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A day in the life of a small business owner during the COVID-19 pandemic

"I would really strongly encourage you to put your money in your local economy."

The COVID-19 pandemic has completely changed the way Tina Stroh offers classes at her yoga studio, Just Plain Yoga.

The COVID-19 pandemic has completely changed the way Tina Stroh offers classes at her Lemoyne yoga studio, Just Plain Yoga.

“So, the big change for us at the yoga studio has been that we have had to take our classes online. It was either that or nothing at all,” she said.

Although it was stressful to navigate moving her classes online, Stroh called on her background in yoga to help her through the challenge.

“Being an entrepreneur, there’s always that risk that we could lose everything,” she said. “But rather than focusing on a negative outcome, it was how do I positively move in a direction to manage this time period?”

Adding to the uncertainty is the fact that Stroh has an 8-year-old daughter.

“I think that makes things even more uncomfortable for me because as a small business owner, not just a yoga teacher, this is my livelihood. This is how I support my daughter. So, this that adds a whole level of stress,” she said.

Stroh is running her business from home, while also caring for her daughter and helping with schoolwork.

“I had to step back and relax into not being perfect. Just OK, here we are,” Stroh said. “She’s not getting her schoolwork done every day as scheduled. Oh, well. This is this is our life now. Life is messy right now. And it’s OK.”

Looking forward, Stroh is concerned about how and when she’ll be able to reopen. Her yoga studio is part of the last group allowed to reopen under Gov. Tom Wolf’s plan, in the green phase, and it is not clear exactly what reopening a yoga studio would look like.

“Then the question is, are we going to have to wear masks? Because wearing masks in a yoga studio is almost it’s like contraindicated for yoga to put something over your mouth to breathe deeply and get a good, healthy breath,” Stroh said. “Also, are we going to have to have our mats six feet apart? We did just map that out. So, it reduces our class sizes significantly. So that’s going to be a challenge.”

The answers to these questions will determine the future of Stroh’s small business. For now, she is enjoying the unexpected time with her daughter.

“For me, the silver lining has been in my relationship with my daughter that has deepened because of the time we’ve had together. The concentrated time. So, it’s been a time to slow down. I feel like that is a positive,” she said.

While Stroh waits to find out what the future will hold for her small business, she has a plea to the public:  “I would really strongly encourage you to put your money in your local economy. Right now, more than ever before. When I do that, I feel good about that. I feel like I’m going to pay extra for the coffee to buy it down the street from the people that I know, rather than order it online or even from the grocery store. I’m going to pay extra to that small business. So please do that.”


Keira McGuire
Keira McGuire

Keira McGuire is a health reporter and multimedia producer for WITF. She hosts and produces Transforming Health television programs as well as other shows and documentaries for WITF’s Original Productions. McGuire produced the Emmy Award winning series HealthSmart for the last ten years. Keira previously worked at WBFF in Baltimore and WMDT in Salisbury as a reporter and anchor. She’s a graduate of Towson University.

Read more by Keira McGuire