We’re still here.

You’ve heard it before. Things feel different.

For the foreseeable future, I no longer peacefully drive to the office each weekday morning. I don’t unlock the Bullhorn door, turn on the lights, refill the humidifier, and put our clean dishes away. My morning rituals shifted Monday, March 16, when all 14 Bullhorn employees began working from home full-time and indefinitely. Luckily, we were prepared. We have been set up to work remotely for a while now. When we opened our Louisville office last year, it became necessary that we strengthen our virtual communication and collaboration. With growth comes a need to reevaluate and refine. To get better. To over-communicate. To be as honest with each other as possible. Our nimbleness has now become our lifeline.

Now my mornings consist of wrangling a four-year-old into his schedule for the day, while my husband and I prep each other for our own daily roll call of obligations. Since working at Bullhorn, I have become accustomed to working in an open office environment. It’s shockingly quiet, layered with a curated, hip playlist mumbling in the background. But my new co-workers (husband, preschooler, dog, old cat) are not as conscientious and respectful. Noise-canceling headphones are life-changing. Interruptions and purposeful pauses happen. We take turns taking walks, doing art projects, holding dance parties, making time for ourselves. And we get our work done. We try, we adapt, we take it one day at a time.

And that’s what my Bullhorn colleagues and I are doing too. Well, maybe not the dance parties. Not yet, anyway. Our organization thrives when we are in a room together. And we realize that this holds steady even virtually. Except some of our comic relief falls a little flatter. It takes extra communication, kudos, flexibility, virtual happy hours, better jokes, and grit. We are relying on our core values more than ever. They have always been our moral compass and, right now, they ring even louder and truer. We’re serial brainstormers. We are always willing to reinvent ourselves. This is a self-study. We are learning more about each other and what it means to run a successful and purposeful business together. And that’s what I love the most. We’re in it together.

The question now is this: How can we be helpful during these uncertain times? How can we not be tone-deaf and produce content that is powerful and sensitive? Our strengths have always been in our honesty and our willingness to go above and beyond. For our organization and for our clients. We love working with each other, and we love working with our clients. Those relationships keep us going. So being physically apart is definitely challenging. But the same attributes keep us all together: language and design. Writing helps. Creating helps. There will be an After This, but for now, we’re here. Doing good work.

We’re still here. We’re still working. Asking the hard questions. And listening. As before, we seek to add value to the conversation. Let us know if you need a sounding board or a partner. To be better. To be honest. To rebuild. To pivot. To be heard amidst big change. We are confident we can help.

Together, we will get through this.