The COVID-19 pandemic for some participants in the survey was just one of the many challenges they faced in their business journey: “Just another task on this road” and “COVID is just another problem to add to our plates” were common themes in the responses. Business owners discussed pandemic related challenges, adjustments, pre-pandemic state of their business operations and future outlooks.

“I am in the process of establishing my business but the pandemic caused my efforts to be substantially slowed.”

Some women in the survey were optimistic and hopeful for the future: “Hope to get back to it fall 2021,””Hopeful to overcome those challenges in the near future,””This is tough, but it has brought up so many other ways of producing income. I’m excited for the future,” and “Hopefully the end is coming starting in September and going forward.”

While a small percent of owners in the survey had businesses that closed, pivoting or adjusting to the pandemic for most businesses meant temporary closures, creating new programs or services, changing their mission or creating a new business. Some participants’ businesses remained stable or increased due to the demand brought on by the pandemic. These businesses made up a range of industries from food services, healthcare/social assistance and professional business services. One participant, an owner of a certified public accountant firm, wrote,

“There has been an increased need for my services (technical assistance) given the additional government stimulus funding. I have been able to assist fellow minority owned small business owners become more financially savvy by providing one on one financial literacy/ business education to help them use PPP funds effectively.”

Other businesses fared differently. One owner of an engineering consulting firm had to decrease her employees by more than half. Prior to the pandemic she employed 9 people and after the pandemic her employee count dropped to 3. Her tone echoes hope for a return to normal:

“Staying positive; trying to stay healthy and trusting that things will get better and we will be ready when things get better. (A lot of our work involves international travel and our client has suspended all work).”

Two participants not involved in professional business services: a personal chef and a retailer specializing in plant-growing kits both had increased demand. The personal chef pivoted her business to meal delivery services as she mentioned in a follow-up interview,

“COVID forced us to pivot our offering in such a way that we are now more profitable and have an improved customer experience.”

Taking advantage of commercial kitchen space, she was able to navigate the pandemic and grow her business.

The other plant-growing business, despite the increased demand for her product, had to temporarily close her online store due to not being able to expand her home-based business from selling “a few thousand to tens of thousands” of plant-growing kits into affordable real estate space in D.C.

“There is a really strong eco-system for business support in the District but it seems to focus on starting up or established brick and mortar businesses. I fall in the middle…there simply isn’t space or funding for someone like me.”

The greatest challenges to adapt were posed for businesses engaged in personal care services and other “non-essential” industries such as international travel, touring, and some business owners dependent on or engaged in childcare. Business owners dependent on local markets and pop-ups expressed the challenges with decreased patronage. One participant stated the local markets, “were a huge source of income” for her. Some business owners that were considered “non-essential” discussed the difficulties of marketing the needs for services in a state of crisis. These businesses ranged in services from real estate development, professional staging and coaching: “challenging to articulate to the need,” “mental wellness and life coaching during this pandemic has been a challenge.”

Customer acquisition and retention was a challenge for all business owners after heavy social distancing restrictions were lifted due to job losses, as one participant stated, ”people are not working and they do not have money to come to the salons.” Survey respondents with brick and mortar businesses in personal care services (hair salons and spas) owned by Hispanic, White and Asian women were more likely to have their brick and mortar locations opened with restrictions after the pandemic than Black-owned businesses in the same industry (hair salons). Despite these challenges the tone of one participant is unwavering.

“In order to continue working and keep the bills paid, I turned my apartment into a salon by day and living space at night. It’s working now, but it’s time to separate the two and expand business.”

Still some business owners have lost their brick and mortar locations and need assistance in reestablishing their salons.

“It has been insanely challenging. I shifted by focusing on different revenue streams… But, my salon still needs capital to get back on our feet.”

Mothers with the added stressors of school closures and losing child care, expressed the challenges of working full-time in their businesses and simultaneously providing child care and support:

“Much of my business depends on (having) childcare. With children still out of school, this makes it difficult to plan and take on new clients and do my work.”

“…struggled to have the time to push the business to its fullest potential without schools/daycares open.”

Time constraints were also challenges for non-mother business owners, citing struggling to find the time to implement new marketing strategies, while also engaging in core business operations and lengthy applications for pandemic relief. Business owners in childcare and educational services experienced different impacts. Overwhelmly, childcare providers had positive outlooks in supporting their local communities child care needs – serving essential workers and adapting to protocols to remain safe and healthy. One participant stated:

“Just a little disappointed on the entire process on how much small businesses give to the DC area and the support level is not the same.”

One participant, a substitute teacher, discussed her struggles with job loss and health that greatly decreased her household’s income, being able to navigate only through her husband’s ability to work. 

Financial Capital and Lending

Capital needs for the business owners were primarily centered on general operating expenses: equipment, marketing and payroll. Equipment needs included a broad range of material supplies and machinery for business operations: inventory, sewing machines, laptops, prototype creation for start-ups, mobile trucks (for food, transport and other personal care services), and Point of Sale technology. Technology needs also included website infrastructure, application and software development. Payroll needs “to hire new employees,” “to cover salaries,” “pay the owner…me” and “paying contractors” were common among the responses. Other funding needs included access to capital to cover rent, obtain rental space, renovations, licensing and to fund current and/or new programs/production.

Forty-two percent of respondents had not sought support of any kind. Challenges with accessing capital was a key theme. Business owners who had not applied for a PPP loan cited a lack of accounting support, financial statements, legal knowledge and lengthy applications as key reasons for not pursuing this relief.

Brick and mortars in D.C. struggled to pay rent, despite policies requiring commercial rental payment plans. With decreased revenue, owners are still struggling with overhead expenses:

“Our landlord has not decreased our rent despite our decrease in sales – nor have other service providers. I understand that they all have bills to pay but it seems unethical to profit off of small businesses right now. I wish there was a policy to address this issue.”

For other owners as mentioned in the previous section, this meant closing their physical location. Home-based businesses also struggled with household rent, juggling work responsibilities within their business, negotiating contracts and creating an online presence while also trying to navigate relief, and for one business owner, “poverty and interdependence.” Two participants noted utilizing pandemic unemployment assistance (PUA) to navigate loss of revenue.

“Thank God for PUA. This has literally kept my EDWOSB (Economically Disadvantaged Women-Owned Small Business) alive.”

The lack of access to capital was the key reason for many owners’ inability to expand their business by hiring new employees, or purchasing technology needs and/or maintaining their website.

“Black women business owners are at a sharp disadvantage when it comes to accessing capital to continue or improve business operations. We need more viable opportunities to succeed in our entrepreneurial endeavors.”

“I am having a very difficult time rounding my business. I really want to find a good location where I can have customers but I don’t have money.”

“I am in need of support to get my business off the ground. I have done a significant amount of work on my own with my own money but now I need assistance to take me to the next level so that I can begin to identify clients/organizations and bring in revenue.”

Due to the inability to find affordable warehousing space in D.C, a woman-owned e-commerce business will have to move her business out of D.C. She feels that home-based businesses have less opportunities to grow. During the last year, her business grew from producing a few thousand to hundreds of thousand orders, but not having access to affordable warehousing space in D.C, she had to outsource space and labor to scale her business. As she noted:

“My business has grown rapidly since the pandemic, which I am really thankful for. But trying to physically scale a business in D.C. is really challenging. I have been looking for nearly a year for a warehouse space I can afford and I haven’t found anything.

In addition to the difficulties of low cash reserves, discouragement from seeking financial products was also an issue:

“The SBA lender match tool showed that I matched with 11 lenders but none actually reached out to me. Going to the lenders directly, I was told over and over (by White male bankers) that I shouldn’t apply for the loan. That I should stay small longer – share a space, work at night in someone else’s space, etc. That I wasn’t ready.”

Respondents that were able to adapt to online ordering or services experienced increased demands and had the ability to remain in business with assistance from the PPP, grants and other COVID-19 related relief. A small number of businesses received state grants, and there were no discussions of Washington, D.C., grant programs being utilized by any of the participants in the long answer responses. Despite applying for and receiving assistance administered by the SBA, a women-owned transportation company had 35 paid employees prior to March 2020 and in February 2021, her employee count dropped to 10. Her business still needs additional capital to cover the cost of equipment payments.

Location and Business Support Providers

Discussions directly mentioning the District, Virginia and Maryland had varying responses. Business owners mentioning D.C. were on two ends of the spectrum. Some owners cited a lack of affordability and resources to support small businesses. One business in the tourism industry expressed their disappointment in the inaccessibility to outdoor spaces as their primary frustration. The majority of comments about D.C. were not pandemic related, but concerned needing capital support, resources and information to clarify business registrations, licensing and insurance requirements for different business types. These issues expanded to challenges with the DC Department of Consumer and Regulatory Affairs processes, associated registration and licensing fees. The exceptions were four participants, two who are seeking to move their established business to D.C. One said, “I feel very supported by my city,” and another, the owner of a public health firm, said: “my city needs me.” One business owner in real estate discussed gentrification as being the impending factor to her decrease in business, providing affordable homes to minority families:

“(I) witnessed well over 100 businesses…..go out of business over the last 10 years due to gentrification and escalating lease costs and housing prices up to over $1 million dollars which most minorities cannot afford…I have previous clients who come back to me or send their friends and children – Thank God.”

Many owners discussed being “grateful” for support and being able to “stay afloat.” Business support providers and community support was a common theme from respondents, citing that they remained open and saw their businesses as providing supportive services within their community:

“Without the help of the DCWBC, I would still be contemplating my idea.”

“I have been very grateful for the free (training and networking) webinars offered through the DCSBDC and the GWHCC. I also benefited from a consult through the DCSBDC.”

“The community has been quite supportive and expressing gratitude for us remaining open.”

Maryland respondents mentioned the Maryland’s Women’s Business Center and their gratitude for receiving business counseling services, two respondents directly mentioned state of Maryland grant programs.

“Not knowing about funding opportunities like the Maryland Small Business COVID-19 Emergency Relief Loan Grant Fund until the application deadlines passed was frustrating. That said, I am very grateful to have received the two PPP loans and the Prince George’s County COVID-19 Business Relief Fund.”

“Sales and revenues have plummeted to below 1/2 of typical revenues. I have been able to operate and stay open thanks to the PPP, SBA loans and many grants by Maryland Department of Commerce and Montgomery County’s Economic Development departments.”

One respondent directly mentioned a Virginia county grant program.

“We are new business owners after more than 30 years of federal government service. My husband is a veteran and I am a female. We are grateful for the support we’ve received from the Vienna Business Association, SCORE, and the Fairfax County RISE Grant program.”