Each morning I get a coffee and hard-boiled egg from the Working Girls’ Cafe, a small business near our office. The owner, Ajmal, started it in 1994 when he moved from Afghanistan. He gives me a free coffee every once in a while. Nice guy.
This morning Ajmal told me business is down 50% this week and he expects it to get worse. “But we’ve survived worse and came out stronger,” he said.
This corona thing is scary. I’m not really afraid of getting sick — statistically, I’ll be fine. It’s the uncertainty of everything. That’s what’s jarring.
But when I get out of my stupid little internet bubble and talk with people like Ajmal, I feel inspired. The Hustle audience is more ambitious than the average person, so not everyone will relate to this. But where there’s turmoil, a lack of resources, a lost battle — there’s an advantage, unseen opportunity, and a way to turn sh*t into gold.
I don’t know what the advantage is right now. But it’s there. And if we stay on the offense and look hard enough, we’ll find it.
As a community, let’s try to lean into this moment. And if you have ideas, I have a Twitter thread here. Tell me what you’re seeing out there.