Elephants in the Room: Self-Employed Survival in a Post-Apocalyptic California
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Because of the emergency laws that have been put into place to address the national health emergency our normal “third Thursday” meeting of San Diego Independent Business Professionals at Charlie’s Best Bread has been cancelled. While our meetings are small - usually not getting more than a dozen people, we cannot guarantee the “six feet of social distancing” required by the law in this particular venue.
Still, “the show must go on” as they say in the entertainment business, meaning a performance that is underway must keep going no matter what. For this reason, this week we will be having a “virtual meeting” - an audio / video conference, which will make it even easier for members to attend. That’s right! - this time you can come to our monthly meetings in your jammies if you want, though I hope at least some of you flip their video camera on.
We have LOTS to talk about. As you should know by now, California passed a draconian new law called AB5 making many of our activities - even our very existence illegal. The uproar has been so intense that I thought lawmakers would have made corrections even by our last meeting, but I couldn’t have been more wrong. If anything, proponents of this new law are criminalizing us to an even greater extent and it is not an exaggeration to say that we are under attack. On top of that, there is the Corona pandemic and an almost certain recession. Any one of those alone would have been a tough hit for independent workers; all three at the same time is catastrophic.
We will be talking about survival, a political response, and how we can help each other during these difficult times. Access instructions for phone and/or video will be sent to anyone who RSVPs to this invitation. Looking forward to learning more about how you are coping and your ideas for moving forward.
Rob
P.S. Please note that I intend to record this meeting so by attending you give implicit permission for this, however please don’t worry about this too much - it is unlikely that the video will be distributed or watched by many people and it just serves as a convenient way to remember names and faces, and the general tone of the meeting.