Make-A-Wish!

Coronavirus and Small Business 

A look at how a sales oriented small business and a services oriented small business have been affected by the coronavirus lockdown

All types of small businesses have been affected by the coronavirus, from sales oriented producers making specialty items to small businesses specializing in financial services. 

Emily Junker is the founder of a small business based out of Washington, Illinois named Tik Tick Fizz. They make small specialty products such as bath bombs and candles by hand. “During the spring and summer, sales come from events where we would sell our products at and even create custom products on the spot for customers” she said. The events that they sell at include farmers markets, festivals, and they receive large orders for graduation parties, weddings, and baby showers. As the coronavirus has stopped all large gatherings like those mentioned, they have had to make a new way to go forward. She has had to move her sales completely online in the wake of the coronavirus. 

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“It has been tough with online sales as well, because we lose a lot of our bottom line with shipping,” she said. Junker had a website through which she received orders, but it was not used very often. To move sales online, she had to update the website a lot. Tick Tick Fizz has had to compete with large online retailers like Amazon as well and has lost a lot of profit. Shipping for small businesses such as Tick Tick Fizz is much more expensive than the free shipping that comes with Amazon Prime. 

While she has had some difficulties, Junker said that she has received amazing feedback online. She said, “I have received more shares, likes, comments, and reviews in the past month than any other month before.” However, the online support has not really helped her sales as she has experienced around a 50% sales decline from previous years at this time. Junker added that the way communities have risen up to support local and small businesses has been amazing and a major motivation for her. 

Kim Zimmerman is the founder and owner of Integrity Medical Billing Inc., a small business out of Carrollton Virginia. Zimmerman’s business was deemed essential as it performs financial services for doctors offices that could not close. However, they are still facing hardships of their own. 

Zimmerman explained, “If my customers, the doctors, don’t get paid, then I do not get paid as well and a lot of them have lost a significant amount of business and some have closed.” To ensure that she can keep all of her employees during this time, Zimmerman applied for the Small Business Associations Paycheck Protection Program Loan and was accepted. This program covers all of the businesses payroll. “I was very grateful to receive the loan, because without it I would have had to fire some of my employees,” she said. 

Other problems Zimmerman has been facing are things like social distancing and cleaning in the office. To ensure her employees stay safe while working, she has moved all desks to be at least 6-feet apart. A lot of the internal business is being done online now as well. “If there are any questions for any other employees or if there any of the employees need me or my office manager to verify something, we will either log remotely into the computer that the employee is working on or talk through it over the phone,” she said. 

Zimmerman said that a positive for the business during this time is that it has been able to clean up books and organize different things that they have been wanting to do. “Because we are a small business with only about 10 employees, we have not been able to do everything that we want during the regular business periods so we have been capitalizing and catching up on things we have fallen behind on,” she said. 

This trying time has affected all types of small businesses. Many have had to temporarily close or move online like Tick Tick Fizz did. The Chamber of Commerce reported that 24% of all small businesses have been temporarily closed while another 40% are expected to close within a two week period. However, 57% of small businesses are still reporting that they feel positive about their overall health and 23% expect to hire more employees within the year.

Both Tick Tick Fizz and Integrity Medical Billing Inc. are trying their best to come out okay and like the many others are focusing on what is to come after the pandemic ends. 

More statistics on small business can be found at https://www.uschamber.com/report/special-report-coronavirus-and-small-business

Rose Delaigle is doing her best to have fun while stuck at home during this trying time of the coronavirus pandemic. 

Delaigle lives in Yorktown, Virginia and works at a medical billing company while going to school at Thomas Nelson Community College. On March 30, Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam issued a stay-at-home order throughout the state. This order allows for individuals to only leave the house for work, groceries, pharmacies, and medical emergencies. He also banned all gatherings of more than 10 people. 

To keep herself connected to the outside world, Delaigle is keeping in touch with friends and family through FaceTime. She and her family are using technology to stay up-to-date on all the things going on in the world and with their loved ones. 

While Delaigle is at home most of the time, she still works everyday since her place of business was deemed essential. “I am worried that the coronavirus will infect one of my own family members,” Delaigle said. She is worried about the virus reaching her family because she still has to work, especially since her sister’s 3-month-old son is living with them as well. To make it so that doesn’t happen, she has been wearing a mask and gloves everyday. 

Delaigle and her family have been bonding more due to the coronavirus. “We have taken this opportunity to become closer as a family by playing games together, watching movies together, and more” she said. They will also take turns cooking dinner every night. They also celebrated a holiday, even though it wasn’t official, which created a unique and fun way to bond. They did a Halloween night where they tricked and treated each other’s rooms and watched horror films together. 

Delagile says she is just trying to make the best out of things with the way they are now and not let the coronavirus get her down.  

https://youtu.be/DBe_vFQaDug

“Music is my backbone to everything, it is always there for me whether I am happy or sad,” said Amy Tang. Tang is a sophomore at Saint Louis University who is fascinated by the music industry. 

Tang plays a variety of instruments including the piano, guitar, and most recently she taught herself how to play the ukulele. “I’ve always been passionate about music, it’s always been in my life,” she said. While Tang loves music, she was unsure of what to do with it and struggled to determine what she wanted to do later on in her life. 

With Saint Louis being her hometown, Saint Louis University fit the bill for Tang as it was close by and had a great medical program. Tang entered the school last year as a pre-med student. However, she quickly became unhappy with this course. She struggled to decide what to do after realizing that medicine was not for her. It wasn’t until this past December and January where Tang realized what she wanted to do with a little help and guidance from her friends. 

Tang said, “Originally, I never thought I’d be able to work in music, but recently I have been thinking that I can incorporate my passion and still have a job that can get me by”. Tang now aspires to turn her love of music into her job and work in PR for the music industry. She currently writes blogs and articles about new albums and songs in both her own blog and in a couple of small magazines. 

Outside of school and music, Tang is an executive board member of the Vietnamese Student Association. Her parents immigrated to America with their families around the same age she is now. While growing up, she learned of her Vietnamese culture at home and would compare it to what she had learned at school. “As I’ve gotten older I’ve definitely grown to appreciate being an Asian American because I am able to experience and be a part of two diferent cultures at once”, Tang said. She helped to build the new Vietnamese Student Association from the ground up as the secretary and now serves as the senior advisor for the upcoming executive board. The Vietanmese Student Association is a brand new organization that has not been chartered as of yet. Tang was a founding member and has been influential in its creation. 

Tang also dabbles in photography on the side of her writing. She photographs things like parks and nature. She also attends live performances of her favorite artists often and will take her own pictures at their shows. “I really love going to concerts, I am really a concert buff, I go to them all the time” she said. Being in St. Louis, Tang had a variety of venues with different shows going on around her. She often goes to the Pageant at the Loop to see a lot of different artists in action. She also takes the occasional drive to Chicago to meet up with friends and watch performances there. 

Tang noted how important her friends are to her. “My friends have been so influential and helpful in my decision to pursue a career in music, they talked me through it and gave me the confidence I needed to think that I could do something in music and be successful” she said. They told Tang of how many different ways there are to find her place in music. As long as she put her heart and mind to it she could find a way to be successful in the music industry, whether be through magazines, PR, or more they said. 

Tang hopes to soon intern at a music magazine or within the music industry to get hands on experience with it all. 

Candidates for Student Government Association make their pitch on why they should be elected

Candidates for the Student Government Association at Saint Louis University spoke on their policy preferences at the Carlo Auditorium in Tegler Hall on February 18. These speeches were given to inform students about candidates who were running in for office in the Student Government Association’s elections this week on Teusday February 25.

Maggie Kenny, Alhan Sayyed, and Joseph Reznikov are the candidates running for President. They all spoke on similar platforms that focused on making Saint Louis University a more equitable and fair university for all students. One of the larger debate questions centered on what they would do as President to maintain the reputation and duties of the Student Government Association. Each candidate highlighted problems they found with the Association and detailed a plan to ensure it stays efficient and relevant on campus.

Mark Freeman, a student studying political science, explained how important the Association is for students. “Student Government Association has the power to make or break students experiences here at Saint Louis University,” said Freeman. He explained how Student Government Association does so much, like funding clubs and serves as a voice of change for students. On the presidential position, Freeman said, “it is important that whoever leads Student Government Association is the right person.” The President of the Association leads one of the largest and most powerful student organizations on campus. Freeman thinks it is necessary for candidates to have experience and a good work ethic or it would be impossible to manage the association effectively.

Senator Emily Junker, an active member of Student Government Association who represents all students living on campus, said, “these elections determine who represents you and your voice in issues on campus. Because of this, you should be actively involved in the process of choosing who gets to be a part of that.” Junker believes that all students should try their best to be informed on each candidate and what they bring to the table for Student Government Association. “If you are not informed, you can not make the best decision on who should become president,” said Junker.

The debates offered students the chance to get to know each candidate running this year. The elections will be held on February 26 through SLUgroups.