No, We Are Not "All in This Together"

COVID-19 is dominating media headlines, advertisements, daily conversations, and websites all feature news & updates regarding the novel coronavirus that has swept through the world.  One of the more tiring aspects of daily life during this pandemic are the advertisements that mention COVID-19 buzzwords at nausea.

It is nearly impossible to watch a TV show that doesn’t reference the virus, followed by ads from companies like Doritos, or Kit-Kat, or Amazon, assuring us that they care about our safety as they subject us to overplayed cheesy music and affirmations that we are “all in this together.”

Despite corporate-America’s pledges & promises (or propaganda?), are we truly united?  If the virus has achieved anything, it has expertly demonstrated America’s far-reaching economic inequalities as some segments of our society is profiting greatly while others are struggling to cope with the reality laying ahead of them.

In only 23 days, between March 18^th and April 10^th, 170 of America’s billionaires added $282 billion dollars to their wealth, an increase of 9.5%. Amazon’s founder alone increased his net worth by 25 billion dollars in 2020.  In the same period over 22 million Americans filed for unemployment.  Totaled to now, more than 36 million or 1/5^th of our nation’s workforce have reported being jobless.  Some estimates state the total unemployment rate will approach 30 percent; a benchmark not seen since the Great Depression.  Similarly to the Great Depression, we are seeing thousands of cars lining up around the nation seeking food aid and surveys have revealed that in April 1/5^th of all households and 40 percent of households containing children under the age of 12 lacked sufficient food.

Nobel Prize winning economist has likened the U.S. to a “Third World Country.”  While other journalists and experts lament America as a ‘failed state’.

Divisions are continuing to grow within our country and will only continue to do so as the government places restrictions on ordinary citizen’s daily routines, while simultaneously failing to provide adequate relief.  The 2.2 trillion-dollar CARES Act makes for a great headline, however only a tiny portion of the funds go to working-class citizens and will not be enough to offset their lost incomes.  The Paycheck Protection Program has mastodonically misallocated its financial resources.  340 billion meant for small business to keep workers on payroll, yet business owners were unable to navigate crashed websites and red-tape as massive businesses such as the Penske Automotive Group & AutoNation and publicly traded hotel conglomerates such as Ashford & Braemar Hotels found loopholes to receive millions of dollars in assistance while still letting go the bulk of their employees.

Even more egregious, private equity firms sitting on $1.5 trillion in capital received tens of millions from the PPP.

While billionaires have added billions, large corporations have snatched up resources meant for Main Street, regular business owners have been forced to shutter their doors for rapidly changing reasons. 

Despite all of this when you turn on the television you can be treated to stock footage of happy diverse couples enjoying a bag of Oreos as you are promised, pledged and pandered to about the resiliency and togetherness of humanity.  Yes, it appears the death of The American Dream has a soundtrack and it is kitschy, over-played acoustic nonsense focus-group designed to be non-offensive and elicit feelings of security.

Take control of your own destiny and do not rely on the humanity of corporations or the effectiveness of a bloated government.  We are not in this together… yet we could be by choosing not to listen to those that say we are. We can stop succumbing to the fearmongering and support each other in our own communities. 

DeliveryMaxx is a small business that takes pride in helping other small businesses succeed in an increasingly digital world.  That was our mission prior to this outbreak which has now shown it is more important than ever.  If you need help navigating a transition to becoming more active on social media, building an e-commerce website, or post-sale communication with your clients we are here to help.  Visit www.deliverymaxx.com or give us a call at 888-936-6299 today.

The Little Engine That Could and the Lessons We Learned

In times of adversity we rely on our past experiences to get us through to the other side.  There is no doubt that businesses have had to grasp at history and lessons of our past to try to survive the current economic climate of the present.  We also have to believe in the goodness of mankind that there can be a fairytale ending.  Yes, business, especially small businesses have to continue to navigate the unknown as they have faced adversity from mainstream media misinformation and lies, power hungry politicians at the Federal, State and Local Levels and a majority of compliant citizens who were scared into believing the overhyped myths about a seasonal virus that history will show us that it was not much different than the annual flu.  Businesses are faced with trying to survive an unjust government shutdown, rebuild with irrational regulations and ultimately thrive by identifying and adapting to new opportunities.

In 1930 Arnold Munk with the pen name of Watty Piper wrote and published, “The Little Engine That Could.”  It was a story that many of our parents or elementary teachers had read to us.  The classical story is a helpful reminder about the importance of perspective, optimism and hard work.

For those of you that have forgotten the story, a train breaks down with a cargo full of toys.  It will not get over the mountain where it was supposed to deliver the exciting goods to the boys and girls by the morning.  There were several trains that opted not to help giving an excuse as why they didn’t want to give some assistance.

The first train, “A Shiny New Engine” came by and quickly dismissed the plea for help from the small broken down train.  It said it was a passenger train that only helped the rich and powerful.  Next, came the “Big and Strong Engine”.  It could easily help the small broke down train, but it only wanted to help the strong and didn’t have time for such an insignificant train like the one carrying toys.  Finally, a “Little Blue Engine” that was small and hadn’t even been over the mountain before came by and saw all of the distress the small broken down train was in.  It knew the troubles it might face, but armed with hope and a desire to help it accepted the challenge.  “I think I can, I think I can” became the mantra and the “Little Blue Engine” despite facing insurmountable odds was able to deliver the toys to the boys and girls by the next morning.

Our businesses have been challenged with “types of trains” that dismissed our needs.  Whether it was banks like Wells Fargo, politicians like the local County Judges or Mayors and the news media that sensationalized stories to scare the public into submission; business owners and their employees have had to keep thinking positive working harder than ever just to survive.  Now we are faced with rebuilding as States are slowly opening back up despite the forces from the opposition.

Businesses will still have to adapt to the new regulations that have been unjustly put in place.  One learning we can take away is that our society ingest its information from bold sensationalized headlines, innovative memes and 15-30 second videos.  Therefore, leaders will need to make sure their business is able to reach, communicate and provide goods and services using today’s technology.  This includes marketing, advertising, e-commerce and informing your customers and potential customers in the digital arena.  Digital Advertising is less expensive than traditional advertisement, but it has to be done right to be effective.

A day will come for the small business that adapts where instead of saying, “I think I can” we will be saying, “I thought I could.”

DeliveryMaxx has been the leader in this arena over the last decade and continues to help businesses in all sectors reach their potential customers through the most innovative digital strategy utilizing common sense and today’s technology.  Our clients experience positive Online Reputation, stronger SEO, concise content management, increase in social media engagement and advertisement and higher customer retention.  We are able to customize and create a strategy for any entity that is trying to gain more exposure on the web.  With clients in multiple industries and across the country such as Automotive Dealerships, Real-Estate Brokers & Agents, Churches, Service Industry, Sports Teams, Non-Profit Organizations and more; we utilize our Patent-Pending Program to develop a digital strategy that will meet the needs of sales, service and messaging to the masses.  For more information about DeliveryMaxx contact (888) 938-6299 or watch the DeliveryMaxx Introduction Video!