted storefront with a sad farewell pinned to the door.

This is not business as usual. But this is a business, like many, that we need to sustain.

So we keep going.

Right now we’re re-focusing. On changing our business structures, processes, systems. On cutting back. On supporting our staff so we can all get through, and have a studio to return to. On seeking support from our government and sharing the available resources with those who aren’t aware. On messaging our friends — business owners and employees, and asking if they need anything, a virtual hug, some advice, anything. On reading the right things, and understanding our individual responsibilities. On creating honest content that we care about, and continuing to talk to our audience along the way. And on supporting other local, like-minded businesses and creative enterprises— buying bread, coffee, a new kitchen knife, those shoes we’d been thinking about. Anything helps. We ask you to do the same.

“Nothing diminishes anxiety faster than action.” — Walter Anderson.

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