The Well Runs Dry
“We’re out of work.” This from Que, said with fear all over her face.
I’m thinking what? Last week we were swamped.
Que went on with, “Mid-week, they put a hold on that game launch, and this morning, the waterless brand project was canceled.” Que led our sales effort, usually with a cool, seemingly detached air. Today she was scared.
I hadn’t heard the waterless news. Together, the waterless thing and the game project are around half our business. Shit.
“And..” Que paused and gave me the long stare to be sure I was listening. “…and layoffs were announced at both companies. Layoffs that include lots of marketing people. Our people. Our clients.”
Our clients were mostly marketing people employed by multinationals.
I’m thinking it’s black Friday, not the sale day, but the crash day as I climb the stairs to the design area, with Que in tow. I notice it’s a beautiful day. The early showers have given way to sunshine, and our outside deck, glinting in the sun, is still wet from the rain. Rounding the corner to the design area, I see most everyone is here.
Next, I head back down to operations to touch base with Russ, our CFO, Que trailing.
“Russ, we just got word…”
“Yeah, I heard…”
“So, I’m wondering, I know we’re in good shape, I’m thinking of putting half the staff on new biz and other internal stuff while we…”
Russ looks at Que, strokes his new growth, and… “We can go a couple months without letting anyone go.”
Exactly what I wanted to hear. “Okay, call an all-staff meeting. I want everyone,” I looked at my watch, it was still a little before nine. “Let’s get everyone in the conference room at ten. Let the remote team know so they can Google in.”
With that, I headed to my office to see what else was going on in the wider world.
Back up the stairs, two at a time, into my office, leaving the door open. A quick search. Yep, lots of layoffs in tech. AI supposedly drives most of it.
I lean back and think. And remember. Some time ago, Que had suggested we support clients who were looking. I remember thinking we couldn’t afford it.
But now, all our clients are scared. Those who lose their jobs are terrified. Most are on the hook for mortgages, car loans, kids in private schools and all the expensive trappings required of the corporate life.
And with the job gone, their status in the community goes with.
I’m scared. But we do have resources and other clients.
Okay, what’s gunna happen? Many of our clients will be let go. They’ll feel lost, abandoned. They’ll be scrambling to land new jobs.
Okay, okay, it’s time to do Que’s idea. We’ll help them. We’ll send an email to all our clients saying we’ll help them market themselves, no charge, no strings, just to help, so that they don’t feel alone.
That’s step one. That’s global.
Step two will be local.
We will search for local businesses that will benefit from what we’ve learned from working with the multinationals. I’ve always wanted to try this. We’ll start right in this morning’s meeting to create a list of local businesses that we know and love. And we’ll do it right here in our hometown and in the communities where our remote staff and contractors are.
Restaurants, auto repair, local co-ops, small retailers, local chains, whatever. We’ll make lists, then create some realistic criteria. And go from there.
I’ve always wanted to see if we could become more connected to our local community to both reduce the risks of these shifts in our corporate business while building ourselves into what’s going on here. Wherever here is.
***
Looking back, we helped a bunch of clients who got laid off. So far, four of them landed new positions and brought us along. Our business dipped. We had some unprofitable months, but now we’re in the black. Que’s a genius.
We landed business with a couple restaurants, a local chain of pet food stores, and a great little auto repair shop. The margins were not what we were used to. But our staff was energized and happy, and we didn’t let anyone go.
Most important, we didn’t let anyone go.
