How the Power of Community is Helping Small Businesses Survive – David Riddell

Big Frog Custom T-Shirts & More is a franchise business that started about 12 years ago and today there are about 80 stores across the country. I own 2 stores in the North Carolina area and what makes us a little unique is we have a retail space, free design, and offer one-off custom print t-shirts. We offer screen printing and embroidery as well as direct-to-garment (DTG) printing. 

It’s never a good time for a pandemic but our slow season is the beginning of the year, November through February. Then we get hit with the pandemic and most of the businesses we serve are closed or canceling orders. Being an events-based business the pandemic has shut us down and we have lost tens of thousands of dollars of cash flow into the business that we need for working capital. 

We closed our business completely when the mandate came down because we are not classified as an essential business. Even if the door had been left open the world had shut down. Now that we have been able to open up again we have seen a little business begin to ramp up. While it is certainly better than the previous 5 to 6 weeks it is a far cry from the normal volume for this time of year. 

North Carolina is reopening in phases with precautions. We have signs at the door letting people know we are offering masks and hand sanitizer while limiting the number of people in the store. It is all about safety for everyone, we can’t let this virus come back and bite us again. I’m looking at this reopening as month one of starting the business again, what we have to our advantage is a client base and experience. What we don’t have is the certainty of knowing that come August, I am doing the same sales as last year. 

We applied for PPP and EIDL early on and thankfully we receive funds in the second round. Now the trick is what are the rules to pay it back and how to document expenses correctly. In the middle of all of that, someone in my local networking group told me about the Thryv Foundation Small Business Grant and I applied. Then I learned I was 1 of 60 people that received a grant, which was great as those funds helped us pay some bills that month. 

There is a reason people join a Chamber or a BNI networking group, those people become your tribe and can help each other. A franchise business is a similar concept where you have a group of other people that are all in the same boat. There’s no cash registered in the franchisor's office, all the money comes into the business through the local stores. So the franchisor's goal is to help the local stores be as successful as they can. 

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