10,000 Small Business Voices
Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Businesses is a program for small businesses that links learning to action.
On June 11th, I, along with several thousand other small business owners alumni of the Goldman and Sachs 10K Small Businesses program, took part in a Virtual Hill Day. We had the opportunity to speak with our Congressional representatives about the needs of small businesses. For each meeting that I took part in, I was either a speaker or the meeting facilitator. We were asked to remain focused on three points determined by a survey of the 10KSB alumni. The three points they found to be most paramount concerns for small business owners are as follows:
Increasing PPP flexibility by: extending the application deadline through June 30th, extending the number of weeks that businesses can use the money they receive (Congress has fulfilled this element; extending use time from 8 to 24 weeks, we thanked them for it), and expanding different forgivable uses for PPP.
Allowing small businesses to apply for a second round of PPP.
Strengthening financial safeguards for small businesses (emphasis on small) by providing a temporary liability shield for litigation related to COVID-19.
Over the course of the day I had meetings with representatives from Representative Jesus' Chuy' Garcia, Senator Dick Durbin, and Senator Tammy Duckworth's offices.
When I was asked to be a representative speaker, here is what I said:
"When COVID-19 hit, my inbox was full of emails from businesses around the country. Eighty-seven emails called these times "unprecedented." I counted. Fifty others used the term "uncertain." I wanted to know what 'professional' marketing teams and major business were saying. If you're curious: the subject line of my company email was: "Shit got real, y'all." I'm a trained clown, trained in the art of sincerity.
Although I will never be a conventional business owner, I can assure you that all of us here, speaking to you today, are now facing the same adversities.
My company is called Escape Artistry. We send our visitors time traveling to Chicago's past, present, and future to unravel riddles, crack codes, and complete a time-sensitive mission.
Despite being a team of fearless time-traveling agents, we, like the rest of you, have had a terrifying year. My great-grandmother survived the Spanish flu. My grandparents navigated the Great Depression. My mother marched for civil rights. These were defining eras across history. In 2020, myself, my staff, and fellow small business owners navigated all of these in Q2.
There have been laughs along the way. The Zoom meetings wherein our professional colleagues are interrupted by cat butts. The no-pants stand up. And I have seen incredible innovation, strength, and resiliency from this community to keep afloat. Maker labs are turning out low-cost respirators, artists arriving in droves to paint hopeful murals on boarded-up businesses.
The reality, however, is that we are drowning more than we are swimming. We all know folks who aren't going to make it. We need to be tossed a lifeline.
I hire independent contractors, providing local artists with competitive income, flexibility, and freedom. I am, however, unable to use the PPP to provide for my contractors. It is crucial that, in addition to a second round of PPP being made available to entertainment venues like mine, that we are given more flexibility with regards to its usage.
My landlord has been less than generous, and while in good taste, I would never disclose what bank I originally applied for the PPP with (you could CHASE me down, and I still wouldn't tell you) the process was anything but intuitive. I have spent any number of days in full-on sad clown. Few people like the sad clown. It's creepy. Even fewer people seem to feel comfortable with confrontation or public speaking.
I'm a Jewish Co-Artistic director of a Palestinian theater company - confrontation is not an issue for me. I have no fear of public speaking - I'm comfortable on stage in front of 10,000 strangers (or small business owners, as the case may be). I'm not afraid of clowns. But what I AM afraid of is reopening. How can I guarantee to keep my staff and guests safe? We need the government's protection as we navigate protecting customers from a virus we don't fully understand. Please prioritize safeguards for small businesses by providing temporary liability shields for litigation as they relate to COVID-19. By all means, worker's rights need to be protected, but I can't put my team back to work until I know that we small business owners are not going to be alone of the front lines regarding later litigation. If my guests slip on a banana peel or have an anvil dropped on their head, I'm happy to take responsibility. As a trained clown, I know how to handle those quantities.
While I may not have as much money as one individual company, small business owners are responsible for a huge percentage of the economy. The 10KSB alumni network alone recorded combined revenues of 12 billion dollars before COVID-19.
As an artist turned small business owner, I have certainly felt imposter syndrome, but the world we're navigating now feels over the top, even for me. It feels f'ing Biblical at times. We're facing plagues, floods from climate change, tyrannical rulers, famine, and food deserts in the South and West sides of Chicago. I say again - we need a lifeline.
Escape Artistry strives to help provide working artists with a flexible work environment and stable income. I am currently allowing Artists' Resource Mobilization, a Chicago based organization that pays artists to make PPE for underserved communities, to utilize my otherwise empty space to inspect, store, organize, and package their PPE. Although we are working hard to make the best out of a shitty situation, our individual communities can only do so much.
We are - I am - scared that the show may not, in fact, go on. I don't know if I'll make it through this intermission. And if I do: is this a comedy or a tragedy?
We need assistance, and we need it now. As small business owners, we know that sometimes you have to be a tough boss. As your Tough Boss Clown for my remaining 10 seconds, I will close with a statement that Senator Duckworth said to many of us during the last 10KSB summer meeting in 2018:
WE have elected you. You work for US. We have made our requests for more flexibility regarding the PPP, a second-round is needed, and protections against COVID-19 related litigation. This is what we need.
Now it's your turn to do your job. Go fight like fucking hell for us. Thank You."