Adjustment, hard sacrifice, pivoting to stay in business – it is the lifeblood of any business trying to survive the coronavirus pandemic.
Bret Achtenhagen, host of the Designer Yard Show Saturdays on WTMJ and owner of Seasonal Services, is one of countless small business owners who have had to find a way to pivot and keep his business going. And as so many people are saying through word and action, his customers get it.
“Overwhelmingly, they’re saying ‘We’re with you, man,’ ” Achtenhagen told WTMJ’s Steve Scaffidi on Monday.
“It’s small business that’s going to get us out of this thing.”
Those businesses tend to be the employer of the larger percentage of our workforce, but those businesses don’t often have the capability to do weather economic storms like larger corporations can.
Achtenhagen had to make some small sacrifices involving his employees, but did it also as a way to adjust his business to keep both employees and workers safe.
“Production staff was laid off for one week, but they understood we needed to get prepared to keep them healthy,” he said.
“Sanitizing tools, getting everything ready so that they can get out there and stay healthy.”
He says his business is returning to full operations Tuesday after the one-week move.