I have always held close to me the dream of owning my own business. Life hadn't always been easy. I don't come from a rich family, and my wife and I just made enough to get by. But that didn't stop me from working towards starting my business, anyway. Especially after I had gotten over cancer in 2018. I told my wife that due to the appointments, I cannot work full time again. I thought it was the perfect time to push forward. Especially as eventually, I will be able to have more time with my family, my wife and my daughter who I love so much.

March 2019... I rented office space, and hired an outstanding photographer to work and make my dream happen. The photographer I hired, her dream was the same. To be able to own a business and make a difference. I told her that we can work together to make that happen... while I am the one investing, I will always treat my employees like they are equals.

Fast-forward to February 2020. I was doing well and booking four to five weddings per week. We had just gotten done with two wedding shows and a pet show in January. We had another wedding show, a big one in Milwaukee, in April to look forward to. The year was going to be the year we turn a profit! But... it wasn't to be. The coronavirus was going to be arriving here in the states, and things started getting shut down. Bookings dropped from four a week to nothing.

I still held my head high and pushed forward, trying to figure out different things we could pivot to. As we already had the cameras, I could easily start doing live streaming. We could pivot to that for the time being. The issue: many find that their cell phone stream is good enough for the time being.

Present time is April 2020. Wisconsin is to be shut down through the end of May. Weddings continue to move back into later in the year. June was to be a busy month, busier than May. I have been able to book a church to do live streaming in. It is a value to show the entire church verses just the pastor, afterall. The PPP loan that was supposed to help us small businesses pay our staff, ended up running out of money before I could even be considered. I have two regular staff (including my photographer) that I have to now cut their hours, and soon will have to furlough if things keep getting pushed month to month. 

I don't like asking for money, it isn't in my blood to do this. I strive to succeed, but I have to let my guard down right now and accept that this is what it is. GoFundMe is giving a matching grant to small businesses right now. #SmallBusinessRelief  is the hashtag I need to use for that to make it happen. This is the only place I can go at the moment to get help.

So I ask you, please, at least help if you can. I know I am not alone, but I need to get to $500 to get matching funding from GoFundMe. I ask at least if you can help a little bit to get to that. Then I can help bring hours back to my staff who I had to cut hours to. We are working to grow the business right now, but unfortunately, we just have to do what we can do at the moment. My goal is to keep minimal operations through August or so, when I hope this virus will let up.

This has been so decimating to businesses such as mine. I just ask for a little help if you can. At least enough so I can get some help from GFM, as well.  I promise that I will do what I can to repay you! Either that or let me know your favorite non-profit so we can give some services to them.

Thank you for listening and I appreciate anything you can do!