When the COVID-19 pandemic set in 5 years in the past, companies confronted unprecedented circumstances. Underneath authorities stay-at-home orders, some unexpectedly shifted to digital providers. For others, revenues plummeted and so they scrambled to assist staff.
Companies pivoted continuously. Firms rode relentless waves of rapid change, as illustrated in these snapshots of three Chicago space firms: a pet sitting firm, psychotherapy observe and a well being info startup.
The challenges are removed from over. In a nationwide survey launched final week, 35% of small enterprise homeowners rank income as their greatest problem for the primary quarter of 2025 — the very best proportion in 4 years. And solely 29% of homeowners are optimistic concerning the nation’s financial well being and 37% are optimistic about their native financial system’s well being, based on MetLife & the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s small enterprise index that surveys 750 small companies.
“Confidence is being shaken as small companies more and more fear about their income whereas on the similar time confronting the chance that tariffs will elevate prices for them and their staff,” stated Tom Sullivan, vice chairman of small enterprise coverage on the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. “Uncertainty continues to be a moist blanket on small enterprise progress.”
Chicago Pet Sitters
Chicago Pet Sitters, launched in 2005, provides canine strolling and pet sitting for cats and different creatures throughout town. The pandemic shutdown was an enormous blow to Chicago Pet Sitters after individuals had been abruptly ordered to remain at house.
“We misplaced about two-thirds of our day by day canine strolling purchasers over the course of a few hours on March 12, 2020,” CEO Dan Moranville stated. Many workplaces advised staff to not are available every week earlier than Illinois mandated lockdowns, he stated.
To assist its immediately out-of-work staff, Chicago Pet Sitters arrange a marketing campaign that raised about $15,000 from purchasers and others. “Our purchasers had been unimaginable throughout this time,” Moranville stated.
Most of 2020 was “terribly quiet,” however the firm shifted to extra cat sitting along with canine strolling. Enterprise began to rebound in 2021 then boomed in 2022. Many purchasers took journeys spanning 14 to twenty days in 2022. That “revenge journey” growth has since settled down, stated Moranville.
Lately, demand for pet care tracks with trip and vacation instances resembling spring break, summer time, Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Years. Demand for Monday to Friday canine strolling has considerably decreased as individuals proceed to work at home or on hybrid schedules, he stated. However Chicago Pet Sitters nonetheless sees plenty of demand for canine strolling two to 3 instances per week, in addition to cat care when purchasers journey.
Some individuals working from house nonetheless need noon canine walks. “Shoppers need extra flexibility of their schedules now,” stated Moranville.
The corporate has 22 to twenty-eight staff — the identical as earlier than COVID-19. Despite the fact that demand for pet care has returned, its income remains to be about 60% to 65% of pre-pandemic ranges as a consequence of purchasers’ distant and hybrid work schedules.
Sofa Readability
Psychological well being observe Sofa Readability was based in 2012 and has places of work in Elmhurst and Glen Ellyn. The corporate provides psychotherapy for people, {couples} and households, in addition to group workshops and stroll and discuss remedy.
Throughout the pandemic, it began telehealth for the primary time; earlier than 2020, digital remedy in Illinois was not allowed by legislation, stated Melissa Bercier, Sofa Readability’s founder. After COVID-19 restrictions had been lifted, Sofa Readability step by step shifted again to in-person classes, which “are simpler for a lot of of our purchasers,” stated Bercier, a therapist and divorce coach. Now, 85% of its classes are in-person.
Demand for remedy providers at Sofa Readability considerably elevated throughout the pandemic, stated Bercier. Its purchasers are numerous, starting from younger youngsters scuffling with socialization to teenagers and younger adults dealing with missed milestones, in addition to {couples} navigating the stress of work-from-home dynamics. When restrictions had been lifted, some youngsters refused to go to highschool as a result of they didn’t wish to go away house or their mother and father, she stated.
General, psychological well being challenges, together with nervousness and despair, have reached new ranges, stated Bercier, who has been a training therapist for greater than 29 years.
Throughout the pandemic, extra and bigger well being care organizations started providing psychological well being providers and the market has develop into extra aggressive, stated Bercier. Insurance coverage reimbursements have remained stagnant over time. Sofa Readability is attempting to extend income by providing new providers resembling employer-based remedy providers and polyvagal yoga, which focuses on the vagal nerve and nervous system by way of respiratory and different methods.
Bercier hopes insurance coverage firms will reimburse extra for providers as a result of they find yourself paying psychological well being staff low hourly charges. She stated it’s frequent for therapists to work two jobs or depend on a associate. “It’s thoughts boggling how psychological well being staff appear to be so valued within the public eye, but we’re paid pennies in comparison with different kinds of well being care staff,” she stated.
Sofa Readability has 17 staff, together with Bercier, in comparison with 14 earlier than the pandemic. However 2024 income was barely decrease in comparison with 2021. Folks centered on self-care throughout the pandemic and had versatile schedules that made remedy accessible. Now, individuals have much less time or their priorities could have shifted and there’s extra competitors, stated Bercier.
Inform Well being
Nikola Nestorov and Dr. Alan Gaffney integrated Tell Health, a well being info startup, in 2019. Due to the rampant unfold of COVID-19 misinformation throughout the pandemic, the Chicago-based firm’s purpose of disseminating info from medical consultants appeared well timed. Gaffney is an intensive care doctor, and Nestorov is an IT engineer by background.
Inform was initially a social media platform just like X, however solely verified scientific consultants may submit content material resembling textual content or video. When its on-line platform went dwell in January 2023, COVID-19 and lengthy COVID-19 had been its core dialogue subjects.
However by mid‑2023 curiosity within the virus had quickly declined, stated Nestorov. Inform shifted to extra generic subjects together with weight reduction and ache administration earlier than specializing in ladies’s well being, resembling endometriosis, and different medical points like liver illness.
Nevertheless, rising a brand new social media platform and competing towards tech behemoths is tough. So in 2024, Inform pivoted to supply webinars with docs; 20 individuals can attend at a value of $100 per particular person per session. But the founders realized the corporate’s attain was restricted.
Now, Inform is utilizing synthetic intelligence to create a “digital physician” skilled by their present and ongoing webinars with medical consultants. It expects to launch a prototype in June and hopes to succeed in an even bigger viewers. In the meantime, Inform was accepted to Nvidia Inception, an accelerator with the tech large in February.
The co-founders began the corporate with $1.8 million in seed cash from associates, household and others. However funding dried up after 2023, when excessive rates of interest slowed down the financial system. It now has three staff, in comparison with about 12 in 2022.
Inform was hatched at Matter, the medical startup incubator housed in The Merchandise Mart, and remains to be a member there. The startup is proud to be based mostly in Chicago, however elevating funds for an AI product is tough within the Midwest, stated Nestorov. There’s extra investor curiosity in AI in Silicon Valley so Gaffney is touring there to lift recent funding.
Inform hopes to lift $1 million “to broaden our subjects, host dwell Q&A webinars for over 1,000 individuals, proceed increase our AI engine and develop our viewers,” stated Nestorov.
