Covid-19 From the Eyes of a Retail Business Owner

"It's getting bad here. People are dying. The government is closing our doors. We have to stop all production and we are running out of medical supplies. I will let you know more as I know. Please take care of yourself, Erica. God bless." 

A frantic email sent from on of my international manufacturing partners warning me of the severity of Covid-19, early January 2020. 

Partners I have created great relationships with, spent years of business with. Respectable, hard working, never complaining. Then, a frantic email out of character followed by... radio silence. 

Like most people, I was scared. Listening to the news and reading as much as I could, scavenging the internet. There was nothing. nothing.

Thinking back to my relation to the BioTechnology field, it made sense why masks were backordered and harder to come by. What is going on with the Supply Chain?

I fished out an old medical mask and took measurement on it. My intent was to send them overseas. They need help. 

"It is spreading, Erica." 

Then the news... Corona Virus is spreading in Washington. Flight for Europe are being banned. Portland in ruins--the city is being burned, shootings, marshal law, people are looting. New York. California. 

It was time to get serious about making masks. I started to call my suppliers. At this point the supply chain was so disrupted and supplies were limited that there was no elastic. I made a trip to Joanne's to see what they had in local stock and they were wiped out. I went back to the drawing board unsure of how I would construct these masks without the supplies I needed. Then I thought about the days of working in a BioTechnology lab and how the Surgeon's masks were constructed--with ties. I did a little research and found the tools needed to make straps. I flew to Joanne's... just in time. 

The following day a Government Mandated Shut Down to slow the spread of Corona Virus went into effect. I watched as my bank account was slowly being etched away as bills continued to come. First by the hundreds and then by the thousands. Calls started to come in from our retail partners cancelling their orders due to uncertainty of when they would open their doors again. How am I ever going to dig myself out of this debt? I felt really small. 

I was depressed for a few days. I spent my whole life and life savings to build something that was collapsing because of catastrophe that was completely out of anyone's control. I didn't want to talk to anyone. My partner came in and talked to me and said, "No matter what happens, Erica, this pandemic won't take your experience, what you've learned or your skills away. You still have this. I've seen you navigate you way through so many situations. You're one of the strongest people I know." I made myself get up. I didn't want to let this situation sweep over me anymore. 

"When the avalanche comes, you can either be buried by the snow or learn to snowboard."

I made my first mask and put it on the website. A few orders started coming in. I was making them as the order came in with a home sewing machine and finishing off the end of the straps with hand cranks--each mask had 4 straps. 

Then, a one of my best retailer's first order of a couple thousand masks. Then another. Eventually, they ordered for each of their locations. I slightly panicked, but got to work instantly. I worked late into the night. Cutting, sewing, pinning, pressing, packing.. over and over and over. Eventually it was me and my intern doing what we could to keep up. 

600 masks in, I excused myself and walked into the hallway and cried. 

Actually, I bawled. 

For what felt like forever. I was so stressed out. When you write your business plan you try to think of anything that could go wrong and how you may navigate those situations. This. This was so unexpected. 

I came back in from the hallway, sat down with my computer and I maxed my financial bandwidth and ordered as many supplies as I could. 

Time to hire a team. 

Nearly over night, my team when from just me to 10 people. Most of our team had lost their jobs during the shutdown and knew a minimal amount about sewing, but they were hard-workers and willing to learn. Together we learned fast. I cleared out a spot in the back of the store and set up 5 ironing boards as stations paired with a spray bottle of isopropyl alcohol and the tools for that station. 10am, the first shift was in. 2pm, the second half. 

The way we were hand cranking the straps was not going to work anymore. We needed a specific machine. After a 30 phone calls, an overnight trips were made into some of the most dangerous cities at the time to get the supplies we needed to keep making these mask at the pace they were needed. We were tired, hungry and sore.

Then the shut down was lifted. Floods of people came to our door for masks. Our team was working overtime trying to keep up and help as many people as possible. There was panic and still so much uncertainty. This lasted for another 3 months before supply chains started to catch back up and mask were becoming more easily accessible. 

As a team, we produced thousands and thousands of masks and sent aid all across the country. First we sold, then we donated. I am so grateful for my whole team. They truly are incredible people and really showed up in a time of need. I am also so grateful for how many people show up in various ways during this time as customers and words of encouragement. It was such an emotional and moving experience of all of us. 

Out of all of this, Voxn is now a main employer sponsor for a program that teaches sewing skills to individuals in the State of Idaho. Our first class was 8 learning seamstresses, followed by 22 and then 32.