Jim Correll, director Fab Lab ICC at Independence Community College, Independence Kansas 

People who know me well know that I’m rarely at a loss for words. I always have something to say and would welcome any impromptu opportunity to speak of the work we do at Fab Lab ICC and the effects we’ve seen on people’s self-confidence after learning to do things they never thought possible. I can easily go 20 minutes without notes. Give me a means to show pictures and I am pressed to keep it to 45 minutes. Our current situation leaves me nearly at a loss for words. I started to re-run a column from 2017 about small business marketing but given what’s going on today, that just doesn’t make any sense. 

This column is submitted one-week ahead of publishing, so this week, I’ve seen one of my restaurant friends go from business as usual on Monday to nearly nothing on Tuesday; yesterday. As I make a substantial part of my living helping entrepreneurs and small business owners start and grow businesses it really hurts to know what they are facing over the coming weeks. So much has happened in the last 72 hours, I can’t imagine what will have occurred by the time this comes out in print. 

Most of us, by nature, are social creatures and getting together in groups in an essential part of the human experience. Now, we’re being encouraged to do just the opposite, staying away from large groups and not touching each other. The businesses that will hurt the most are those whose business models require and even encourage people to gather in large groups. Restaurants, bars, breweries and all manner of other businesses come to top of mind. 

Local, state and federal government will develop programs, hopefully quickly, that will help in these unprecedented times. Many of our small business friends and neighbors will already be in big trouble before that help arrives. 

In the meantime, we can help immediately by buying gift cards from the restaurants and other businesses we frequented regularly and then use them up later when dining rooms stores reopen or use them starting now by taking advantage of the to-go and curb-pick-up services being offered by nearly all food and drink establishments. 

We need to learn what we can from this adversity and try to use the lessons learned to be stronger in the future. In a recent column, I wrote about the entrepreneurial spirit of the those who fought to make Kansas a free state back in the 1850’s leading up to the Civil War. It sounds cliché but we need to call on that entrepreneurial spirit and make a decision that we will get through this. 

Jim Correll is the director of Fab Lab ICC at the Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship on the campus of Independence Community College. He can be reached at (620) 252-5349, by email at jcorrell@indycc.edu or Twitter @jimcorrellks. Archive columns and podcast at jimcorrell.com.