Episode 016: COVID 19: Small Business Survival | Daniel Browning

Jessie and her husband Daniel are small business owners. For the last 13 years they have worked through 4 pregnancies, put in late nights, lots of weekends, and many countless sacrifices to keep their laundromat and coffee shop open for people for 363 days a year. Their mission is to help customers have a great day by starting off with good coffee.

The COVID - 19 pandemic has forced them stay on top of directives and keep pivoting. They made changes to reduce the spread of the disease by creating online menu and payment options and door collection but for the greater good they had to close one of their shops.

When a business closes so does its income but the expenses are still there, they couldn't leave out their employees in times of crisis. Daniel's habit of being prepared for the worse was an asset in times like this. His preparedness helped him to secure a loan and works things out quickly so that they had the money to pay overheads for 2.5 months. With the help of the PPP loan, they were able to re-open their closed location.

Also, they are parents of 4 children and with the lockdown came a new challenge of taking care of their kids and also working on their other businesses that can run irrespective of outside situations.

Listen in as their share how they saved their business and how they are managing their work-life balance when the whole family is staying home.

Episode Timeline:

[01:20] Intro

[02:04] New Merch!!

[03:55] Podcast schedule

[05:40] Meet Jessie's Husband Daniel

[08:03] The start of our business life

[11:00] How COVID - 19 came into our lives

[14:43] Transitioning things to stop COVID infections(the new normal)

[19:43] Taking care of our employees

[24:50] Stopping the bleeding

[26:47] How did we know what to do? There is nobody to call.

[29:32] 13 years no break

[31:16] Rewards of an entrepreneur? Making the world a better place

[33:45] Navigating out of the financial panic storm (PPP loan)

[40:55] Importance of doing things the right way

[44:00] Managing work and kids

[51:50] Running the family like a company

[55:30] Mother's role in maintaining mental health

[57:27] Working as a Family

[01:03:00] Isolation in entrepreneurship

[01:07:46] Outro

Standout Quotes:

I wanna know where did you learn this? Who told you how to do this? How did we know what to do?- Jessie Browning [26:47]

We are at a point where we had our business open for the last 13 years, I still remember being pregnant and walking into work, opening the back window and throwing out and then washing my hands, wiping my face and flipping the sign to Open! and then unlocking the door and I remember having our children in there and I remember you working late at nights and constant sacrifices - Jessie Browning [30:04]

All of them are dealing with their own loss of normal, difficult routines and emotions for them to understand for them- Daniell Browning [47:30]

I see dudes are drinking beer at the end of the day cause they are tired from a long day of work, I do have a glass of beer at the end of my work but I personally like to use that as my excuse of not doing the work to help the family is because I had that time and I am very cautious of that I am aware and at a personal level when I hear something like.. Oh, yea my wife is struggling with the homeschooling, it upsets me. No its not just your wife's job - Daniel Browning [58:40]

Resources Mentioned:

The blog post about shutting down the Marfa Shop - We have Endured

We have started a merch store!!!

We...