EFFECTS OF THE CORONAVIRUS ON A SMALL BUSINESS - DAY 7 (23/03/2020)

Today is another day that is hectic, I write this as we expect the government to announce lock down, in what form I don’t know.

We have 3 off work and only 25% reduced orders so there is no time to get everything done, I speak to people at Contact Left and they are unsure about what’s happening and ask me, I don’t really know myself, I don’t fully understand the direction the government is giving but right at this minute there is no need to lay any staff off. The sales of Face Masks have allowed one member of staff to work from home but we have not had enough orders to reroll anyone yet.

The work from home is something that I never ever wanted as in reality there are loads of legal implications behind it however the member of staff who is going to work from home probably isn’t going to sue us and as they took work home with them they informed me that they were okay if I didn’t pay them.

The one other member of staff who is working from home (My Wife) has a 2 year old child to look after and the emails aren’t coming through on the lap top and does anyone really think you can effectively work with a 2 year old running around??? So after a day of that the only option is to catch up in the evening.

The massive order we hoped would be placed with us for the hand sanitizer from a massive UK company looks like it probably won’t come off, this is even though we are the cheapest to quote. I was hoping this would be the order to keep us going through everything. Not the end of the world though there are still plenty of orders coming through from shops and small businesses for it.

Sean spoke to me this evening about how (as we are not doing too bad at the moment) we can support those working in high risk environments especially as we are selling items that are directly related to this Pandemic. We will now donate 1 Reusable UK Made Face Mask for every 10 we make to someone who is working in a care home or medical profession. I am sorry that we cant give everyone one but as long as we can afford to do it we will do this.

We are getting loads of people getting businesses to buy off us and this is keeping us going, loads of people sharing our posts and still loads of ideas coming through, I have made Docs item but not listed yet (Its coming soon) and Amy from Derry/Londonderry has recommended us making some videos of the kit we have, we will definatly be doing that.

As I get ready to hear about Lock Down on tonight’s 2030hrs government briefing, I hope you are all well and thank you for reading. Please keep sharing this blog and recommend us to everyone.

P.S The person who was stood about 2 inches behind me in the que at the shop tonight if your reading this please practice social distancing, if you had stood that close to me when I was 20 years old I would have knocked you the f@~k out and there wasn’t even a virus around then.