{"id":95,"date":"2020-04-11T16:57:48","date_gmt":"2020-04-11T16:57:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/entrepreneurship.allierebecca.bergbuilds.domains\/blog\/?p=95"},"modified":"2020-04-11T16:57:48","modified_gmt":"2020-04-11T16:57:48","slug":"the-pandemic-and-p-o-w-u-r","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/entrepreneurship.allierebecca.bergbuilds.domains\/blog\/uncategorized\/the-pandemic-and-p-o-w-u-r\/","title":{"rendered":"The Pandemic and P.O.W.U.R."},"content":{"rendered":"\n

P.O.W.U.R. is especially vulnerable to the shutdown of the economy because like many other niche businesses it only thrives if people, consumers, have time on their hands to spend money on educational activities and products they are passionate about such as improving the environment (local waterways). However, if times are hard, the first and foremost economic expenditure for an individual will be on food, healthcare, and other essential livelihood products. P.O.W.U.R. is a nonprofit and unfortunately will probably not land as a top priority for families, community members, and students during a time of need. I am not blaming individuals or feeling sorry for myself as I understand the situation at hand. I would not expect community members to think about recycling plastics as their number one concern right now. However, this does highlight just how fragile this business is and how important a thriving market is for a nonprofit to survive. It is key for consumers and individuals to have both time and money on their hands to spend on nonprofit initiatives and environmentally friendly products and workshops. Sponsorships is another vulnerability of P.O.W.U.R. as the nonprofit depends immensely on this revenue stream. However, if big businesses are struggling to maintain their own profits, the amount allotted to donating to nonprofits will be diminished and thus heavily impact P.O.W.U.R.\u2019s ability to gain and sustain consistent sponsars.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If I had launched my business 6 months ago I think the reality of my business would be strikingly different for obvious reasons. For one, the market was in a great place as demonstrated though countless companies focusing on plastic pollution skyrocketing in the global market. Both consumers and potential partners showed great interest in a nonprofit like P.O.W.U.R as seen through my prior customer and partner research. If I could have started off the venture with a high cash flow and revenue stream from the workshops and products, this money may have been vital in keeping the nonprofit afloat during the quarantine when profits would decline exponentially. Launching my business 6 months ago in the best case scenario would include a positive consumer response and demand for more workshops and products. Exceeding the sales expectations in the best case scenario would allow higher profits which could be used to allow the nonprofit to survive the huge reduction in sales during this quarantine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 I think solidifying partnerships with environmental education centers and communities would have been an ideal step to take 6 months ago. In addition, it would be just as important to ensure I found sponsors who would be able to continue to make a profit during this pandemic. This is essential since this revenue stream would be able to support P.O.W.U.R. during the hard economic times to come. If I could have foreseen the virus occurring in the future, I would have taken other potential measures such as creating products that could be used during the quarantine (bowls and cellphone cases are not crucial during a pandemic). I know that families are stuck at home with kids constantly running around, hyper and bored and needing activities to keep them occupied. A product I would have created 6 months ago would be designing first designing a mold for making puzzle pieces and then making puzzles out of recycled plastic. This product may be in more of a demand during the crisis and provide eco conscious community members and families a product they deem necessary during quarantine. For the most part however, P.O.W.U.R. is vulnerable to the complete shutdown of the economy since it depends on human interaction. This component is found throughout most of the nonprofits activities including the collecting of plastic, creating the products, and education during workshops. If the people ordered online already made recycled plastic products that could be shipped to their houses this could refrain from person to person contact. Unfortunately, a nonprofit will be vulnerable to a complete shutdown on the economy regardless of the measures I could have taken 6 months ago. P.O.W.U.R. would be in the same sinking boat like thousands of other startups. I understand why so many people are hesitant in starting up a small venture. This new reality has shed light on these inherent risks. When you are a small business, you consequently take on the risks of sinking in an ocean if a large storm approaches whereas other large cruise ships and tankers have safety boats and other lifelines to rely on to survive the harsh winds and crashing waves. However, I will not lose hope that the smaller sail boats can come out the other side and see the sunshine and calm waters once again as hardworking captains and co captains often times have the skills to ride out whatever the ocean blowsJ<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

P.O.W.U.R. is especially vulnerable to the shutdown of the economy because like many other niche businesses it only thrives if people, consumers, have time on their hands to spend money on educational activities and products they are passionate about such as improving the environment (local waterways). However, if times are hard, the first and foremost economic expenditure for an individual will be on food, healthcare, and other essential livelihood products. P.O.W.U.R. is a nonprofit and unfortunately will probably not land as a top priority for families, community members, and students during a time of need. I am not blaming individuals or feeling sorry for myself as I understand the situation at hand. I would not expect community members to think about recycling plastics as their number one concern right now. However, this does highlight just how fragile this business is and how important a thriving market is for a nonprofit to survive. It is key for consumers and individuals to have both time and money on their hands to spend on nonprofit initiatives and environmentally friendly products and workshops. Sponsorships is another vulnerability of P.O.W.U.R. as the nonprofit depends immensely on this revenue stream. However, if big businesses are struggling to maintain their own profits, the amount allotted to donating to nonprofits will be diminished and thus heavily impact P.O.W.U.R.\u2019s ability to gain and sustain consistent sponsOrs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If I had launched my business 6 months ago I think the reality of my business would be strikingly different for obvious reasons. For one, the market was in a great place as demonstrated though countless companies focusing on plastic pollution skyrocketing in the global market. Both consumers and potential partners showed great interest in a nonprofit like P.O.W.U.R as seen through my prior customer and partner research. If I could have started off the venture with a high cash flow and revenue stream from the workshops and products, this money may have been vital in keeping the nonprofit afloat during the quarantine when profits would decline exponentially. Launching my business 6 months ago in the best case scenario would include a positive consumer response and demand for more workshops and products. Exceeding the sales expectations in the best case scenario would allow higher profits which could be used to allow the nonprofit to survive the huge reduction in sales during this quarantine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00a0I think solidifying partnerships with environmental education centers and communities would have been an ideal step to take 6 months ago. In addition, it would be just as important to ensure I found sponsors who would be able to continue to make a profit during this pandemic. This is essential since this revenue stream would be able to support P.O.W.U.R. during the hard economic times to come. If I could have foreseen the virus occurring in the future, I would have taken other potential measures such as creating products that could be used during the quarantine (bowls and cellphone cases are not crucial during a pandemic). I know that families are stuck at home with kids constantly running around, hyper and bored and needing activities to keep them occupied. A product I would have created 6 months ago would be designing first designing a mold for making puzzle pieces and then making puzzles out of recycled plastic. This product may be in more of a demand during the crisis and provide eco conscious community members and families a product they deem necessary during quarantine. For the most part however, P.O.W.U.R. is vulnerable to the complete shutdown of the economy since it depends on human interaction. This component is found throughout most of the nonprofits activities including the collecting of plastic, creating the products, and education during workshops. If the people ordered online already made recycled plastic products that could be shipped to their houses this could refrain from person to person contact. Unfortunately, a nonprofit will be vulnerable to a complete shutdown on the economy regardless of the measures I could have taken 6 months ago. P.O.W.U.R. would be in the same sinking boat like thousands of other startups. I understand why so many people are hesitant in starting up a small venture. This new reality has shed light on these inherent risks. When you are a small business, you consequently take on the risks of sinking in an ocean if a large storm approaches whereas other large cruise ships and tankers have safety boats and other lifelines to rely on to survive the harsh winds and crashing waves. However, I will not lose hope that the smaller sail boats can come out the other side and see the sunshine and calm waters once again as hardworking captains and co captains often times have the skills to ride out whatever the ocean blows:)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

P.O.W.U.R. is especially vulnerable to the shutdown of the economy because like many other niche businesses it only thrives if people, consumers, have time on their hands to spend money on educational activities and products they are passionate about such as improving the environment (local waterways). However, if times are hard, the first and foremost…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-95","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/entrepreneurship.allierebecca.bergbuilds.domains\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/95","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/entrepreneurship.allierebecca.bergbuilds.domains\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/entrepreneurship.allierebecca.bergbuilds.domains\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/entrepreneurship.allierebecca.bergbuilds.domains\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/entrepreneurship.allierebecca.bergbuilds.domains\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=95"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/entrepreneurship.allierebecca.bergbuilds.domains\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/95\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":97,"href":"https:\/\/entrepreneurship.allierebecca.bergbuilds.domains\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/95\/revisions\/97"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/entrepreneurship.allierebecca.bergbuilds.domains\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=95"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/entrepreneurship.allierebecca.bergbuilds.domains\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=95"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/entrepreneurship.allierebecca.bergbuilds.domains\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=95"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}