Joseph's story on traveling back from Costa Rica during a global pandemic and the impact social distancing is having on his work.
ABOUT
Joseph's story on traveling back from Costa Rica during a global pandemic and the impact social distancing is having on his work.
LOCATION
Washington, DC
DONATE
Joseph's requested donations be sent to Alzheimers Association Donate Here
LINKS
Lissette's Business
SUMMARY KEYWORDS
small businesses, home, people, day, costa rica, business, post, flight, routine, strong personalities, wife, pretty, studio, traveling, virtual, community, stay, georgetown, airport, easy
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Adam Mutschler 0:01
Welcome to socially distance. On this episode, we have Joseph kicinski. And we're going to get into a little conversation with him about what he's experienced so far in the last couple weeks of March. Welcome to the show, Joe. Hey, Adam, excited that I'm getting some nice digital human connection.
Joseph 0:19
Again, the stuff is interesting times. It's pretty wild. Now,
Adam Mutschler 0:24
you and I obviously have known each other for a while. And we go back to our apple days. And we've had some we've had some regular contact recently, but I was following along while you were sharing that you were in Costa Rica, on social and then things kind of got a little intense with this return to the US. And that's when we kind of started messaging a little more I would love to hear about what that experience has been like because I know other people have been traveling back and then also what it's been like to be back in the states and what your experiences so far with social distancing, and
Joseph 0:57
yeah, just everything well, is that Weird. You know, I almost didn't want to come back from paradise where we were in Costa Rica was like gorgeous. We're pretty much in the jungle overlooking the beach. So it was it was a weird to be away. So we had we had actually left about almost 12 days ago we originally went to Costa Rica, kind of when this really starts to shit hit the fan so to speak. Yeah. And it was funny like we got there. And we had a couple of other Americans some Europeans at this small is a really small boutique hotel, they had like 10 rooms. Very, like yoga vibes throughout the place. So they, a couple people we met were actually on the tail end of a yoga retreat. Yes. Which was you can imagine the amount of Lulu lemon that was being thrown around the place. And we were talking with a couple of other people had been there for like a week or so and they were loving it like there's No, not a care in the world around Corona. And that was just our first day. And we got there on the 13th. And it's interesting, like our first couple days total relaxation. We're obviously like reading stuff online or somebody else. And just thinking, Oh, I'm so glad we're in paradise. And I'll see at the end of day three, going into day four, my wife and I were both like, shit, we gotta get home. Yeah, Costa Rica, Costa Rica started to put out that they're gonna close their borders to, like, pretty much anyone that isn't a Costa Rican. So you weren't allowed to come in, you couldn't leave. And our hotel even came and we had a signup form about where we had been beforehand Had we been to certain countries or not. And this was a mandated by the Costa Rican government. So day four kind of really, he definitely put a different spin on our, you know, vibe to our trip. My wife started to have to figure out and pivot her business. She has a Fitness Studio and wellness studio in Georgetown. And it's all like a concierge approach to fitness as she's sitting in there having to pivot Hey, how do we move into a completely digital? Let's move our everything our members do to virtual workouts, virtual coaching, etc. So she's trying to figure this all out on the small little old, old 11 inch MacBook Air we brought as like a break in case for emergency that runs pretty friggin slow. And then discuss Shall we met there on the yoga retreat. He was heading back to New York. And he had been there like two weeks in that point. So he was heading back and he's texting at the airport. He was like, this was way too easy to get in. And he was going back to New York City. Don't ask them any No one asked him any questions and we ended up staying another day and a half and him and I were texting and it was interesting to hear his like him being in New York City. Mm hmm. Yeah, it being difficult.
Adam Mutschler 3:56
So this is March 17 at this point or something.
Joseph 3:59
Yeah. And I think it was the 17th we decided to go back the next day. That night I changed my flights. And we were while we were about like three hours away from Liberia airport we're flying out of and if you've ever been to Costa Rica and like the Noosa region or nosara region, it is like a mile of paved road and then two miles of like you're off roading. So it takes a while to get to the airport. It's actually it's fun if you enjoy operating,
Adam Mutschler 4:32
and if there isn't the time pressure of a global pandemic.
Joseph 4:36
Oh, yeah. And I'm a nerd. I'm a as my wife calls me jittery Joe when we travel, Joe, I'm not fun to travel with. I get stressed out. I don't like being in a plane with people. Yeah, my trip my flight there was that was that was something bigger. That was something else. Yeah. But now on the way home. We're on a packed flight. Every American in Costa Rica was the same time Yeah, I got there we got there two hours before our flight and what's funny is I don't know how we would have gotten to be on time so we're in this long ass line to check bags everybody else and I look over the left nine united has they're like oh you can you know this is for like the premier passenger thing on there my app I literally upgraded our flights as we as we were sitting there in line which cost like 30 bucks and we ended up cutting it pretty much cutting the whole line. So not a big investment but thinking on your feet. Oh yeah. Honestly, if it was like 200 bucks I would have paid it we would have missed our flight. Yeah, but it was interesting. So we flew into New York from Liberia and I was like what listen listening to podcasts about shit happening the country is not a good idea when you're traveling. It was not I it is gasoline on the fire of jittery not i'm not even jittery Joe like I'm explosive Eric. Now I am explaining Eric I am a whole new person and we flew to New York and we had an hour to get from off our plane and onto the next plane. We also had to grab our bags and that's tight go through go through customs again. Exactly.
Adam Mutschler 6:15
Not tight like cool like tight like not a lot of time.
Joseph 6:18
Yeah, so you understand explosive Eric now. Yeah. And our bags. We got our bags, we're going through customs. And it was the fastest process I've ever experienced at an airport like check door security thing. That's why I was Yeah, I was like when when
Adam Mutschler 6:38
Chicago I forget what day it was O'Hare on aira night man. Yeah.
Joseph 6:43
In Newark International Airport. Have a nice day. Not even like a Gemini. Are you feeling okay? Like do you have any symptoms or were you traveling from obviously knew I was traveling I got a friggin stay across. Yeah. But it was it was waiting. Too easy was so scary actually. And then we're on the flight home and there's a an elderly couple sitting in front of us so of course I'm like oh my god I gotta move rows and there's so many free seats on the plane five rows back so no one was near no no one was anywhere near us. Yeah. Well we can we came home and I was I've never been that stressed while traveling. I think listening to podcasts was a terrible idea. There's a pandemic and you're trying to get home but you know, it was it was interesting because like I've only been home for five days and in that five days we I mean I was kind of working on vacation cuz we were obviously studio was going to a big let's support our members Let's be proactive in providing solutions communicating what we're doing as a as an organization as not just studio but Tishman spire shows and it was really, you know, I got Back to like a lot of like positive feedback from our community about you know what we've been communicating how we've been messaging stuff. Yeah. And then this weekend we made a call like, Aaron and I have been kind of trading off who would have been it who would have been coming in to run the space. Mm hmm. So today I came in to kind of close stuff down like I'm dead bridges, you take care of stuff, so shouldn't have to come in but you know, it's, it's interesting, like, I expected members to be here, or at least be working here. And to know that pretty much the entirety of my vacation no one's been in the space everyone's gone remote. Yeah, we're really focused on like, hey, let's, let's work from home and stay safe that it's, it made me it makes me feel good considering like the amount of stuff I see on social media people like being out in public places like the cherry blossoms. Doing stuff like that, like it made me feel good to see like all these small businesses like quick to like, let's just go remote and not even think about it.
Adam Mutschler 9:07
Yeah, I'm having a I'm struggling with that personally like I'm making I'm reassessing a lot of brands and and honestly like communities and people around how they're responding to what's going on. I like people talk about, you know, leadership is what you do in the moments when people aren't watching. But it's also what you do in moments of crisis. And whether you're leading yourself as an individual, or you're leading a company. It's really it's really sort of readjusting some of my perceptions. It's very interesting.
Joseph 9:41
Yeah, I think this is a time where you're gonna, you're gonna see a lot of like, the real, like, the real core of these organizations come to the, you know, the forefront of AI Yeah. Are you are you people over profits as an organization? And you know, there are a lot of companies out there I think that are doing great stuff. Yeah, no, no I think I think there are some that probably need to refocus some of that effort. But you know that it's going to be a whole new world. I mean, this is, I mean, I've only been at home for five days with my wife and we're already like, struggling for space of who gets what. Yeah, I'm gonna be I'm gonna be doing some work during the week for sure. She's, she's me doing virtual workouts in our living room, which is also like, our office is like, literally part of our living room. Yeah. Now, Mike, where, who's working where and when? And who's doing what? So we were creating our own calendar for this stuff.
Adam Mutschler 10:35
Yeah. So like, I think that's a that's a great segue. What are some of these sort of unexpected? I'm interested in both the unexpected challenges, but also the unexpected, let's say like silver linings if there are any.
Joseph 10:50
Well, I mean, the silver linings is I think I've been running a lot of ideas through my wife. I think she's got a really great mind for community. And some of the work that I'm doing right now around, hey, what's some great communication we can do for, you know, post Kovac to reach out to communities and talk to them about what we do at Studio and what makes us unique and market. But, you know, I've been bouncing some ideas off her on like, hey, how do we create some content that's not like tone deaf, that speaks to the community that really provides value. And talks about this idea of like, hey, like, we, we understand the situation a lot of businesses are in like, here's some stuff that we want to do as a company and a platform for small businesses, to empower you to make this financially easier for you, etc. So I just it's been great to be able to bounce ideas off of her. Because I mean, she's, she runs her own business she's Yeah, pretty successful with it. So I you know, my background in sales I'm, I'm a big collaborator, when it comes to communication, that's got to be a team effort. So having just another person right next to me I can bounce ideas off of has been huge That's awesome. And what about
Adam Mutschler 12:02
I mean, I know you mentioned like the logistics, any other challenges that have kind of popped up?
Joseph 12:07
Honestly, I have such respect for people that work remote on the regular. This is so distracting working at home. I've, I like an organizer and cleaner. So I've been spending a lot of time organizing and cleaning everything in my house, which is like I can I know that I can do it whenever I want. It's like that's a distraction. Yeah. Honestly, having my dog in the house, it's there's so many little distractions and these little things that take you away for 510 minutes. Every hour on top of the other little things that distract you and in the house. It's tough. I definitely am trying to create a routine where like when I was going through my transit transition post apple and I took some time off kind of sabbatical like I used to treat finding a job or freaking out what I wanted to do next, like a job. Yeah, and I'm trying to treat work. working from home the same way like I get up same like early a shower breakfast like I'm trying to create a similar routine yeah and not fall into this like I stay up late I watch movies I'm like gaming a lot. I'm actually I don't even watch it yet. I'm not even a gamer but yeah, like I'm doing I'm just okay. I want to be able to make sure I get into that the right routine But speaking of routines, you're gonna laugh at this. So yesterday we went to was that studio and we put we brought a bunch of like the fitness stuff fitness Jerome's Oh yeah, brought some dumbbells. stretchy cord things for stuff. That's obviously not a technical
Adam Mutschler 13:39
technical terms.
Joseph 13:40
Exactly the scientific terms. And we also brought home some of like the really interesting stuff. So she has infrared infrared light box that hangs up on a door. So he brought that home and a trampoline I trampolined the last night in my living room.
Adam Mutschler 14:00
I'm expecting some really good i g story content.
Joseph 14:03
I somebody probably posted it in the building across the street from me 100% because I looked like a friggin idiot at the office on the TV. Okay, doing like these lat I thought jumping on a trampoline for five minutes would be easy and it would be but she my wife was like do this like crouch move and you gotta do knee lifts while you do it. And honestly, five minutes in I was like sweating, my sure that's our job.
Adam Mutschler 14:28
So routine, trying to keep a routine trying to sort of trying to stay organized, are ways that you're looking at navigating being at home, you know, for the foreseeable future. And this even calendaring between you and Lizette around, taught using certain spaces in the home.
Joseph 14:48
Yeah, she's a better negotiator than me. So she she's gotten more of the office space.
Adam Mutschler 14:53
that makes sense.
Joseph 14:55
Now and it's it's also I think, understanding where and when we need the support is has been huge. I think it's gonna be definitely a test of like each other's patience. Sure, cuz we were both strong personalities. And I think we recognize that and we do there are two things we make sure. Whenever if we if we get like little disagreements we always try to walk away like not in a bad spot. Yeah. So like we've always done that like we never end arguments in the arguments that we try to like, yeah bury the hatchet in the moment but I definitely think communication for us can be huge because knowing both have strong personalities, we like to, we're upfront about what we want. And we're gonna we're gonna have to figure out like that balance so but knowing that she has a small business, she's trying to figure out this new environment for like the next. Who knows like it could be five weeks could be six months.
Adam Mutschler 15:48
Yeah, no way. We don't know.
Joseph 15:50
So, you know, I'm trying to be as supportive as I can be knowing that I work for a very established company that isn't going anywhere. You know, I think knowing it, it's literally her business. I it's crazy to think how many other small businesses are probably doing the same challenge of I have no literally no revenue coming in and I still have to pay my my Rep.
Adam Mutschler 16:11
Yeah, that's wild. And there's a law in Austria that I was reading about. Someone posted about it on Twitter, during times of national crisis and pandemics are included. Landlords can't charge businesses rent, who can't generate revenue.
Joseph 16:28
Yeah, I was
Adam Mutschler 16:30
what a human what a human law.
Joseph 16:33
I mean, I'm not surprised. It's a country like in Europe that is at the arena of one of the more liberal or progressive countries. Yeah, it's you know, I definitely started a friend of mine is in real estate and another one that also has a small business and we're talking about we I really am I crossing my fingers and kind of hoping and letting some sage that there ends up being like a Hey, small businesses. Get to defer payments like and so if you're on like a five year lease, and the next three months, you can't pay your rent those three months just get added on the end. So now you have like a five year three month leaps.
Adam Mutschler 17:10
Yeah, it's gonna be very interesting. I think, I think how we, how we develop solutions for this at every level, whether it's medical, whether it's at risk populations, whether it's small businesses, I think that this is going to be a time of very rapid. And this is me being optimistic but rapid shifts in how we do business and how we operate as a as a world. Whether it's permanent or not as another as another conversation. Would it be helpful, and I don't know what tracks in the show is going to get. But can we get Lissette information? Can you send it to me and I can drop it in the notes of the show, like the website or if Yeah, G or if she's trying to Yeah, no, she's virtual.
Joseph 17:55
It's kinesis Dc. I'll give you the web info, but you can Look up, you know kinesis there in Georgetown it's a pretty it's a conscious approach to fitness. So it's like a one on one personal training polities boxing, health and wellness MIT, which is like this crazy hybrid between acupuncture and massage therapy, massage therapy Imagine if like, you had to like focus on one specific pressure point to relieve pressure like, like acupuncture does but with massage stuff great. I've taken many a spill on my bike and every time I do I get a bunch of MIT stuff but nice. Yeah, I'll send that she's she's doing they're doing a lot of great virtual stuff with a member base. So it's it you know, it's it's good because a lot of her members that she's been in Georgetown, she's catering and her clientele are all right. 55 Plus, I'm a large majority of her clients are 55 Plus, who this is the coat Yeah, this is coronavirus is impacting that denim A graphic more than anybody Yeah, right or has the potential to So, ya know, being healthy and staying fit are a big part of that community. And it's great to see that she's engaging it like when I left the house this morning at quarter to eight, she was just getting her video stuff set up for 7:55am session. So much stuff all over the living room that was like, all these like rollers and all that stuff's going to use. But it's great just to see that they want to continue serving their members. Because I know that the impact that that has on on their lives. Yeah, it's huge. Some of her members have, like they're seeing like a lot of benefits to people that have I have arthritis or mobility problems polities and a couple other of the like, stuff they do routine, like wise is super beneficial to people that have like, you know, mobility problems. Sure, because it's not necessarily like Oh, you're not using and lifting and running. You're really doing exercise. With your own body.
Adam Mutschler 20:01
Yeah, no hundred percent I think and I think that people are going to try and figure out ways to take care of themselves when they can't go to gyms and can't go to their personal trainers. And so, I mean, I know you got a business and once this is all cool down, you know the company that you work for, we can talk about co co working spaces again. But in the meantime, you know, we'll we'll focus on on those small businesses like you said,
Joseph 20:23
Yeah, I didn't think right now like this is it's funny, like, there's gonna be this time like post CRO or like small businesses or like, I can't be locked into like five year lease all these like long, complex terms. I'm definitely looking at it. Okay, how do I reach out to members of community be like, yeah, here's some really great things that we're doing financially for small business to like, ease that upfront cost of you having to move in. Like right now we've been doing like, essentially like anyone that moves in right now. Even on like a six to 12 month lease, which is super short. We're giving you your first month free like we've been doing that for a while. As well as like You're being pretty competitive on other rates, but I'm thinking like, I want to really push for like, Hey, what are some things we can offer to small businesses to like, ease, like ease their, like, their transition through this journey? Because like,
Adam Mutschler 21:13
there's gonna be a lot of pressure.
Joseph 21:15
Yeah, it's gonna be huge, especially in this game, I mean, co working game, canceling a dead cat without finding a co working space.
Adam Mutschler 21:24
Let's let's, let's see if we can end this in a way I'm interested in getting your perspective. If you were to think, you know, not about business, not about work, but more sort of a community and global level. Any any sort of reflections or parting thoughts on where things are at the moment?
Joseph 21:45
I, you know, I think trying to remain calm and patient and understanding and empathetic are going to be huge for us right now. The amount of like, Fighting and aggressiveness I see on everything I do social media wise, like so many people posting opinions and getting into arguments about what should or should not be done. I think right now it's just, we all need to really be very understanding and caring towards one another. And I'm trying to unplug a little bit from social media, like I posted something yesterday about an article from a, like a physicist and complexity scientist. And I had to look up what complexity scientists even do. But you know, I sure I shared it now, my usual tone would have been like, we need to do five weeks. Look at this guy. He's right, Trump's wrong, like all this stuff and dividing. And I would have definitely had a tone was attacking like a side of this aisle, so to speak. I think right now I'm trying to be more mindful of, you know, my communication style to others. And to To try to like, share stuff in an open tone and to really be objective and listen, because this is gonna be very stressful times for people living inside like I'm an extrovert. I can only imagine two weeks or now. I'm worried about my wife, like, killing me because I have to definitely be annoying.
Adam Mutschler 23:21
We'll do we'll do some virtual Hangouts.
Joseph 23:24
Exactly. But you know, I think right now, it's, it's just all about, you know, being calm, being patient with with one another. And don't be afraid to reach out to people and stay connected. You know, I think it's a good opportunity for us to reset to focus on things that that matter in our life that are not work related. I like that message. rebuild relationships focused on you.
Adam Mutschler 23:46
That's going to be that'll be the soundbite. Joe, thank you so much for being on on the show. I appreciate you taking the time and, and sharing, you know, this is not easy.
Joseph 23:57
It's not it's not especially if you're looking for toilet paper.
Adam Mutschler 24:01
Well a quick note to listeners. This is socially distance the podcast hosted by Adam Mutschler. Stay safe and remember we are all more connected than we ever imagined.
Transcribed by https://otter.ai