The birds are chirping, and the morning sun is warm. It is late August, and this is usually the time when the phone is ringing off the hook with clients hoping to get that project that they put off all summer completed before the winter months set in. However today is quiet, just like yesterday was quiet, and the day before that, and the day before that. You get the idea.
We were growing at over 30% for 3 years in a row. Business seemed like it was better than ever before, we had customers scheduled many months out and the phone wouldn’t stop ringing. We built a very good reputation in our local community, and we never needed to advertise. I was looking at hiring on 2-3 more people just to keep up with the work. Times were very good, until that virus from Wuhan found its way to its intended targets. We began to see the panic in people’s faces. The government began issuing unconstitutional orders and the people quickly turned on each other.
Take a moment and consider the different arguments and debates that have sprung up due to Covid-1984? Parents fighting parents, parents fighting school districts, public fights, and general hatred towards our fellow Americans. Mask/No-mask, mandates/No-mandates, vaccine/No-Vaccine, and countless other issues. Hate was multiplying, and so were emotions. Its growth may have slowed, but neither one has faded even slightly.
During that craziness, we were forced to stop working for 6 weeks. Shortly after, because of government and not because of covid, our small business started to really feel one of the purposeful side effects. The economic uncertainty which caused people to stop spending money on home projects; we barely survived as a business. We have been walking a financial fine line since, always managing not to fall too deep, but never able to replenish our lost savings. That is hard to do while providing for a family of 7 and while the economy was under attack.
We have been skating buy, able to make enough to keep our employee paid and our bills only falling behind a little each month. So, we found ourselves playing that game many of us have played recently. The one where you pick which bills will get paid first and which don’t quite make the cut. You do what you can, we can only work so hard. We were managing, until August 1st of this year.
August 1st was different. On August 1st, at the local school board meeting, the school solicitor read a prepared statement in which she framed me as a liar twice, while mentioning me by name 3 times. Since that day the phone has only rang 2 times for work. The slow but steady stream of new customers I had that were keeping us afloat seems to have dried up.
We were already considering a move away from the home improvement business and working more with MagAmericans, but we were/are not ready, even though we seem to have been pushed into it. It is a scary time for a parent of 5 young kids. To have to watch your business slowly die, not because of what you did, but because of what they did. It hurts, deeply. It was a part of me for many years, I toiled, bled, sweat, and broke my body to grow that company, and to watch the life get choked out of it by the federal government makes me sick to my stomach.
So, even though we aren’t ready, and even though we don’t know how we are going to survive just yet, we will push on. We will trust in God, and focus more energy into covering the 1776RM and other events as well with MagAmericans. This may very well be a blessing in disguise, or simply the beginning of more hard years for the family. It isn’t over yet, but without customers to create some income, it will be soon.
Right now, and until we get those legs back, our supporters are carrying some weight, and we are so grateful for each one of them, without them this would be over already. Now with what the school district has done, we will need even more support. We have reached out to a lawyer so we will see how that goes. In the meantime, we are in a storm. I have no idea what our lives will look like on the other side of this storm, but I know God is with us. I know you are all with us as well.
We do have big plans for MagAmericans, but without income those will take considerably more time. I would love to dive into this headfirst and we will push full speed ahead when/if the time comes. Thanks again to all our supporters.
I'm sure you're not thinking of moving at a scary time like this. Florida contractors don't get paid as well as Pennsylvania either, but Florida is still moving with construction and not feeling the downward spiral other states have started to feel. Hard to find affordable housing, but there are lots in need of repair and flipped so to speak. Just opening a window in your mind so it's not so dark.