With the COVID-19 crisis rapidly unfolding, nearly everyone is being affected in one way or another. Many will be affected from a health perspective, but even more will be affected from a financial perspective. And unfortunately, the impact from that will last far longer.
Small business owners are the canaries in the coal mine in this situation, as they’ve felt the impact first, but the financial impact is quickly working its way down to everyone. Nearly every industry has been hit hard in a very short period of time. Some companies have already been decimated and have had to resort to layoffs just to stay afloat.
But it’s not all doom and gloom. As people tend to do in periods of crisis, many have pulled together to help out where they can. That should be celebrated. Here are ten brands that are stepping up, giving back, and helping during the COVID-19 crisis.
1. Harmon Brothers
If you’ve heard of Squatty Potty, Purple, or Chatbooks, you’ve seen some of the wildly successful ads that Harmon Brothers have created.
When the recommendation for social distancing was issued, CEO Benton Crane stepped up and offered their video script course to anyone, completely free—with one stipulation: You simply have to agree to social distancing to help reduce the spread of the virus.
2. Harbor Freight
We’ve all seen the news of the shortage of N95 masks, but what most people didn’t see was that over the weekend, Harbor Freight CEO, Eric Smidt, stepped up and donated their entire inventory of masks—as well as face shields and nitrile gloves to hospitals in order to support healthcare workers on the front lines.
3. Taylor Insurance Services
While everyone is justifiably panicked about their own health and the health of loved ones, this reaction places an increased workload on our already overburdened healthcare system.
To reduce both the burden on healthcare providers and the stress on residents, Taylor Insurance Services launched a telemedicine line, free to anyone in their local community. There is information on COVID-19, but also a board-certified doctor who can handle most things so residents don’t clog doctors’ offices, impacting the patients who need it the most.
4. Pacific Counter
When Florida Governor, Ron DeSantis ordered all restaurants statewide to suspend on-premise food consumption, Pacific Counter co-founder, Tanner Loebel vowed to retain all employees as long as possible. The restaurant has promised a minimum of $10 an hour for all employees and is giving its workers free meals. It has also launched a meal delivery service by the three owners, with all tips going directly into an employee pool.
5. DigitalMarketer
To help balance out the constant stream of bad news and to help get entrepreneurs ready for when things return to normal, DigitalMarketer Founder and CEO, Ryan Deiss made his company’s entire library of training free for, at least, the month of March for all businesses and marketers impacted by COVID-19.
6. Tricera Capital
Miami-based real estate investment firm, Tricera Capital, is a major landlord in downtown St. Petersburg, Florida. Understanding the uncertainty that most business owners face right now, Scott Sherman, Tricera co-founder and managing principal, decided to defer their tenants’ April rent to help give them peace of mind.
7. 3 Daughters Brewing
By now, you’ve certainly heard how hard it is to find hand sanitizer. (And toilet paper.)
Veteran-owned 3 Daughters Brewing sought to solve that problem by using their brewing and bottling equipment to make hand sanitizer for local residents. It was available for free to anyone who needed it, but when hundreds of people congregated at their facility seeking hand sanitizer, increasing the risk of spreading the virus, they decided to donate it to local charity organizations for distribution.
8. Blitz Metrics
Dennis Yu is the founder of BlitzMetrics, and has a long history of giving back and freely sharing his knowledge.
He has opened up his company’s training courses to anyone who wants it, completely free. All you have to do is send a message to operations@blitzmetrics.com with LOVE IS KIND as the subject line, and describe what your goal is in the email.
9. Trycera Financial
Knowing that a tremendous amount of people are already experiencing financial challenges and that an even greater number will soon, Ray Smith, CEO of Trycera Financial, is making their financial planning course, RichMoney, available to anyone completely free for life, until May 1st.
10. Bacon
Both employers and employees alike are feeling the stress from COVID-19’s impact on the economy. To help alleviate some of that, Hunter Sebresos, CEO of the on-demand job listing site, Bacon, is waiving all fees for employers for at least the next 60 days to help get more people working during the pandemic.
