The Power of Resources

Now more than ever, the small business community must rally to utilize resources and share useful tips as they navigate around the blockades that COVID-19 has put up. 

The Alliance to Save the American Dream continues to compile resources to help business owners and their employees maintain their physical and economic health during the pandemic. We recognize that your time is valuable and this is where we seek to guide you through the process of pinpointing resources specific to your needs. Our resource page will provide you with a platform to connect with agencies that are ready to help.

The days where resource planning was an utter nightmare are over. Our resources page will allow you to craft a plan to ensure that your time is being delegated efficiently and effectively. And this section (and our 2nd core goal) will only grow in the coming weeks and months and get better as we offer not only more resources but also content that dials into certain and critical fundamental essentials that nearly every small business owner may need. 

In 2019, the Small Business Administration reported that there were 30.7 million small businesses in the United States. These very businesses drive economic growth, create jobs in their respective communities and face countless challenges that they fight to overcome. When the U.S. became the new epicenter of the virus, over 70 percent of those small businesses shut down in March, according to a study conducted by Facebook. Owners across the country put every effort forward to stay afloat, but without clear guidance from states and websites that were difficult to navigate, some felt alone in their battle. 

So let us be the extra pair of hands you need. We are here to help. For more information, please visit our Resources page to access more information and the links to readily available partners, resources, and experts. 

The Alliance to Save the American Dream is a non-profit organization dedicated to three core goals.

1. Develop an Ideas Factory to give small businesses and industries a centralized place to share innovative ideas that must be considered.

2. Build a unique Resources portal for small businesses to go to for answers or resources that address a wide range of issues or challenges.

3. Offer a new networking opportunity for small business owners to connect while also giving them a platform to share their own personal stories.

For more information, visit savetheamericandream.com. 

NATIONAL SMALL BUSINESS WEEK AND BEYOND

It’s National Small Business Week.

America was founded by risk-takers. Men and women who identified the opportunity – to gain independence – and seized that opportunity for all it was worth. The cost was great but the reward is still savored.

Today, small business owners continue that tradition of seizing upon opportunity and becoming independent.

This week we celebrate all small business owners and their enterprises that have made America a leader in nearly every industry. And let us not forget that almost every large corporation once started small.

As part of this week’s purpose, small business owners are on Capitol Hill lobbying for more COVID-19 relief. At the Alliance to Save the American Dream, we have one main objective: To save our small businesses, the lifeblood of our economy.

Our team is committed to delivering ready to use Resources and Ideas that are best suited to weather not just COVID but any other crisis that is on the horizon. We are calling on all small businesses to join our growing membership so that we might unite as a collective voice for the sake of preserving our way of life in this land of the opportunity.

The Alliance to Save the American Dream is a non-profit organization dedicated to three core goals.

1. Develop an Ideas Factory to give small businesses and industries a centralized place to share innovative ideas that must be considered.

2. Build a unique Resources portal for small businesses to go to for answers or resources that address a wide range of issues or challenges.

3. Offer a new networking opportunity for small business owners to connect while also giving them a platform to share their own personal stories.

For more information, visit savetheamericandream.com. 

“If Our Businesses Fail, America Fails” – Small Businesses Call for Unity, Action in Powerful New Video

A growing coalition of small business owners calling themselves the Alliance to Save the American Dream (ASAD) has released a powerful new video detailing the financial and emotional toll they have faced as a result of the COVID-19 lockdowns. The video, set over solemn footage of empty, devastated businesses, is narrated by entrepreneurs who obeyed early lockdown guidelines, hoping to flatten the curve.  Even after doing all the right things, they now face financial ruin and the devastation of their dreams, which they’d spent decades or even lifetimes building.

“We don’t want people to die, but we also need to know how to survive,” says the video’s narration, as countless empty locations flash across the screen. The video ends with the most important and declarative point, “If our businesses fail, America fails.” 

The Alliance’s co-Founder and President, Victor Rogers, owner of a marketing and brand development business that aids in event promotion and creative in Northern Virginia notes, “we have to be part of finding solutions because we know our businesses and industries better than any politician or policy wonk.” 

These business owners hope that, by starting this new alliance, they can finally get some answers on how to survive these unprecedented times, answers they say are not forthcoming from a government they feel has largely abandoned them.

Virginia-based filmmaker, Colin Mason, co-Founder of the Alliance added, “I was appalled when I realized that, even though they’ve been talking big talk, the government wasn’t actually that concerned about the small businesses who were dropping like flies all around us. And all I could think of was a video, some way to amplify their voices and make sure they knew they weren’t alone.” 

Mason added, “Victor and I have been working together for clients’ digital brand awareness needs for over five years now so we were used to our mission-based focus and we just knew that this needed to be something more than just a video.”

“The unique thing about the Alliance to Save the American Dream is that we are not some Think Tank or policy experts. We just know the business mindset and communities we serve and we have a vested interest in keeping our doors open not just for our livelihoods but also for our economy and for the families of our employees. We realized that guidance is going to have to come from the one resource we still have: each other. Until now, there wasn’t a centralized place to do that,” Rogers noted.

Rogers also noted that “this isn’t the last pandemic and, again, we need to be part of the conversation.” Unity is the only thing that will solve these issues right now and the Alliance to Save the American Dream has the potential to be a big part of that solution.

The three main goals of the Alliance to Save the American Dream:

1. Develop an Ideas Factory to give businesses and industries a centralized place to share innovative ideas that must be considered to sustain business operations and then sharing those ideas within the conversation and for policy leaders; 

2. Build a unique Resources portal for small businesses to go to for answers or resources that address a wide range of issues or challenges;

3. Offer new networking opportunities for small business owners while also giving them a platform to share their own personal stories.

The Alliance to Save the American Dream’s mission statement and other details, including the video that started it all, can be found at www.savetheamericandream.com 

The Story of the Alliance – Part 1

This past spring, I lost $20,000 in one week. It was one of the worst weeks of my life.

I own a video production studio in the Northern Virginia area called Mirandum Pictures. We’re small, but we’ve spent the last 15 years making amazing commercials, music videos, short films and more. I’ve surrounded myself with a team of amazing people and we’ve gotten the chance to film in beautiful locations all over the world, and meet incredible people, some very famous, others not.

And then COVID-19 happened.

I’ve never seen anything like it before in my life. That first week alone, a documentary trip to Jordan was canceled 3 days before our flight was supposed to take off. Then another mini-documentary canceled. Neither had any choice: lockdowns meant that no one could travel or gather in groups to work.

And that was just during that one week.

The days that followed were like a nightmare: every morning brought a wave of new cancellations. Major organizations who had signed up for high-end gala videos suddenly found themselves without a gala to show them at. The studio we relied on to shoot commercials in was forced to close its doors to the public. Reliable clients suddenly didn’t know if they were going to survive a long lockdown, and they quickly slashed advertising budgets. Within days, our revenue stream flatlined. And there was literally nothing we could do about it.

If you own a small business, this is a familiar story.

As the weeks turned into months, the one thing became clear: I was surrounded by small businesses who were facing the struggle of their lives–and no one was listening to them.

The government wasn’t listening. There was some money for business loans, but it was not even remotely adequate and it was quickly snapped up by larger businesses with armies of accountants at their disposal. Most of my colleagues received nothing, or close to it.

The news wasn’t listening. News outlets focused on the pandemic itself, and that’s understandable. But as a result, small businesses were failing at a catastrophic rate, and very little attention was being given to them. Something deeply tragic was happening on a national level, and very few were watching.

I couldn’t sit by and watch that happen any longer. So I did the only thing I know how to do: I made a video.

I wanted to give those folks a voice. I didn’t know how far it would reach, but I knew it was important. With a very small crew that, for the most part consisted only of 2 people (myself and Jacob Schwartz, the director of photography who filmed this piece) we visited small business after small business, recording their words and filming them in their eerily empty locations. 

Many of them cried. Most said they were glad of what we were doing, just because they felt like their lives had been turned upside-down and nobody was listening.

But the video was missing something. We had captured the voices of so many small business owners, but what were they asking for? What did they think needed to happen next?

I didn’t have a good answer. But someone else did.

THE NEXT VIRUS IS COMING

Let’s face reality. Our world is full of threats. Some seen and some unseen.

Let’s accept another premise. COVID-19 is not the first dangerous virus and it will not be the last. 

Save the American Dream is based upon the very real thesis that in the next year, three years or 10 years, our world will experience yet another virus that has deadly consequences. 

Can America’s small businesses survive another shutdown? We suggest, no! 

It is therefore our responsibility, as small business owners, as those who have risked our lives and our fortunes to prepare for the next coming virus. We can leave nothing to politicians who have no vested interest in our businesses or, more importantly, in the care that we have for our employees. 

These are not just employees. These are families. Each employee has a family and it is through our ventures that these families gain financial opportunities. It is through our endeavors and small businesses that these employees can become consumers within our society. 

America was founded upon small business owners. Merchants. Farmers. Service providers. All risked for the sake of a better life and for the betterment of our society. 

Our small businesses cannot fail. It is therefore up to us to find the solutions that will keep our doors open and our customers coming back. Our small businesses not only depend upon this but our economy depends upon this.

We are here to help. It is our aim to provide a resource of help and hope for our small business community for the sake of saving their American Dream! 

Join us. Suggest our Resources section to anyone you know who is looking for this hope.

The Alliance to Save the American Dream is a non-profit organization dedicated to three core goals.

1. Develop an Ideas Factory to give small businesses and industries a centralized place to share innovative ideas that must be considered.

2. Build a unique Resources portal for small businesses to go to for answers or resources that address a wide range of issues or challenges.

3. Offer a new networking opportunity for small business owners to connect while also giving them a platform to share their own personal stories.

For more information, visit savetheamericandream.com.