Ten years ago, around the time Instagram made its debut, BoxCrush hired me as a freelancer. In November 2010, I became the tenth employee – and the first marketing employee – on the payroll, and I’ve been a dedicated BoxCrusher ever since. A lot has happened since that first freelance assignment!

This has been an unusual and unpredictable year, and businesses of all sizes have had to change their operations in accordance with social distancing recommendations or state and local mandates. For nonprofit organizations whose revenue depends largely on fundraising events, this year has been especially challenging. Now’s the time for nonprofits to refocus and to put more energy into digital marketing.

This year has thrown retailers for a loop like no other year in recent memory. If you had told business owners at the end of 2019 that they’d soon be counting the number of customers in their stores, disinfecting shopping carts, and taking the temperature of employees as they reported for work, most would have had a hard time believing it. Yet, here we are.

We were on the right track, after becoming hopelessly lost on the Knobstone Trail in Jackson-Washington State Forest. I estimated we had about a tablespoon of potable water left, and roughly three miles to go before we made it back to the car. My husband seemed fine. I was feeling the dehydration set in but decided to save the last bit of water for our intrepid companion, Martha the Bird Dog.