HUGE IMPACT OF THE CORONA PANDEMIC

The month-end is approaching... I am yet to pay my credit bills and arrange for all utilities and supplies I need for my house. This is not the first time though! I have been living like this for the past 2 years, ever since the Pandemic started. Are you getting it? Yes, ever since the pandemic started, my life took a turn that really seemed to be impracticable.

I am an entrepreneur and I have been running my business for 6 years now. There were 43 employees working with me and together we were doing a really profitable business. When we first faced this Corona wave, it was devastating as most of our investors were taken aback. The graph of sales started falling day by day but, we had to overcome it by investing our own money and even developing our services at a low cost. We could beat the first wave without falling into a debt trap. We still needed a lot of time to regain our actual state. We prepared ourselves for the next wave too, we can predict it though. Winning the first wave has been really tiring but to forget the pain, we celebrated instead. While we were all preparing for a party, I had to visit my colleague’s house. I wasn't happy to see them, they all looked tired and sad. They tried hiding it, but I could clearly make it right through them. I thought we all were good and living a normal life despite the hard times. All of my employees helped me keep up with the business in the market but it created hustle in their lives.

I wasn't able to pay them salaries every month and still, they decided to continue with me. For the first ever time, I pitied myself because I relied on them for my living which I never thought would happen to me. I, in my whole life never thought will have to wind up my business. I wanted to help them too, I couldn’t be a moron. Eventually, I came up with a scheme out of my investments and decided to pay them for their efforts. After doing all the math, I came up with a reminder for each individual. On the day of our party, I made an announcement of my decision and they all refused it. They didn’t even consider the money they were going to get. I promised I would help them with job opportunities out of my references but they insisted on continuing with me. I got emotional. I burst out as I lost control. Who will get such nice employees? I felt guilty driving them away but I had no option.

After 2 weeks they all turned up to me at my place with a plan of expanding the business with a small start-up alongside. I appreciated their support and cooperation and blindly followed them. But I made a condition with them. Everyone will be a partner and will share the same percentage of the profit with me.

After agreeing on everything we resumed working. The plan turned out to be working out well and we got back to our own status we were in. This time, the second wave couldn’t shatter us. The unity and the rapport in the team, irrespective of the hierarchy, worked wonders. This pandemic has affected our lives limiting job opportunities, and money but we all learned one thing “Unity”.

As I mentioned before I still have to worry about my bills and am working on it because Corona is not over yet.

Stay healthy! Stay safe !!

- by V. Yamini Priyanka

(a 14yr old young author)