Every other business on the planet seems to be emailing or messaging me – and, I’m sure, you too – informing me of their Coronavirus policy, how it will affect their business and their ability to serve me, why they may suddenly be laying off thousands of staff without pay/leaving my takeaway at the end of the drive/playing hunt the parcel with vital deliveries and so on. I’m just curious about what the heck happened to all the eggs and good chocolate…
So, here’s my statement.
I’m going nowhere.
I can’t afford to.
Whilst waiting for the UK government to decide whether they will support the self-employed freelancer at all, my other half (Annie) has had to go into total lockdown because she is in a high-risk group and her business as a dress designer/seamstress obviously involves close contact with her clients.
So, overnight, her business has fallen off a cliff. Thanks for suggestions about switching to making dice bags and other wargame-y things, and if we can find a way to make anything like that actually work, we’ll give it a go; but realistically, that’s not going to produce a proper income in the short term and she needs to take particular care.
Meanwhile, I am extremely fortunate that I work in the virtual space, and thus can turn my hand to all manner of digital products to try and not just maintain, but increase my income to cover the household shortfall, so I’m going to be busy. VERY busy. And if you guys say to me, “Henry, if you create X, then I will buy it” (not as an act of charity, but because I’m bloody good at what I do, and you would find it useful/entertaining), then I will move heaven and earth to make it so. This could be PDFs/ebooks, audio material, digital courses, videos and so on.
Finally, the best way to help make a difference to my survival is to persuade others to sign up as patrons like yourselves. Remember, I’m retiring the $1 level at the end of this month to cut down on the admin burden, so just $2.50 a month is the entry level – the price of a cappuccino (less, if you live round my way!).
I am also, of course, able to take on a wide variety of graphic design work in the way that I have done for 30 years, and I am delighted to say that I count several patrons amongst my loyal customers. If you’re interested in that aspect of my business, check out my design site.
Thank you all for your incredible support over the last couple of years, and I’m certain that this is just going to be one of the more challenging stretches on the roller-coaster ride that is the nature of running any small business. My hope and intention is to still be around many years in the future to bring you stuff that you enjoy and that merits your continued support. I know that I am far from alone in facing these uncertain times, and my heart goes out to the many small enterprises in the hobby that are equally, if not more deserving of support.
This is just my tuppenceworth.
Henry
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