COVID-19

Ten years ago, Sway Soturi woke up to find that her face had swollen “to the size of a watermelon.” After speaking with doctors and friends, she decided to cut out inflammatory ingredients like gluten and dairy from her diet. 

After 15 years working in the restaurant industry and battling an eating disorder, Sway had to re-define nutrition and her relationship with food. Over the next few years, she shifted to a wellness mindset becoming a personal trainer and cooking with more natural and local ingredients. 

After working for several companies in the public and private sector, David Mercer Louie realized that he would always have little to no control over his own paycheck. “Even if I gave over 100% of my time and effort to these companies, I’d never earn as much as I could if I worked for myself,” says David. In his case, the alternative was more than obvious: Join the family business at the Harry Louie Laundry and Dry Cleaners in Dover, Del.

The gut reaction to quickly pivot their business was a survival method that saved many small business owners from closing their doors this year. Now, nine months after initial stay at home orders were set in place in response to the spread of COVID-19, many entrepreneurs across the country are looking for their second pivot of the year in order to survive.

Veteran entrepreneur Roxanne Huggins has owned the Comstock Premier Lodge in Sargent, Nebraska since 2009. Working with her husband Mitch and one other employee, they have managed to expand their business from a large farm to a year-round bed & breakfast hunting lodge and ranch. 

Over the summer, as small business owners began to share how they were pivoting their businesses to meet the needs of their communities and stay open during the pandemic, we were inspired to launch our Stories of Resiliency campaign on Instagram. 

Over the past six months, we have shared dozens of stories from small business owners in our network who have expertly adapted their businesses and overcome massive unexpected setbacks. Here are some of their stories.

As the owner of a catering company, Nicole Jordan has seen an extreme decline in contracts and income since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. Fortunately for this Illinois-based small business owner, as a former banker she is well connected to the financial resources in her community.

Small Business Majority’s Outreach Team advocates for entrepreneurs on two fronts: It supports policies that would benefit small firms, and it offers workshops and events that help small business owners grow their companies. We have found this work to be even more important during this global health and economic crisis. 

This week we are spotlighting Rachel Shanklin, Small Business Majority’s new Georgia Outreach Manager, to let small business owners know how our team members can assist them.

Derreck Johnson is painstakingly aware of how the current global health crisis has impacted not only his small business but the entire small business ecosystem in Oakland, Calif. 

Derreck has been an entrepreneur for the past 30 years and has always had a passion for identifying a community need and filling it with a business. His entrepreneurial journey started with a small car washing business, but now he is a restaurateur and the proud founder of the now employee-owned restaurant Home of Chicken and Waffles.