Inside The Booth owners Kate and Steve Austin. Source: supplied.
On Friday I read this article about helping small businesses and local communities in SmartCompany and it brought me to tears for all the right reasons.
My husband Steve and I own In The Booth. We are a photo booth rental company with franchise locations across Australia. We started in our garage in 2009; We worked hard and it grew.
An atomic bomb called COVID-19 landed in mid-March 2020, and I’m bold enough to say that few have been as close to the epicenter as the wedding and events industry.
Eighteen months ago, when our industry was instantly in turmoil, most suppliers postponed our customers’ events at no charge to the customer. Customers who said, “We understand it’s not your fault, but it’s not ours either” was a conversation we had hundreds of times when a deposit refund was requested because “we don’t even have their event have carried out “.
To explain our industry a little, the availability of dates is king. A couple selects the date for the wedding, books their location and appropriate suppliers. We will then fix this date after receiving the deposit and accept the remaining payment before the event. There is nothing groundbreaking there.
Enter COVID-19 where bookings are infrequent, postponements often, no income and customer support requirements are high. Every day, a wedding and event provider receives dozens of calls or emails from highly stressed couples who need urgent responses about date changes and refunds. We had no choice but to reduce our team to the bone, continue to look after our customers and franchise owners as best we can, and keep telling each other: “This has to come to an end”.
An industry that has become inoperable
But it’s not over. It’s gotten a lot worse since last week. I spoke personally to a bride who was getting her hair and makeup done when the Brisbane announcement was made. I spoke to a bride this morning due to get married in a week’s time who has already postponed once and is very upset that she cannot get a refund.
It is more than stressful for our couples. Since the end of JobKeeper, we have been living an endless nightmare for suppliers without significant government support. We work the weeks to support customers. On the weekends we take care of the rest of our bookings under constantly changing and confusing square meter rules and unhappy people who have pushed their events under the most stressful circumstances.
“But what about government support?” We are often asked. Some government assistance has been offered when states are blocked, yes. The problem is, weddings and events are affected by every state lockdown. A Melbourne wedding company loses bookings when Queensland locks up because Queensland guests cannot attend the Melbourne wedding. A Perth wedding company (virtually unaffected by lockdowns, you’d think) will lose business if the bride’s family cannot enter the state for her wedding due to the New South Wales lockdown.
A lock in any state means customers will panic (at least) over the next two months and call to reschedule their events. The whole conversation starts all over again between a dozen event providers trying to work with their couples to find a new wedding date.
These government announcements of the past few months have destroyed the reconstruction work that we have painstakingly rebuilt. We hit the “move” button more times than we can count, and that goes in the thousands. We have couples on the third and fourth “go” to hold their weddings. As an industry, we have thousands of future events in the books that we dearly want to celebrate with their friends and family.
I will go so far as to say that our industry is currently inoperable. Yet those of us who are left are doing our best to keep our lights on and answer the phone for the thousands of customers we have postponed on our booking systems.
This line from Eloise Keating’s article hit hard:
“Small business owners are exhausted. They have adjusted and swiveled and pulled out all the stops in the last 18 months, just to keep your head above water. “
And the:
“You sponsor sports clubs and events. They collect donations for local charities. They band together when the chips are down. “
This is the events industry in a nutshell. Not a day goes by without us receiving requests for charity events, local school support, and countless other great causes.
Companies like us need these events. We create incredible celebrations for a living. One of the best parts of life is partying – our weddings, our milestone birthdays, our corporate successes. These celebrations are the reason our business exists, but have been classified as “not material” by our government for the past 18 months.
In The Booth, owners Kate and Steve Austin in happier times. Source: supplied.
We’re not doing well
I’ve started to see the familiar “RU OK?” Day information appears for the next RU OK day on the 9th of September. I know that if I say no, I can speak to our collection of federal and state governments on behalf of the entire events industry. No, we are not doing well. In fact, many of us are in dire straits and haven’t received anything that looks like a paycheck since March.
All we want is to be able to work again and to regain confidence in our market. If we continue to be told not to work, we need support – real support – and we need it now.
Personally, I can no longer see the press conference when new restrictions or bans are announced. Weddings and events or “gatherings” are usually one of the top constraints, but not a single government package has been tailored to our industry?
That’s the thing, our industry is really a “small business”. We are not Qantas or the construction industry. We are stylists and DJs and rent out companies and musicians and photo booths and videographers and venues. We don’t fit into any government category and we understand that. But we think 18 months of business destruction is worth creating a category.
I come from a network of family and friends with small businesses. During that time I have seen many of these companies flourish, which is more than fantastic. Above all, my family and friends in trades such as air conditioning and construction have seen phenomenal growth. I am really excited when a small business owner is doing well – our country is built on that, as Eloise said:
“It is true that small businesses are the backbone of the economy, employing millions of Australians make a significant contribution to economic activity. “
Unfortunately, my article today is not written due to a COVID success story. It is with shock, exhaustion, and utter dismay that nothing seems to be changing. How long do we have to hold out?
Thanks again for the article last week. In this darkness it helps a lot to know that there are still some people out there who understand.