Diverge Media was put in touch with the owner of a pet boarding/retreat that is struggling just to keep their doors open – and they’re deemed essential.
Pet retreats, they’re where you take your furry loved one when you have a hockey tournament, a vacation, a date with the slopes or for many other travel-related reasons – but what happens when the travel trickles to a halt? What happens when your business is deemed “essential” and you don’t qualify for any government handouts?
The bills remain the same – but the profits for many small businesses have dropped to mere fractions of what they were during “pre-pandemic” levels as a result of our Government’s Covid measures.
The owner of the pet retreat was no different in this regard. When speaking with Diverge Media they told us that vets have been indicating to him that they’ve been busy – as many people have been purchasing animals while they’ve been stuck at home. It means there’s a great opportunity for future business if he can weather the storm – and that’s a big if.
I asked the owner of the pet retreat what his profits were compared to pre-pandemic levels – I was shocked
When I asked the question to the owner of the pet retreat I expected to hear that he was operating at 50% of what sales used to be – after all his business was essential and allowed to remain open – how bad could it be? I thought I was high enough in guessing that sales had dropped by half – but I was way off.
He told Diverge Media “We’re probably about 10-15% of sales from pre-Covid. I also asked how much of his personal money has gone into staying open as a result of the Government’s Covid restrictions on travel. He told Diverge “probably 150 or so”.
We asked if things were to be great tomorrow and profits went to 125% of what he was accustomed to pre-Covid – how long would it take to pay off what he accumulated just to stay open?
“Probably a year to 14-15 months – a year to a year and a half.”
Businesses face losing everything BECAUSE of Government restrictions related to Covid
One quote stuck out to me as I spoke with this hard-working Canadian business owner. He’s worked hard for a long time and built his business by doing the right things. Treating people right, providing good service and working hard – and now it’s all being taken away from him through no fault of his own. This is the story of many Canadian businesses during the Covid era – essential or not.
“I’ve worked for myself for 35 years. I was raised that if you worked hard and provided good care at good pricing and treated people properly that you’d be successful. You know you just work hard and it will come – and it was. The business was growing, it was in a growth stage – now it’s all been taken away through no fault of mine.”
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Photo by Michael Longmire on Unsplash
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