25 Small Businesses Share Their Secrets on How They Are Adapting and Surviving During COVID

Welcome back to Small Business Straight Talk, a weekly newsletter covering small business topics and highlighting the best small business resources. I am the editor of CO— by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. You can sign up for CO—’s newsletter here and follow us on LinkedIn here. 

Since its inception a year and half ago, CO—, the publication I lead for the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, has always been focused on helping and inspiring small business owners. During the pandemic, however, we decided it was time to get more small business voices on our site. We wanted to hear directly from business owners in towns and cities across the country how they were adapting to the pandemic and surviving despite the challenges it poses. 

Since then, our contributor Andrea Forstadt, has interviewed business owners who run businesses of all kinds across the country. She is finding out how they are managing, what new ideas they are implementing and what the future looks like for them. My favorite parts of her stories are the fantastic photos she gets from all of the small business owners she interviews. If you’d like to be considered for an upcoming article in the series, you can join our small business source list here. 

Here are a few of my favorite inspirational quotes from her series.

We asked: How has your business adapted during the pandemic?  

My favorite quote: “Despite this setback, we have managed to alter and expand our business model to help generate revenue that offsets some of the losses in our traditional business.” Darin Feldman and Kevin Plein, co-owners, A-Game Sports

We asked: What are your best social media marketing strategies right now?

My favorite quote: “We have been utilizing Facebook Live for everything from helping people navigate what it’s now like going to drive-in movies to how to be road-trip ready. We bring on smaller local businesses to highlight and promote them and their social platforms, keeping it fun and engaging with trivia questions, prizes and gift certificates.” Jeff Rosen, owner, Rosen Nissan of Milwaukee 

We asked: How have you changed your sales strategies during the pandemic?

My favorite quote: “We have utilized emails, postcards, cold calls, networking events, online advertisements, in-person meetings, social media; you name it, we've probably tried it. Our focus has shifted dramatically from building rapport as a local business to astronomically increasing cold calls, a technique previously unfruitful for gaining contracts. We are always open to new campaigns and have recently started requesting referrals from our current contracts for warm leads on new facilities.” Ashley E. Rice, chief administrative officer, New England Vascular Access

We asked: How are you keeping your employees happy during the pandemic? 

My favorite quote: “The legwork of changing policies, rethinking business models, and being innovative during a precarious time is both noticed and appreciated by my staff, but the most genuine gratitude I receive comes from my personal connection with each of them.” Brooke Kinzer, instructor, Shanti Yoga Studio

We asked: What business changes have you made during the pandemic that are here to stay?

My favorite quote: “We have learned our customers are very loyal and will follow us wherever we offer our merchandise. This has inspired us to re-imagine our business outside of our traditional brick-and-mortar retail, relaunching our website to truly show how our store's fierce, fabulous and fun energy could come alive digitally.” Tenisha Light Caba, founder and owner, Brooklyn Bleu

Want to hear the stories of more small business owners? Follow us CO— Instagram. And...time to register for our Big Week for Small Business, a free virtual event scheduled for Oct. 13-15. You can register here. 

Jeanette Mulvey is a passionate advocate for small business and the Executive Director of Content for CO— by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.