Alex Willen sits with his dogs at his home in San Diego on Thursday, Feb 11, 2021. NEW YORK: As airlines slashed flights and furloughs appeared inevitable in the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, Mike Catania sensed there would be little need for a service that helped airline crews find short-term housing.
As owners are forced to shut businesses, they’ve had to figure out what to do next. For entrepreneurs like Catania, the answer has been anticipating the next trend and creating a company to take advantage of it. Some owners have started businesses similar to those they lost, or companies that fill a different role in the same industry. Others have gone to work for someone else, while perhaps holding onto hopes of eventually reviving the businesses they shuttered.
By May, the loan money was available, but Willen decided to give up rather than open the business and not have revenue for months, maybe longer. Willen bakes for his two dogs, Cooper and Maple - which gave him the idea for Cooper’s Treats. He sells the treats on his website and Amazon.READ: Could empty office buildings help solve France's housing crisis?
“About once a week I’ll have a commitment during the day, but otherwise all my work gets done after 7pm,” she says. But Valentine hopes to revive her consulting business once the pandemic is over and she has childcare again. Her hope is to keep both businesses. “This is the time to focus on this , and maybe come back to acupuncture in the future,” says West, who lives in Haywards Heath, in the south of Britain.