Updates Since Friday: Paycheck Protection Program, Unemployment, Why I’m Not Working, Affilate Marketing, Podcast, Apprenticeship, Reopening.
In last week’s blog I talked about more measure for the Paycheck Protection Program through the Small Business Association. Well Friday morning after I posted the blog, I checked my business bank account and there was $1,000 from “SBAD TREAS” Which I assume is short for Small Business Association. This is great news that I received something, however the total amount that I was told I was getting was over $5,000. I am not complaining, I’m just confused why it’s not the total amount. This will certainly help pay for a small portion of the business expenses for the time I’ve been closed down. I’m not sure if or when the rest will come, and they have given me no information about any of it other than this random debit into my account.
This morning in my personal bank account I received my first payment from unemployment and the bonus $600. They took out taxes so the total I received was $684.25. This was a huge sigh of relief for this week, however I have been trying to collect this since they changed the rules for self employed people. I applied on April 14th and was informed it would be back dated to when I shut down. My last day of employment was in March, Friday the 13th. Spooky. If they give me retroactive pay like they said they would that would help.
A few people have asked why I am not working. As I discussed in my first blog post there is a compound answer. First and foremost, as I read it, the stipulations in place right now do not deem my work as “essential”. When the shut down requests were put into place, I was in the middle of 2 separate bathroom remodels. Me and my clients all agreed it was safest for me to not be coming in and out of their houses every day for the time being, given the information we had at the time. That information has not changed at all. Everyone is trying to find out if and when it is safe to go back. I will continue to listen to my gut as well as the recommendations. I plan to start making some calls to some of the exterior jobs I have lined up to see if any of them want me to get started, but at this point I am in no rush to do so.
Well, I started writing this Monday morning but had a million things to do today and wasn’t able to finish and now it is 6:30pm and I’m just getting back to it. I got an email this afternoon from the company handling the PPP loan with another 18 page form to fill out. Hopefully, this is the last form and maybe I’ll see that relief payment this week but who knows?
I was denied from all three affiliate marketing programs. They all basically said I’m not established online enough yet. I just started my YouTube channel 6 months ago and my website wasn’t getting much traffic until recently when I redid it and started promoting it a little. www.BorsellinoCarpentry.com
Last week I mentioned starting a podcast. We did release a podcast yesterday titled “Regular People Talking About Mental Health”! While I understand this has no direct correlation to my business, it is something that we have spent some time and energy working on during the quarantine and are proud to announce. Right now it is available through the Podbean app, which is who we have the podcast hosted through and was highly recommended for new podcasters. It can also be found through our website, www.NickAndTricia.com! Yep we got a website! We went with the cheapest option possible just so we could have something to send people to. We also started a facebook page for our podcast under “Nick and Tricia”. Even though it doesn’t directly correlate with construction, I will be discussing the mental construction zone I have been working on my entire life, which directly effects my work. Being a perfectionist isn’t easy and comes at a high price. What’s cool is that we are just two regular people discussing how hard it is to be a business owner, an employee, a partner, a parent, a human, all while trying to deal with the noise between our ears. We are enjoying the process and hopefully you might enjoy relating to us.
Something else that has been recommended to me in the past and I’ve never given much thought is apprenticeship. I have had employees before and it has been a struggle at times, and the last 5 years working alone has been quite nice. But having an extra set of hands sure would be nicer some days. So again, today it was mentioned that I might consider getting an apprentice. I started trying to find some information on it but haven’t gotten too far. Maybe you’ve been a part of apprenticeship on either side and could give me your experience or some information.
I just got the daily email briefing from the Governor so I have the video replay of it on in the background on YouTube. It states that Phase 1 of re-opening would include construction after May 15th, but depending if we meet the factors needed to reopen Madison County/CNY. So it’s still up in the air right now.
I think that’s it for today. I’ll keep you posted as new information arises. I didn’t proofread this blog entry so hoping it made sense today!
Thanks for tuning in.
Nick