Cobblers in the time of Coronavirus

We had a great virtual meeting this morning. If you want to join us next week, you can find us at bit.ly/cobblerscollective to hook up with the Zoom meeting. It's on Thursday at 8:30 am.

Gretchen created a Virtual Mistakes Jar just for this event. We were going to do the jar had we met in person, but this worked out well too. The jar will be left open as a space for anyone to submit their fears, concerns, mistakes, worries, hopes, dreams while we weather Covid-19. You can find the Google form here: bit.ly/mistakesjar. It's totally anonymous, so feel free to use it as a stress release valve. And share it with other business owners, solopreneurs, freelancers, and our ilk.

Right out of the gate, there was a theme of how do we plan for the unexpected? Many of us seem to have found our previous procrastination, which would have had very mild consequences if things were normal, really messed us up with the sudden shutdowns. We're all trying to move our business as virtual as we can, manage pets/kids/spouses affecting our work at home, and maintain our sanity.

We've talked about having a plan in place if you (the business owner) is unable to work for some reason - the "hit by a bus" scenario - in previous meetings. But, there was no reason for us to have a global pandemic plan in our back pockets. It isn't like a hurricane or snowstorm; this is going to last weeks. What we need to do is review our other contingency/emergency plans and adapt them as best we can.

Which is what we're all doing, adapting as best we can. There is some information coming in from the government at the state and the national level. As we hear about things relevant to our group, we'll post it to the Facebook page. Please go, share how you're handling this adventure, give us the tips you have, or the stories you've heard about how other businesses are managing. Share a joke. It's our space to say, "Yes, I'm still here, and I'm glad you are too!"

Our community is still here - and meeting this morning proved that we are stronger together (not physically though!) and more stubborn than this virus. The Cobblers will cobble through, and do it in our unique way.