COVID-19 & Its Impact
It's no surprise that COVID-19 and subsequently quarantine have affected all facets of our lives and we, as a business, were definitely not immune. We had just acquired and built out a new office in the heart of Downtown Detroit on Woodward Ave. We eagerly moved into the space at the end of January 2020 thinking this year was going to be the best yet. Little did we know in a few short weeks – where, how, why and who we worked (for) would completely change. It's important to note that we are no strangers to working from home – it allowed for a fluid work-life style BUT at the time we still had quite a bit of structure and formality.
COVID, man. It really shook us – not so much financially at first, but workload-wise. Working with mostly restauranteurs, it was absolute chaos. Information was changing rapidly; decisions were being made and remade within hours and it became a confusing, frustrating process for all parties involved. Then, it was as though everything imploded when the food & service industries had to essentially shut down. We won't cherry-coat it, the shutdown was both scary for us and a total relief; Scary in the sense that we no longer had steady work coming in – which obviously then affected us financially and a relief because we didn't realize how exhausted and burnt out we felt.
There came the pivot.
Morale was waning, our resources spread thin and that was when a change had to happen. We couldn't continue as we existed before – and we didn't want to. Unfortunately this meant some really hard decisions, heart break and fear of the unknown were on the horizon. For so long we had been grasping onto this idea that we were the keepers of our fellow, and beloved coworkers happiness and it was unacceptable to let them down – but it was just too much to bear and ultimately was hurting the business.
This leads us to one of the hardest decisions that was a necessary move in order to keep the business afloat – reducing our talented team. To be frank, this was one of the most gut-wrenching moments in our 8 years of business. Our team was/is our family – each person truly unique in their ability, added such value to us as a whole and were/are highly respected as individuals.
Then it was time for a hiatus of sorts.
The conscious decision was made to step away for a couple months time to consider what we wanted as individuals and out of our respective careers. We are truly fortunate that we were able to do this and gain clarity in our time away to reconsider why, how, when, with who, and for who we operate. Defining what was important to us as individuals was crucial.
The saying goes "you can't have your cake and eat it too", but aren't you having it while you eat it? Why are we boxed into this 9 to 5, Monday through Friday world? Why are we putting a length of time on when we should be productive? Why can't we work late at night, through the night or on the weekends? When clear objectives and milestones are set, why do we have to follow these so-called rules? Ultimately it lead us to understand that we essentially want to live our lives as we choose and provide stellar service without the "corporate" rules. To be clear, this doesn't mean no rules – but calculated, professional structure.
So that lands us here. Right now. December 2020.
We've revamped our service list, what type of projects we accept and our fee structure. We fell back onto one of our core values – agility. Why work harder, when you can work smarter? We made necessary, hard, strenuous choices to have our careers work for us and not the other way around. Say it with me – F L E X I B I L I T Y. And our why? – we are starting our families, we want more time to enjoy with our loved ones, more time to travel and learn and refine our skills – and really, it's just how we want to be working; it's as simple as that.
So – all of this to say – COVID-19 has been an absolute punch in the gut, but we'd be remiss to not mention all the positives that came out of it. So if you're feeling down on your luck, stuck in place – know that you can always pivot and reinvent yourself, your business, and the way you work.
