March was supposed to be an “out of the office / travel” heavy month for me. I had conferences in San Francisco, San Jose, Las Vegas and I was going to surprise my girlfriend, Jessica, for her birthday by joining her while she was in Austin - she was supposed to accept the SXSW Community Service Award for her non-profit Miracle Messages. I also had team meetings in Ohio. The total opposite is going on right now!
The last two weeks, due to the Coronavirus outbreak, like pretty much everyone else, I’ve been taking precautions and here is a quick timeline:
Monday 3/9/20 was the last day I went into San Francisco and I have not left my neighborhood since - Jessica received an email indicating there was a confirmed COVID-19 case at a place that we both had been so we started working from home and social distancing.
By Monday 3/16/20 San Francisco (where we work), Oakland (where we live) and municipalities in all the surrounding Bay Area counties issued a “Shelter in Place” order taking effect on 3/17/20 and would last until 4/7/20. This was the first “Shelter in Place” order in the country.
On Thursday 3/19/20, the Governor announced a state-wide “Shelter in Place” order.
“We project that roughly 56 percent of our population – 25.5 million people – will be infected with the virus over an eight-week period”, Governor Newsom wrote.
Firstly, I’ll say that I’m WORRIED about, not AFRAID of, the virus. Not that I expected any different, but the lack of leadership at the federal level makes me worried that we as a country are not capable of facing crises like this. I think our elected officials and even every American needs to reflect on how Patriotic they are or are not - my thoughts here may be a good topic of a future blog post.
Jessica and I have been in the house going on two weeks and only leave to get food / supplies. We’ve even been using Doordash and Caviar for meals which provides dashers with, I assume, appreciated cash flow and also feels relatively safe. We’re also making an effort to support some of the neighborhood restaurants and shops during this crisis. These are my go-tos:
Thanks to all the neighborhood businesses that are able to stay open...will continue to support you!
Of course there are some that can’t stay open and I am especially concerned for barber shops, salons and beauty professionals. Please remember that this is hitting them hard. My barber shop Megah Brown's is the best in the West and my barber Damian has been a great friend over the last few years. Also, my barber in New Jersey is “Big Mike” who was formally in Lawrence, NJ and now in Hamilton. I found his spot after the first epic Hamilton West at Lawrence homecoming football game junior year in high school way back in Fall 2005 (LHS folks remember the dance got rained out!). Mike is hands down the best on the East Coast!
Additionally, I’m so proud that my company Finix is part of this initiative along with our partner, Kabbage! The platform allows small businesses to offer electronic gift certificates to future customers - the aim is that people buy gift certificates now to provide small businesses with short term cash flow then the customers redeem the product or service when the crisis passes. This initiative was even picked up by CNBC. The key move we (Finix) made here is that we (Finix) waived our gateway tokenization fees (here is what tokenization means) and we’re calling upon everyone in the payments ecosystem to do their part to help drop the cost of payment processing for small businesses during this time of crisis.
There are so many people stepping up. While writing this, I learned that my friend Aparna started Pick Me Up Fremont! Folks in Fremont, CA can:
Jessica has been working tirelessly with her team at Miracle Messages. Ordinarily, they help people experiencing homelessness reconnect with their loved ones through direct street outreach; in the last two weeks, they’ve redirected their efforts to make sure that people experiencing homelessness have the supplies and assistance they need during the COVID outbreak. While the virus affects the broader community, I personally worry about those most vulnerable - Miracle Messages is doing everything they can and their work will greatly help those experiencing homelessness, who are among the nation’s most vulnerable people in this crisis. Bay Area folks, Miracle Messages has a supply coordinating spreadsheet, where you can see what essential items are needed and where.
Through all this, I’ve had some decent time to reflect - Jess has gotten back to painting (photos at the bottom) and I’ve been working on some interesting side projects (dreams). We have been living together since January and this time spent under “shelter in place” has definitely brought us closer. I’m thinking about all my family and friends in New Jersey and in Florida, two places that are being affected quite hard.
Feel free to contact me if you have any questions, would like to learn more about what’s going on here, just catch up or reconnect in this time of social distancing. Leave a comment or email me directly at benjamin.jamesq@gmail.com...looking forward to speaking with you!
Jessica and I have been in the house going on two weeks and only leave to get food / supplies. We’ve even been using Doordash and Caviar for meals which provides dashers with, I assume, appreciated cash flow and also feels relatively safe. We’re also making an effort to support some of the neighborhood restaurants and shops during this crisis. These are my go-tos:
Thanks to all the neighborhood businesses that are able to stay open...will continue to support you!
Of course there are some that can’t stay open and I am especially concerned for barber shops, salons and beauty professionals. Please remember that this is hitting them hard. My barber shop Megah Brown's is the best in the West and my barber Damian has been a great friend over the last few years. Also, my barber in New Jersey is “Big Mike” who was formally in Lawrence, NJ and now in Hamilton. I found his spot after the first epic Hamilton West at Lawrence homecoming football game junior year in high school way back in Fall 2005 (LHS folks remember the dance got rained out!). Mike is hands down the best on the East Coast!
Additionally, I’m so proud that my company Finix is part of this initiative along with our partner, Kabbage! The platform allows small businesses to offer electronic gift certificates to future customers - the aim is that people buy gift certificates now to provide small businesses with short term cash flow then the customers redeem the product or service when the crisis passes. This initiative was even picked up by CNBC. The key move we (Finix) made here is that we (Finix) waived our gateway tokenization fees (here is what tokenization means) and we’re calling upon everyone in the payments ecosystem to do their part to help drop the cost of payment processing for small businesses during this time of crisis.
There are so many people stepping up. While writing this, I learned that my friend Aparna started Pick Me Up Fremont! Folks in Fremont, CA can:
- Send an email with a list of grocery items to pickmeupfremont@gmail.com and will receive email confirmation when the order is passed to the grocery store
- Finally, pay and pick up at the store when informed that the order is ready
Jessica has been working tirelessly with her team at Miracle Messages. Ordinarily, they help people experiencing homelessness reconnect with their loved ones through direct street outreach; in the last two weeks, they’ve redirected their efforts to make sure that people experiencing homelessness have the supplies and assistance they need during the COVID outbreak. While the virus affects the broader community, I personally worry about those most vulnerable - Miracle Messages is doing everything they can and their work will greatly help those experiencing homelessness, who are among the nation’s most vulnerable people in this crisis. Bay Area folks, Miracle Messages has a supply coordinating spreadsheet, where you can see what essential items are needed and where.
Through all this, I’ve had some decent time to reflect - Jess has gotten back to painting (photos at the bottom) and I’ve been working on some interesting side projects (dreams). We have been living together since January and this time spent under “shelter in place” has definitely brought us closer. I’m thinking about all my family and friends in New Jersey and in Florida, two places that are being affected quite hard.
Feel free to contact me if you have any questions, would like to learn more about what’s going on here, just catch up or reconnect in this time of social distancing. Leave a comment or email me directly at benjamin.jamesq@gmail.com...looking forward to speaking with you!
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| Painting of a mountain side temple in the Himalayas |
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