Episode 8 - The Plan To Open
b"This is a message from a small business owner to all Americans. Oregonians especially need to listen up. I have been told I am ambitious, and I wish sometimes I was not to the degree I am. I am the perpetual student and have done too many impossible things because I understand human nature. I do not get repeat clients in my business. I have to earn every single one. Our leaders do not understand human nature, and this is more dangerous than any misunderstanding or mixed feelings we have on the current pandemic. Our leaders do not understand us and it\\u2019s dangerous. My objective is to preserve quality and quantity of life. \\nMy name is Zach Thomas and\\nI have 10 employees in my wedding business. We are also the largest wedding\\ncompany in the state and were planning on 350 weddings this year and 500 in\\n2021. Suffice to say, I am fed up with having to tell brides that I don't have\\na plan, a solution. Nor am I able to console them in any way. I can't tell my\\nemployees that it will be OK, when I have missed multiple paychecks myself\\nbecause we have already had 4 months of revenue taken away from us. We were up\\n37% year over year in February. \\n1 in 5 of my brides are anti-depressants\\nbecause the life we have all been told to create does not make us happy.\\nParents, teachers, religious leaders, news outlets and politicians either lied\\nto us or placed so much distrust in them that we will never trust any of you\\nagain. All of us have felt the culture shift this last decade. Let's mix that\\nwith a pandemic, look at history, and take real inventory of our fragile\\npredicament. \\nI chose the name Apogee\\nwhen I started us as a DJ company 14 years ago because the meaning of the word\\nresonated with me as a person. Apogee is the highest point in the development\\nof something. Apex, zenith, pinnacle, paramount. I have always had a desire to\\nbe the best. I have always wanted to be the best because I have never felt like\\nI was good enough and I had something to prove to someone else. I did this in\\nmany areas, and most of all I did it in weddings. \\nNow, I am calling on all\\nmedical professionals, educators, politicians, lawyers, doctors, high school\\ndrop outs, business owners, felons, and everyone else who feels their voice is\\nnot heard to make it known. It is time for us to unite our minds and create a\\nplan of action which discusses all problems we are facing as a people. \\nSince I am not afraid of\\nbeing wrong, and don't give a shit if I am right, or if you don't like a noise\\nthat my mouth makes. What I care about is doing what is right. To me, doing\\nwhat is right means providing for the ones I love and that is something I will\\ndo and will sacrifice every fiber of my being for. \\nShould someone have told\\nme 7 months ago that I would become single, open my dream business, move my mom\\ninto my house, become unemployed, revise my business vision, get TikTok famous,\\nand have to write a pandemic plan to the governor while and be sincerely asked\\nto run for office I would have laughed my ass off. Yet, life happens and we do\\nwhat we must.\\nMaking a plan is the right\\nthing to do. If I am wrong and my plan is wrong or a better plan emerges, I am\\nfine to admit it and seek a better solution. I am not a cry baby who is\\nattached to my feelings and insecure about being wrong. I care about action,\\nand a leader needs to act. I do not identify with any political party and have\\nbeen unsuccessful in finding one that which fits my point of view. My point of\\nview is quite simple. I want the bull shit and incompetence to stop. \\nUnlike our elected\\nleaders, I understand introspection and course correction. I understand not\\nknowing what to do. That's how business works. We look at what people need and\\nif we have a good answer to what they need, we can make money and feed our\\nfamily. To me, that is a successful business. I understand how important\\nrelationships are. I know what humans can do. Both the bad, and the good. We\\nmust..."