I am filled with gratitude. Over the last few months as we have all been weeding our way through the forest of uncertainty due to the coronavirus, many people have had a lot more screen time. I certainly have! Because I wasn’t working, and spending a lot of time trying to figure out my financial situation and how I was going to get through this as a small business owner, I started making videos about the struggles. Just like how I started this blog. So these videos just made my channel take off. I went from 100 subscribers to 398 subscribers and 5,000 views to 36,407 views in just a couple months.
Mind blowing!
Of course, this content hasn’t been what I have focused on in the past. I have done mostly how-to videos. When I started the channel, I planned to do business tips as well as tool reviews. I have 50 videos uploaded so far but I am not sure that I’ve done any tool reviews, although I talk about a lot of tools in my videos. The next videos I have planned to do, will be a series of tool review type videos. I will continue talking about business stuff as well. If you haven’t already heard, I started writing a book “A College Dropout’s Guide: Starting A Successful Construction Business” and I’m giving away free access to it on my personal website. Just go to www.nickborsellino.com and sign up for the email list to get it!
I have 19 years of construction experience and over a decade of self employed business experience. In the book, as well as my YouTube channel and my websites, I am trying to pass on all of my knowledge FOR FREE! Maybe some day down the road I will try to monetize this somehow, but for now everything I have I just want people to be able to have at no cost. I encourage anyone to start their own business. It has allowed me freedom and flexibility that no other job did. However at the same time I have never worked harder in any other job than I have in my own business.
If you haven’t been following along in my recent videos and blogs I’ll give you an update. In them I discussed Unemployment Insurance (UI), Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA), Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL) and Paycheck Protection Program (PPP). Here’s where I’m at…
UI and PUA – I am still on UI with the PUA add-on. I am not sure how much longer I will be out of work. I had 2 bathroom remodels in the works when the lockdown started. One of them was a favor for a friend, and he is taking care of it himself. The other one is for a longtime customer. I spoke with her a few days ago and she is nowhere near ready to start allowing workers into the house. We left it that she will let me know when she is ready to resume.
I had spoken with a few other people who are next on the list and nobody was itching to get started, which was fine by me. I am normally still working on wrapping up indoor stuff in June. Usually by the end of June when the weather is a little more predictable and the allergens have died down is when I start outdoor work, but it fluctuates every year. Unfortunately the next job I had lined up, she passed away suddenly over the weekend, which has left me in a little shock. I plan to make some more calls and see who will be ready next, although I will admit I am fearing a second wave of the virus. Once we hit phase one and memorial day came, everyone got very LAX very quickly. And then with the protests and these large gatherings of people, I can only imaging that there will be some health consequences from that. So needless to say, I am still undecided as to when we will be reopening.
EIDL – I was told the EIDL is a grant and does not have an effect on the PUA or UI. It was $1,000 per employee, and I’m not exactly sure what they expect that to cover for a few months off of work, but I’ll take it. Supposedly it is tax free, but I have also heard it’s just an advance on your tax returns. I’ll find out next year come tax time.
PPP – This was a major pain in the ass. After weeks of back and forth with the bank I was given the PPP funds. Just before I received that, I had started getting my UI and PUA as well as the EIDL. I started to wonder if these were conflicting. I couldn’t find anything anywhere to say they were or weren’t. I spent days scouring the internet and making phone calls and sending emails trying to figure it out. I documented my troubles on my YouTube channel. These videos are what made the channel really pop off. I will embed a few of them at the bottom of the page or visit my channel at www.youtube.com/borsellinocarpentry
It seems there are thousands and thousands of people struggling with this same thing. These funds had very unclear rules, and they are actually still changing the rules every day, even though the money was dispersed a month ago. It went back and forth from forgivable to a low interest loan. They kept changing how you had to spend it to not be penalized. It was a shit-show. So after talking with my accountant and trying to decipher the horrid wording in the documents I could find, I decided to give the money back. Yes, I gave back a check for $5,100. It wasn’t worth the hassle.
So here I am, almost 3 months on unemployment and just waiting for the right time to go back. Just as I was starting to feel comfortable with reopening, the protests started, which is what concerned me about round two of the virus. So I will wait patiently and plot my next move. In the meantime, thanks for your support.
Stay Positive,
Nick