Columbus Steps Up (From Home)

Dolr -
Is that really a surprise? We live and work amongst superheros.

We are so fortunate to live in a city chock full of givers. Almost everyone in Columbus, OH, with something valuable to share has opened their doors and is encouraging the community to engage and collaborate. There are incredible instances of selflessness and grassroots movements being borne of tweets.  

With these efforts have come an abundance of resources. We've compiled a list of those resources we've found most valuable for our small business. We hope these help you, as they have helped us, navigate your way through all the changes.

Note: if you should be (or don't want to be) on this list please email me: hello@noetherrudin.com  

We are not getting paid or getting any kind of financial support from the people or businesses listed below.

Emergency Response Plan

Serif Creative put together and open sourced an awesome emergency response plan. There is so much we love about this. First of all - wow. It's beautiful to look at. At times like these that goes a long way. Beyond aesthetics, they’ve provided valuable and actionable content under these six categories:

  1. Protocol
  2. Communication
  3. Scenario Planning
  4. Preparation Checklist
  5. Remote Working
  6. News and Resources

There are new laws passed everyday to help curb the spread of the coronavirus. The folks at Thompson Hine have put together a free webinar diving into the Families First Coronavirus Response Act and implications for startups and other small businesses. They have compiled a summary of the new law's requirements here.

Keeping Your Business Healthy

Last week, Chris Olsen, partner at Drive Capital , published this youtube video outlining 8 concrete steps leaders can take to improve their business' chance of surviving this crisis. The advice in the video is universal. It's not a niche startup thing. This is about how your business can adapt to survive.  

The team at Book + Street  are experts at anything that has to do with business finances. They share excellent content, for instance this post on managing cash flow, on keeping your business financially healthy. If you don't already follow them on LinkedIn, now may be a good time to start.

If you need strategy advice and guidance we'd recommend taking up Brian Laliberte on his offer to help local businesses think through these tough times.

If you're a freelancer you may want to attend this event by Jay Clouse on why the global slowdown doesn't have to mean a slow down in your client-based business.

You may also want to look at the resources for small businesses posted by Jobs Ohio.

Doing Good Work

A number of Columbus businesses have really stepped up to do their part during this crisis. For example, Share is providing delivery services  and transport for emergency personnel and Rogue Fitness is using their facility to help with medical equipment. They're both hiring:

Community Efforts

The incredible team at CoHatch has lived true to their mission and launched the CoHatch Delivers initiative. We love everything about this. This is what they're doing

Over the past week we have all been through so much. I have seen fear, anxiety, and so much stress. I have also witnessed kindness and an unbelievable desire to serve and take care of others. COhatch has refocused our goals for the next 60-90 days. We wish to spend our time and resources being one of the helpers.

The Can't Stop Columbus movement is rallying the entire community to act to curb the impacts of the coronavirus pandemic. They're rallying builders and participants to team up and come up with creative solutions to the new challenges we're all facing. Here's what they say:

The Covid-19 situation is completely unprecedented, and it’s only going to continue to present new challenges. All of us are in a unique position to help in our own individual, strength-oriented ways, in an environment that has never existed before. We need to make sure that people can help effectively, inclusively, and meaningfully.

We encourage you to sign up and either volunteer your skills and network or call out challenges you're facing so the community can rally to build solutions for you and others experiencing the same issues.

Thank You!

We are fortunate to live in this incredible city. If there is anything I or Noether Rudin can help you with please let me know: hello@noetherrudin.com

Thank you so much to all of you for doing your part and helping the best way you know how. We will get through this together.