Speaking from experience, a week after Covid-19 was declared a pandemic by the World Health Organization (WHO), Mahal and I stopped our Tuscany Highlands business. The halt per se wasn’t as abrupt, but, day by day, we just found ourselves not working on the business. It started when our farm people told us that the most recent consignments of fresh oyster mushrooms at various stores in Claveria were being returned because no tourists and customers were visiting Claveria and no one was buying. The shops where we were consigning are located on tourist spots and along the highway where local and foreign tourists usually visit and drive by. With everyone being asked to stay at home, there were no more customers visiting these shops. So all fresh oyster mushroom harvests were sent back to the farm to be dried and stored for future use instead.

Then the sale of our mushroom products like MUSIGA (Mushroom Sili Garlic Paste), PALAMI (mushroom Palapa), Mushroom POLVORON and Mushroom CHIPS stopped as well. Despite our efforts to market, no sales were coming in.

Then our Mushroom Hands-On Cultivation Training was put on hold indefinitely for fear of spreading the coronavirus.

So one day, we just stopped our business from running and concentrated on surviving this pandemic as a family. We have our savings, extra food and other supplies, plus I still have a little bit of income coming from my online work so we’re still okay.

But do small businesses really have to stop marketing? Do we really have to completely stop doing business? Is it being tone-deaf or inconsiderate to continue selling stuff at this time when no one seems to be buying non-essential stuff?  Continue reading →