What we're doing about Covid/Corona

Hey. Deep breath. Love yourself. It's all going to work out in the end.

I'm a skeptic by nature, and I worry that Covid-19 is overblown. But as someone with a platform- to our customers and our employees, here is what Fringe is doing about Covid.

First, some context.

 I don't know anything you don't know.

In fact, I probably watch/consume less "News" that you do.

I am processing this situation with a couple of thoughts in mind:

1. What, if any, is our social responsibility in this case?
2. How can we help and not hurt?
3. Are there prudent, non-hysterical measures that we should take?
4. Are there things we can do that are, in all cases, good?
5. How can this situation be turned to our advantage? Can we "make lemonade?"

With that in mind, here is what we are doing: 

It seems that "social distancing" is low-cost, and may even help massively.

To that end, Fringe has gone Work-From-Home (WFH) for all non-Ops, non-retail personnel.

We are also temporarily closing our gym (the only FREE gym in the US). I hate to do this, as community is Strength. But sickness is not.

We are considering closing retail- we will be monitoring this situation closely. But our store is not a Starbucks or Apple- with the gym closed, there are not a ton of people hanging out. And we have upped sanitation measures.

I am a contrarian by nature. And I get energy in some ways from being around other people. But I am isolating myself and my family as well. If this is an abundance of caution, so be it. I would suggest you to non-hysterically do the same. I have advised our employees to do so as they can.

Training at home (the Garage Gym Revolution) is our bread and butter. I'll be training in my garage gym. I invite you to train in yours.

This allows you to chase your gains, and still be socially responsible. We'll still be manning our phones, email, and social. Need some encouragement? Hop on our IG, my IG, or our fb. Or even friend me on my personal fb. Let's be a community, online!

But don't forget your local Community Gym. Support them as you can.

If you know me, you know I own a gym, plus have an amazing garage gym, plus train at Atomic Athlete in Austin, plus have a membership to 24hr Fitness.

Community gyms are going to suffer in this Covid, social-isolation craziness. I suggest you keep your membership for a few months, even if you can't attend. Chances are, they've given much to you. This is a chance to give back, if you can. If you can't swing just straight keeping your membership, ask about the gym throwing in some "free" personal training once the "quarantine" wears off.

We're making sure employees suffer minimally due to Covid.

We're keeping our great benefits package for Fringe employees, and adding support for Covid. No Fringe employee should come to work sick or with Covid, and we are supporting our employees with extra PTO on an as-needed.

Try to set some goals for this Covid period.

This is the "lemonade" part. Fringe has never been great at WFH- one goal we have for this period is to maintain and improve our team feeling and productivity while away from the office. Personally, I am still struggling to ride my unicycles- I'll be working on those skills. I've been slowly working on a book. Time to crunch down on that as well.

We're working on supporting our customers and our community through content and connection.

Working out alone in your garage? We can help you find a virtual lifting buddy.

Own a community gym? We can help connect you with other community gym owners for best practices, help, and fellowship.

 Support the rest of your community as you can.

Everything's local in the end. If you're doing ok, can you help your neighbor?

And of course, we are still open and shipping- as long as UPS lets us.

Need more garage gear? Hit us up.

I'm a skeptic (Y2K 2020!), but this is what we're doing. Stay calm, and remember- lift heavy, lift happy 😃

What do you think about the above? Let me know in the comments below.