the next pandemic

We Can’t Afford To Be Ill

I can’t afford to be ill.

I live in Canada.
My stance doesn’t have
anything to do
with the financial costs
of medical care.

It has to do with time.
I don’t have the spare time
to be ill.
I don’t WANT to spend
time being ill.

I have books to write
(products to produce),
businesses to run,
other things I’d prefer
to do.

So I take precautions.
I wear a mask.
I wash my hands.
I improve ventilation
in spaces I occupy
(I have a personal air purifier
I hang on an lanyard
and wear around my neck.)

All of this
takes mere seconds.

I can then focus on other things.

And I save countless days
not being ill.

You and I can’t afford to be ill.

Preventing illness
has a huge return on investment.

Make that investment.

Beauty And Safety

One of my social media friends
loves the KN95 masks
offered by KAZE.

They’re absolutely beautiful,
come in a variety of colors
and…
they help protect her
from COVID, RSV,
Bird Flu
and the other sh*t
floating around.

She can be fashionable
AND safe.

KAZE is a business
that boomed
during the pandemic.

What other people
saw as a medical necessity
the founders of KAZE
saw as potential luxury good.

There are plenty
of products
we don’t yet know
we need.

Supply one of them.

Using Boredom To Your Advantage

There is a reason,
I suspect,
that media and leaders
are talking about Bird Flu now,
before it shifts
to human to human transmission.

And I don’t think
that reason is preparedness.

I believe leaders
are leveraging the tendency
for people to become bored,
to no longer worry
about threats
after a passage of time.

In a month or two,
bird flu will become old news.
It won’t interest people
because we will have talked about it
for a while.

When human to human transmission happens
and the sickness and dying occurs
in larger numbers,
there won’t be a push
to put protections in place
that might disrupt business.

Business builders
in the publishing industry
used this same tactic
to employ AI
for cover art, editing, writing.

There was big outrage
at first.
Readers then got bored
and moved on.
The publishing industry
is now rolling out
AI everything
and there is no pushback.

Realize that people
bore easily.
Use that
to your advantage.

Masks And Hand Sanitizer Are Here To Stay

With Monkeypox ramping up
and COVID not at all ramping down,
it is essential
that businesses,
including the small businesses
you and I are building,
attempt
to keep customers
and employees safe.

The easiest way
to do that
is to have hand sanitizer
and masks always available
at the front door.

Keep those containers
filled up.

Factor those expenses
into your financials.

Assume you will supply
masks and hand sanitizer
forever.

Because you likely WILL
do that.

These are the bare minimum
now
for businesses
going forward.

And they convey
that you care.