Check out Elephant’s Continually-updating Coronavirus Diary. ~ Waylon

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I had a colleague ask me my marketing plan today.

When I think about marketing anything that isn’t support—

My soul crumbles.

Our world is in crisis.
Screaming for our love.

And yet I keep seeing desperation left and right.

From my superiors and those I’ve never met.

I know you’re terrified.

Questioning how you are going to pay the bills.

Put food on the table.

Keep even just the tip-top of your head above water.

I’m with you.
The nation is with you.
The world is with you.

It’s heavy—

the financial fear.
and health risk.

Every soul on this planet feels it.

My personal business can’t survive 30 days without revenue.

I don’t have a global relief fund.

Or rainy-day pockets that were ready for this.

I don’t know what this means for our future.

Or how I will support my team.

How I react is all I control.
I believe our integrity is all we have in crisis.

I’m not selling.
I’m not marketing.
I’m not following my superiors’ advice to desperately sell gift cards.

I’m teaching virtually to my clients while they use soup cans for weights in their living room.

Allowing them to shop and move with us if it serves them in this season.

And getting teary-eyed hearing my manager tell the screen this morning that we are right there with them.

I’m getting lost in the moments that are bigger than the dollar.

Trusting that when we support, we are supported.

The best way to support a small business is to be there when they tell us we can come back to shore.

Love us as we dry off and learn to walk on land again.

See the light for us when our eyes fail us.

And trust that even in our worst moments, we are trying with every ounce of our soul to give you a fraction of what you give us.

So if you’re wondering what my marketing plan is:

loyalty
respect
and compassion.

The universe didn’t slap us in the face with this lesson for us to learn how to sell gift cards.

In fact, my heart is arriving at clarity that it is actually the opposite.

It’s a reminder that we don’t control the tangibles.

And the only legacy that holds any value is how we serve one another—in crisis and in victory.

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