Flexibility, Resilience and Pushing Forward
Image by Mike Dresher
How are you?
“Fine.”
Anything else?
We typically don’t add the second question to our habitual greeting and response, though we might consider giving others and ourselves the opportunity to share. Our answers these days are more complex than before. We all want to be resilient. But the path ahead is not simply racing back to exactly where we left off and hitting the accelerator. JogAlong’s response is to be flexible, to adapt and then to keep pushing forward.
How is JogAlong? Some positives and some challenges.
Interest in JogAlong has increased significantly over the last four months.
With health clubs temporarily closed and all of us feeling cooped up, people have been looking for opportunities and dreaming about how to be outside. Under stay at home orders, about 68% of us are less likely to go to the gym, and 49% of us are likely to avoid the gym at least for awhile after restrictions are lifted. We do not know what the long term percentages will be, but we are continuing to build our position to help people exercise outside.
Our suppliers are coming back online.
The last time I wrote about JogAlong’s new office, I mentioned I should have been back for supplier visits at the end of January. That has not happened and may not for months to come, so we adapt. Already, we have received two shipments of parts to update our prototype. We are fortunate that our relationships had already been built with suppliers and manufacturing partners, solidified with numerous face-to-face visits over the past couple of years. In my experience, things happen faster when you are visiting in person, but we are able to work this way and will continue to move toward testing, certification and our first production order.
Financially, it’s a challenging time.
As a start-up with no revenue, JogAlong does not qualify for recent small business assistance. The delays and extended timeline have forced us to revamp how to make our cash reserves stretch until the next milestone. With great appreciation, I am proud to say, our JogAlong team has been extremely supportive and flexible. They are all experts in their field and have been generous with their time and terms.
Support from you keeps us pushing forward
Your interest and desire to be outside with your family greatly contribute to our motivation to drive on. Thank you for your continued support.
Everyone is pitching in.
With social distancing, and road races being cancelled or postponed, our opportunities for photo shoots for this update were limited. Since, like many of you, I have been working from home, Piper (aka Sweets), my Boston Terrier, has done her best to pitch in. Every little bit helps. We will get there.
Take care.
