SLV Businesses Rebound in the Face of Virus, Regulation, and Protest
By Robert Arne
In the San Lorenzo Valley, how can mountain businesses recover as most dutifully wash hands, wear masks, and stay apart? Let’s consider recovery in the arts, manufacturing, and professional services:
The SLV does little manufacturing, but its connection to Silicon Valley innovation makes electric motorcycles a natural for Zero Motorcycles of Scotts Valley (www.zeromotorcycles.com). An anonymous manager tells me that the company laid off almost all workers at the beginning of the crisis, but has now rehired eighty percent of its workforce as foreign part supplies resumed. Social distancing, masks, and barriers are workshop rules; and office workers stay home profitably. Zero sells globally but builds locally for quality control, and it just leased another building to create 2021 models with improved “range management” that allows 200-mile commutes.
In early May, I completed nine years work as a San Jose tax accountant when the virus ended IRS representation work and delayed taxes. So I abruptly opened up shop in taxes and luckily got my company licensed in California to give securities advice in less-than-the-usual time; the virus actually helped me realize my dream career faster initially. I advertised online at Google, Facebook, Yelp, and—as a shy analytical who rarely picks up clients in groups effectively—I turned to the internet, where I actually had relative advantages. I teach certified financial planners and publish newspaper articles on finance to give away sound advice, believing a generous “financial evangelist” will grow business despite market fears. My home office, with koi and a waterfall, matches any local office in beauty, and I’ve been training with fee-only organizations. Clients appeared.
Professional singer Silvia Grape laments the separation COVID causes when music is so “contingent on connections with people in the arts” but all group performances cancelled. We are “in danger of losing the shared joyful experiences of being with other people.” Artists, performing concerts from houses, watch Skype and Zoom improve sound quality in a “lonelier” world where sound can become more technical as fewer people watch; computers generate violins. Sylvia cheerfully records albums and sees peers do drive-in concerts. Open to wedding performances and “determined to keep music alive,” she perfects her art and does side gigs with undying optimism. Fortunately the Felton Music Hall re-opened and Sylvia performed for masked audiences. Catch her on Zoom, Spotify, or iTunes—the newfangled venues of musical talent.
Politics and disease be darned! May these examples help hope conquer despair!
The author, Robert C. Arne, MS, CFP, EA works for Carpe Diem Financial Life Planning .