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Tin Shingle's ongoing blog series entitled Sandy Small Business Survival Stories began yesterday, check out the introduction here. It will include ongoing stories from the front lines of those rebuilding after the storm, in our words and at times those effected themselves.
This post is told by Tracey Schmitt-Feller (pictured at left with her husband while assessing post-Sandy damage), the founder of Kiddie Designs, whose personal and professional life was changed overnight by the destruction Hurricane Sandy brought with her.
I am a home-based business and was severely effected by the storm. My husband and I live in Hoboken in a first floor unit with contents in the basement, and everything had flooded. Fortunately, we had evacuated for 5 days and "we" are OK, but then returned home and found the place soaking wet, to say the least.
A large portion of what I do at Kiddie Designs, is painting murals for children in homes, schools, daycares, etc. But in addition, we paint custom furniture such as step stools, rocking chairs, toy chests, and canvases. I do a lot of fairs to promote locally, and have a collection of fair stuff as well. Due to this our "studio" is where we store all of this and where I do all the painting of those items.
Hurricane Sandy impacted all of this! All of my paints, brushes, canvases, supplies, and fair stuff were ruined, but that is okay because in the end it's all replaceable. Luckily, none of the pieces (5 step stools and 4 canvases) I recently started were effected, as we elevated those before we evacuated. So that was good, and I am able to finish them.
Right now I'm going to have to buy all new supplies, and find a new place to paint/work. We have friends and family who are offering us to stay with them until we can move back in (will be months) but I'm having a hard time "setting up shop," if you will, and laying down my tarps, paints, and everything to start painting in my friend's living room, you know? It's going to be hard to work out where and when I'll be able to finish these projects up... but I'm confident that I will get it done.
I've reached out to all of these pending clients personally and let them know the situation, and they are all more than willing to be patient with the items.. I am so thankful for that, because honestly, the thing that crushes me in this and that I've been worried about all week, is not wanting to make my clients wait for their stuff, when I told them it would be done last week and already shipped out them...
The storm has really slowed me down, and I'm all of a sudden having to prioritize rebuilding our apartment and finding a place to live, over my clients. That is hard for me, because I care so much and want them to be happy customers.
All of this has taken a toll, but overall I feel very fortunate that people are understanding. I will get back on my feet, and Kiddie Designs still IS IN BUSINESS!! Right now we are just don't have a space, but I will make it my priority to find a place to paint and get these items to my clients ASAP.
Want to help Tracey get back on her feet? Contribute to her fund (which will go towards a new studio and home). How fortunate we are as small business owners to not have to add those items onto our To Do lists!
