Now I’m doing a dance with my refi guy since I obviously don’t need all that cash out anymore. Unfortunately lowering my cash out or eliminating it entirely doesn’t help anything as far as appraisals or interest rate. But now I kind of don’t care if the refi works out or not. I hope it does because it will still lower my bills - but it’s not the end of the world and doesn’t have to happen right this second. Takes the pressure off. I’m waiting one more day until my refi comes back from the underwriter and then we’ll go from there.
Today while on my walk I had a sudden burst of inspiration on how I can run an entire virtual event - including dance contests - during Labor Day weekend. I can have teachers submit their classes via video and run those during normal class times; I can have people send in videos of themselves dancing for our contests; I can have our DJs do their sets for the night dances. I’m not sure how - or if - musicians can be integrated, but I’m putting out feelers. This way I can still pay teachers, judges, MCs and DJs, and I think (I hope?) many more customers will not ask for refunds if I offer them a full weekend of content. It’s possible I won’t even lose money if I do this, and people can still have the fun of being in a contest and winning prizes. If I can just up my editing game I can do a lot of it myself. A lot depends on my current customer base - do they have safe access to a dance partner? Do they feel up to being in a long-distance contest? I think many won’t, but I only need about 1/4 to participate. I honestly think I can get that. I’m just so excited at the prospect of not having to abandon my community completely - I’ve already talked to my head judge, head DJ and tabulator and they’re into it. Now I just have to contact my customers and see how they feel about it.
Although there’s still that odd chance I’ll be able to run my event IRL, I kind of prefer this. It keeps everyone 100% safe, allows me to still pay people, and possibly not completely lose my shirt. Also gives everyone something to look forward to, because boy do we need that right now. To try to still run the event with consumer confidence so low and everyone broke...I see losing money or barely breaking even, not to mention risking everyone’s health. I’d much rather do this!
So first I need to sort out this loan stuff this week, and, bolstered by the SBA money, I can start making announcements. Then I can contact my 500 existing customers to see how many of them would still be interested in competing. I believe I’ll be the first person to run a large international dance competition online. Should be very interesting and groundbreaking.
In other news, after this week there’s only three weeks left of schooling. The BF has taken a huge load off of me by handling all of Theo’s work, which is the toughest since he’s six and can’t sit still and his assignments are more convoluted than Bobby’s. He also makes them lunch & dinner every day, takes them out daily for bike riding or sports, and usually does bedtime routines, too. On Mother’s Day he said a very sincere thank you to me and said now that he’s lived my life for a few weeks he sees how hard it is (I think a lot of men are having this revelation right now). We had a discussion about his eventual return to work - once bars and restaurants open, valet parking starts up and will need him to print tickets again - and I said, as gently as I could, that I’m none too keen on returning to the days of his working until 2 AM every night and going in to work at least part of every weekend and holiday. He said he didn’t want to return to that schedule, either. Will he stick to this? Only time will tell. But I think his seeing in real terms what it’s like to be constantly caring for children and house (plus your own work!) has changed his sense of obligation to this family for the better. Fingers crossed on that one. He got his unemployment finally on Monday and paid me three months’ back rent and bills. Huzzah.
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