If You are Going Through Hell, Keep Going

That line is from Winston Churchill. He knew what he was talking about. His time as leader of the UK during the war with Germany wasn’t a walk in the park. It makes the last eight months here in the US look like a weekend at the sea shore. Bombs were falling every day for over a year. The German high command couldn’t believe that after throwing everything they had at the hapless Brits, they didn’t surrender.

I’m not saying that the battle we are having with the Corona Virus and the rioting in our cities has been wonderful. But the hand wringing and whining we hear daily is getting a little tiresome. Each of us have had to deal with some aspect of the troubles.

Every one of you had your challenges and faced them head on. You can see, I think, that the end is in sight, but you will always remember the time you spent alone, a time no zoom call or telecon would replace. You knew what you had to do and you did it.

PT is no exception. It started in March when we were forced to cancel the Parking Industry Exhibition just three weeks before it opened. Then, like other members of our industry, we faced three solid months of almost zero income. We were able, unlike so many others, to keep all our staff employed and at work through those months of lockdown and zoom calls.

We are fortunate that none of our staff got physically ill, but only through their intestinal fortitude did we survive the emotional stress brought on by changes in how we went about our work. We had just hired two new staff less than a month before the virus hit. They were in sales. Think about their frustration having to make sales calls and knowing that the person you were calling just might not be employed there any more.

We called and spoke to each exhibitor at PIE, explaining how we were handling the cancellation. Out of nearly 150 exhibitors, we got only a handful of pushbacks. Virtually all understood and worked with us as we transitioned to PIE 2021. Of that we are so grateful.

Like our brothers and sisters in the parking industry, we spent months sitting with banks and vendors, working out solutions to common problems. We became experts at dealing with the SBA and that moving target called the PPP. If I never talk to another government bureaucrat it will be too soon. How many times did we explain to someone who never ran a business or made a payroll that we needed just a hand to get over the hump? Why? You weren’t profitable the last few months, they would say. There is a pandemic on, we would respond, it’s in all the papers.

I have never been more proud of a group of people in my life. They went above and beyond. They fearlessly went where angels feared to tread. My heartfelt thanks go out to Marcy, Astrid, Kelley, Sue, Jordan, Shelly, Melissa, Robyn, Romina, Carla and our newbies, Marilyn and Brian. These people are the best.  Without them, there would be no Parking Today Media.

Each one of them, when asked about the past few months, would tell you that it was our customers and our readers that made survival possible. Without your constant understanding and support, the road would have been unpassable. Not only is the PT team the best, but so are you.

We all went through Hell, and Kept Walking.

JVH