
So at this time a year ago, Covid-19 was beginning to spread to every area of the globe. The U.S. was beginning to regulate quarantine mandates and the world as we know it was changed. This virus struck not only physical impalements and death but also death to many businesses. Small businesses suffered greatly and some closed their doors for good. For me, one of the things I noticed was that pretty much all my spring and summer wedding gigs were either canceled or postponed. So what was I to do? If no money was coming in then it would be a big hit for me. However, having more than one skill or trade is very useful, especially in a pandemic. When quarantine hit, one of the rules in my city was to not have any gatherings of more than 10 people. This is where I received calls from a few local churches. You see, with a church, that's what they do, is gather by the multitudes, and this season had forced many churches to find other means to "gather". That means implementing the use of technology. With my home church, I was hired to film and edit online services. Then live stream the pre-recorded video on a weekly basis. Other churches reached out to me with little to no technological tools for outreach. I installed much audio/visual equipment and implemented systems to get churches online to quickly reach their audiences. It was a cool thing to see people learning and using tools that were new to them. It took a lot of sweat, hard work, learning, researching, filming, and training for many new and faithful clients. Once the fall season came around, weddings began to pick up again with both scheduled and postponed weddings. One new service I added to my services was to provide live streaming for events such as weddings, and virtual conferences. That picked up as a safe method to provide an online experience for guests and staff. Covid-19 restrictions ranged differently depending on where my jobs were. Some venues were light and others were tight, to where if you leave the building you had to get your temperature retested and get sanitized before entering again. I get it, it's safety measures and I and my team did our jobs within the CDC guidelines. We did our social distancing, wore masks, and often sanitized ourselves and the equipment.
Weddings nowadays are smaller, with like ten to thirty guests and usually short in time. This is something I'm still getting used to because I have been so used to large all-day weddings and events.
Now it has been a whole year since it all happened and what Covid-19 taught me was not to lose hope nor give into fear. Yes, I am a man of faith, and I trusted and prayed to God for provision knowing full well God fulfills promises. I also used common sense to take care of my health, offered my services to many, help those in need, and just enjoyed life. I wasn't going to let Covid-19 get me down and keep me still. Not to be insensitive to those who lost love ones but we got to keep moving in our social, mental, and physical conditions. Joy is as medicine. So don't be down but be hopeful, happy, motivated, and inspired to do good and move forward.
For me Covid-19 didn't slow me down, rather it became a catapult to new services and clients. In reality, the Covid-19 season was one of my busiest years yet and I am hopeful for a brighter future.
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