As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to keep families homebound and non-essential businesses shut down, business leaders have been forced to make some tough decisions. We polled business leaders from across the U.S. to find out what measures they’re taking and how they’re feeling about the future.
At SoapBoxSample, we’ve been conducting research aimed at understanding American’s attitudes, perceptions and awareness of COVID-19, throughout every phase of the pandemic.
We recently surveyed 201 business leaders (including owners, managers, and sole proprietors), April 2 – 3, 2020, to learn how COVID-19 has or will affect their businesses. Among key findings, 80% of respondents said they had to make changes to the salary, employment status or daily operations of their business due to COVID-19. Among those who said they had to make changes, 52% noted that the most affected change was to their daily operations. Emotions expressed in the survey ranged from fear to anger to hope.
“Depending on how long the pandemic lasts, it could destroy our business in totality.”
“Until the restrictions are lifted, I can’t open the business again. The business had only been in operation for 6 months when the virus started, so it will be difficult to start up again. Lack of funds will be the biggest difficulty.”
However, not everyone had such a grim view. Some business owners are looking at it from a positive perspective, and some noted their opportunity to capitalize on this unique moment in history and strategize for the long term.
“I am a motion graphic artist so I believe the affects will be positive. More companies now will see the value in having their operations be more virtual and my skill set will help with that.”
“In the long term, my company will be larger. I am buying distressed businesses and will profit from many aspects of the crisis.”
A subsequent SoapBoxSample poll fielded April 2 – 3, 2020, measured Americans’ perceptions of when the world would “get back to normal” after COVID-19. Among 409 US residents, 59% said between 1-6 months, while 19% think it will be a year or more. Some of those surveyed expressed more uplifting sentiments about the future.
“I think once everything is contained we can go back to normal and this experience overall will make us all more aware and will have a positive impact in the sense that we will all be more careful.”
“We, as a nation, will overcome this, just as we did other catastrophes, such as 9/11.”
To learn more and read other research in our COVID-19 series, visit https://www.soapboxsample.com/blog/.
