How have your vendors helped you through the Coronavirus outbreak?

A woman called my shop asking if we have any 1/4" elastic to make face masks. I didn't have 1/4" but I did have some very small shock(bungie) cord. She came to see it and it was perfect for what she was doing. When she asked for a price, I asked her how much she was charging for the masks. She said " I'm making these for the hospitals free of charge". So, I didn't charge her anything. In the mean time I called my main supplier, R&R Trim Supply,  to order more of the elastic, told them what I was doing with it and they sent me  100 yards, and didn't charge me anything, I, in turn called the woman and gave it to her. She came to pick it up and brought me a couple of masks.

Since we are an Event Venue & unfortunately had to reschedule or, in some cases cancel events in March, April & May, we have been left without monthly revenue to pay our two employees or our utility bills. Beaches has waved late fees for this time period. I have applied for the PPP loan with no success. We will figure payroll because we need to feed our animals & keep our facility maintained. Publix at Mickler Circle has been extremely generous by donating extra amounts of fruit/vegetables weekly for our animals. That saves us tremendously on our monthly feed bill. I want to give a huge shout out & Thank You to Publix at the circle. Please support them if you can - they are the best!!!!

Comcast helped me put my large phone/internet bill into payments. My business is online. Co-Construct application reduced my monthly cost from $259 to $79 for 3 months. All you have to do is ASK for help. Companies are being generous. I provided free access to 4 of my personal development workshops for 30 days to my mailing list. It's all good.

Our patients are homebound by necessity but still have food and medication needs. Local groceries now delivery, restaurants have take out and home delivery. PharmacyGo delivers medication after they assist in doing combat with the pharmaceutical overlords. Internet providers are being quick to solve problems and our delivery folks (Amazon, USPS, UPS,Food delivery services) have been great. We have a great community. As we have transitioned much of our patient care to telehealth we do this with the help of our vendors as well as the understanding of our patients. 

Due to the current Coronavirus situation title companies have been very creative it getting home sales closed.  My clients have had drive-thru closings, closings at opposite ends of picnic tables at independent living communities and online closings.  These creative closing practices have allowed me to  continue to help buyers and sellers achieve their real estate goals during a very challenging environment. 

I have a great  customer who I have on a daily basis but who is now working from home due to virus but still insists on paying me even though he doesn't need me at the moment.  I have told him that there is no need and said that he is on my schedule for when he wants me again but he insists on paying me and says he is still getting paid by his employer and therefore he wants to pay me during these times.  I feel very humbled by this kind of   customer loyalty.  

Actually, most haven't because we purchase directly. Two suppliers have communicated:

1. Virginia Artesian Bottling Company who has been searching for a replacement green water bottle cap after their supplier stopped making them. I received an email two days ago that they have found a vendor and ordered new green caps and they will be available in August.

2. Edwards Virginia Ham Shoppe in Williamsburg called to check on us to find out how we were doing during this shutdown. Not a sales call; just a call to check on us. Had a wonderful conversation and it was nice to talk to someone other than the dog!

I'm a solo entrepreneur and freelance writer. During the last month, I've worked steadily to build myself a strong writer platform, including several social media channels. I write differently and post different information about myself on each. It appears my consistent efforts t o put my work out there has paid off. My blog posts are definitely being read, more people are starting to "like" my various pages and add thoughtful comments. 

Just this past weekend, I've been blessed to receive a new client. I've been sending off queries to various publications like crazy. I finally struck gold on one of them and my pitch was received with a formal writing assignment from a new publication.

I'm not sure I'd necessarily call these people "vendors" as they're not selling anything to me. In fact, I'm the one selling my writing services to new publications and editors who accept my queries. For that, I'm unequivocally thankful, grateful, and blessed.

My biggest challenge with the virus was grocery shopping. I found a wonderful local grocery store that has their entire inventory on a “click and collect” system for ordering groceries online. I create a shopping list, Set up an account with the credit card number, select a time slot for pick up. I am always able to collect my groceries the same day that I order them. No waiting!  I do not have to go into the store, they deliver the groceries to my trunk. Perfect for social isolation.

The grocery store is SuperValu in Lakewood Wisconsin, Marinette county. I highly recommend them.

We work with a lot of individual artisanal jewelry designers--many are one-person shows, some are small firms. Many, realizing that online is the "where it's at," started taking photos of product that fit OUR website, and delivering those photos to us. Photographing jewelry can be tediously time-consuming, and many of our designers smartly realized that THEIR products would be up on our website sooner if they provided the photos!