With the pandemic ongoing, businesses are rethinking their plan for recovery. Some companies have been able to get back to business, minimizing further financial impacts, while some companies have been forced to get creative and pivot from their original business model.

We spoke to three of our clients to learn about how they are adapting and powering through these trying times.

Here are their stories:

VidDay Media

VidDay began in 2015 when Denis Devigne, co-founder, wanted to create a video as a birthday gift for a friend. Everyone was blown away about how personal this surprise gift was. His friend's priceless reaction encouraged Denis to make a few more birthday videos for other friends, and they all cried tears of joy.

It's rare to see people consistently react so powerfully to a gift. It sparked the idea that everyone should experience the love and appreciation that these videos generate. But collecting video messages from friends and family and compiling them together proved to be a lot more complicated than anticipated.

So, Denis set off to develop an easy-to-use collaborative video maker for people who have no editing skills. Throughout the next few years, the VidDay team grew with motivated individuals inspired to impact the world positively.

Making people happy is the foundation of the business, so their mission is to make a billion people smile. This means they don’t stop at making videos and have found more ways to make people smile.

Since making a video is an eco-friendly gift, VidDay plants one tree for every video sold to support global reforestation efforts. As global warming becomes more severe, they're reminding people of the real reason we give gifts—to show the people around us we care. And this act of love is done while reducing the carbon footprint.

Additionally, ‘Get Well’ videos are free because support from loved ones can make a difference when fighting through or recovering from an illness.

For years, VidDay was experiencing steady growth, up until March of 2020.

When the pandemic started

When the pandemic started, people began isolating themselves. Events, parties, and ceremonies got canceled, but the world still wanted to celebrate milestones.

VidDay is changing the way online shoppers think about gifts and is giving people a way to come together from a safe distance.

As everyone adjusted to the new norm, VidDay continued to grow at an unprecedented rate. Everyone from A-list celebrities to NFL Hall of Famers, to celebrity chefs, and even federal politicians started using VidDay.

In a few months, VidDay processed over 1 million photos and transcoded over 1 million minutes of video. Their user-base went global and delivered an estimated 1 million + smiles to over 185 countries around the world.

This growth came with its set of challenges. Like many other companies who have experienced a drastic increase in online traffic due to COVID-19, they encountered service disruptions, site outages, and problems with third-party providers. But with a dedicated team and a few nights without sleep, VidDay persevered through the issues, all while keeping customers happy.

Customers would often send powerful reviews, expressing how VidDay’s video gifts helped them through a terrible time. These heartfelt stories would act as reminders for the team and validate what can feel like a crazy endeavor.

Here's a Facebook review they received in April:

“Your services helped more than you could know.

My 78-year old dad went into the hospital w COVID-19 last week. We used VidDay to pull together 5 minutes of "get well" wishes from friends and family. Within 24 hours of starting the process, we had a fully edited video from VidDay.

Since we couldn't see him, the nurses brought him an iPad so he could see all the messages. Within four hours of seeing the videos, his health deteriorated. He went to sleep and never woke up. He passed away the next day.

Thank you for providing a platform for enabling his friends and family to say their goodbyes and let my dad know he wasn't alone”

“Much like our VidDay videos, the magic comes from people coming together to make something great.”

Jeff Laxson, co-founder of Vidday Media: Partnering with ConnectCPA gave us access to a fractional finance team that allowed us to focus on our core competencies. Using a collection of powerful software and API integrations we get a good glimpse into how our company is doing and where we are headed.

Much like our VidDay videos, the magic comes from people coming together to make something great. We're glad ConnectCPA is on our team and we are better because of it.

Today, the business has stabilized, and the team has tripled to keep up with the increased business. The workdays are a lot more enjoyable as they look at new ways to make video-making more exciting.

As we enter into Fall, and what might be phase two of the pandemic, VidDay is ready to help people celebrate special occasions when they can't physically be together.

Find out more about VidDay Media: Website | Instagram | Facebook | Twitter

Your House Fitness

Your House Fitness offers in-home and condo personal training, as well as private training studio. The company caters to the modern client who has a busy schedule and big goals. To help more people get into fitness, Your House Fitness brings the gym to them – this makes working out easier, more convenient, more comfortable, and much more fun.

When the pandemic started

Sergio Pedemonte, CEO of Your House Fitness: During the month of March, I experienced work slowing down for the first time in six years. COVID-19 hit, and I was ready to mentally check out from my 6 AM to 10 PM work schedule.

Due to unforeseen circumstances, I ended up quarantining at my studio for two months, and boy, what a humbling experience that was! I was able to focus on myself without having to think twice about the needs and wants of other people – only my own.

When it came to the business side, we were prepared for this shutdown. As of March, I anticipated Your House Fitness would go 3 to 6 months without making any income. As soon as April rolled around the corner, I put on my entrepreneur hat, and it was time to start planning for services and potential products that not even COVID could ever shutdown.

The first one was migrating to doing virtual training sessions and be more present with media. The second one was getting up to date with building our free online library (exercise tutorials, free PDF workout, Youtube channel, etc.). Lastly, it was time to move into the eCommerce side and start selling fitness equipment with video subscriptions and premium fitness programs.

We even changed our training packages in August in preparation for the possibility of another shutdown. Fast forward to September, we are seeing the light again and are grateful for the experience this was able to teach us.

Find out more about Your House Fitness: Website | Instagram | Facebook | Youtube

Fruit Suite

Fruit Suite was created on the idea that good food fuels good work. With that, Fruit Suite started to help offices create healthy snacking programs where whole foods are chosen over processed foods. Fruit Suite works directly with local farmers and food producers to bring unique and nutritious food into the office.

Over the past three years, Fruit Suite has helped create healthy snacking options for over 200 offices ranging in size from 20 to 2000 employees. Depending on the needs of the office - the programs ranged from drop and go to creating stocked snacking stations.

When the pandemic started

Sean Finlayson, founder of Fruit Suite: As the COVID-19 pandemic unfolded, we transitioned our offices from snacking options to peelable fruit or individually packaged snacks. The closure of offices in mid-March of this year resulted in Fruit Suite losing 100% of its customers over three days.

Without knowing or understanding the impact that COVID-19 would have on our business, we completed a three-day pivot to offer home groceries utilizing the relationships we had built with food producers and farmers in our office building. Through the support of local publications such as Toronto Life and BlogTO we were able to build a customer base quickly, that is still supporting our home grocery business.

We are slowly seeing some return of our office snacking program however the future is not clear as to how that will return. What we are seeing is companies looking to us for ways to support employees while they work at home through gift and snacks boxes. The home grocery business continues to hold and allows us to look forward to working with our old and hopefully new offices as they welcome their staff back.

Find out more about Fruit Suite: Website | Instagram | Facebook

Let's Chat!

Featured