The longest I’ve ever sheltered in place was eight months—eight months without leaving home, without seeing another person, without conducting any business other than day-to-day wit and will survival tasks. I had prepared for it the previous year by purchasing a shitload of supplies including everything from a case of bath soap to dozens of cases of food just in case my little business failed as its startup funds inexorably dwindled. And thanks to the 2008 financial crises—at less than two years into operation—it almost did. While banksters and carmakers deemed too big to fail were receiving massive taxpayer-funded bailouts, small businesses deemed nonexistent enough to matter received nothing as their business prospects and access to small business loans evaporated, especially for one person startups like mine.
Time spent during that stretch focused on learning all I could about emerging technologies I might leverage for success when I finally managed to find another client needing services I could provide. The top emerging technologies at that time were mobile computing devices (smartphones and tablets), The Cloud and related software. People were now carrying powerful computers in their pockets capable of performing a wide array of useful tasks beyond mere voice communication, and they were storing and accessing their most important information in data centers operating 24/7/365 replicated in more than one significantly geographically-spaced, highly secure location. So I got a job providing customer support for these new technologies in order to learn all I could about them and how they were being used. After one year working at that I returned with new funds in pocket and the latest, greatest desktop and tablet computers I could afford to purchase for use while trying to get my tiny little startup restarted as the economy slowly began to recover from damage done by too-big-to-fail banksters and carmakers.
This wit-and-will approach worked and my tiny little too-small-to-matter-for-shit company not only recovered, but continued operating for another six years utilizing those two new pieces of purchased technology and knowledge gained to use them effectively—no taxpayer-funded bailout required—right up to the day I retired. Those were wild, exciting days.
Now another big taxpayer funded bailout is underway to save the entire nation from a virulent contagion spreading like wildfire because too many fools believe its threat is highly exaggerated, if not a hoax. And again only those with wit and will to prepare, adapt and respond to drastic changes coming with uncharted upheaval will survive. Four months into this bout of shelter at home existence I am prepared for at least eight months more, possibly longer if I’m careful. But time is rapidly running out for the unprepared lacking wit and will to survive.
This should be fun.
