APRIL 2020, VOLUME 8 | ISSUE 12
INSIDE THIS ISSUE Your Blueprint to Sur-
Does Your Small Business Need
viving the "New Normal"
COVID-19 Relief? Try These The stupidest (financial) invest-
Resources ment I've made in the past few
Page 5 years was in a comedy club.
It's on a side street in the Upper
8 Things Small Business Owners West Side of N.Y.C. The Upper
West Side gets almost no foot traf-
Should Be Doing in the COVID-19 fic compared to places like Times
Economy
Square or the Village. And a side
Page 7
street means even less foot traffic.
But fixed costs remain the same,
COVID-19 Survival Tips from a whether you have 10 people come
Former Combat Medic in or 100 people.
Page 9
But, for me, it was a pleasure invest-
A Survival Shopping List for Any ment. I don't own a car (let alone
Scenario two, which many do). And I don't
Page 11 really take vacations. And I don't
buy new clothes. In fact, I usually
smell. I am a natural self-isolator
The One-Day Coronavirus Book and hardly leave my house except to
Challenge go to the comedy club. And I love
Page 12 comedy. So, for me, owning part of a
comedy club has been fun.
But then this virus hit. And every bar
closed. And every restaurant and store
closed. And certainly every comedy
club closed. Many of the comedians
I know who had not yet graduated
to full-time comedy (although some
Rolling Out the Red Carpet with were close — very, very close) are now
VIP Text Alerts from James getting traditional jobs.
Text ALTUCHER to 50445
What will happen?
14 Msgs/Month. Reply STOP to cancel, HELP for help. Msg&data rates may apply. Terms: slkt.io/pQI
What will happen to Main Street?
Is there a new normal? Will
things ever go back to normal?
Or will we be standing in line for
food once a week, getting clothes
rationed to us, etc.?
Where will the laughter go?
The new normal
I do think there will be a new nor-
mal that will look somewhat like
the old normal. It will be choppy
and volatile and scary and uncer-
tain, but we'll get there.
This is the first time in human his-
tory that the entire species has been
united in one goal. It's incredible
from a historical perspective.
For all the people who say the
Greatest Generation is the great-
est, I won't argue. But guess
what? Gen X has been through
9/11, the financial crisis, and
now this (OK, I will begrudg-
ingly give this to all boomers and
most millennials as well).
We're survivors. And we'll survive
this and flourish, like we do. Like
we've done.
continued on next page…

The theme of the new normal will
be "remote."
- Remote learning
- Remote working
- Delivery
- Remote medicine and therapy
- Bandwidth to support remote
- Online storage and security
to handle the increase in data
- Big Data to handle the new
data needs of a population
trying to keep global pan-
demics under control
- More monetization of content
creation since some distri-
bution (movie theaters, big
events) won't be as popular.
Don't forget that many successful
businesses are started in recessions.
In the Great Recession of
2008/2009, look at what started:
Instagram, Slack, Uber, WhatsApp,
Cloudera, and on and on.
The same thing will happen here.
Any business model that takes into
account the above items could be
the next billion-dollar startup.
For the first time in years, I'm
thinking of starting a business.
The key is first getting the "idea
muscle" in shape. Writing down 10
ideas a day. Combining ideas. Com-
bining the old with the new. Seeing
where things are going, so, in the
words of Wayne Gretzky, you can
skate to where the puck is going.
For instance, remote learning.
It's clear now that college is a
scam. Why pay $70,000 a year to
take a bunch of history courses
when there are thousands of his-
tory courses you can take online
for almost free and probably get a
better education?
The same even goes for skills that
could get you good-paying jobs. I'd
rather take the latest course in cy-
ber security at Code Academy then
take an outdated one at Harvard.
Who even knows if college will
come back — and if it does, how
fast? I don't know.
Some business models that might
work in this area:
A) Start your own course
I've been writing down idea lists
for courses I could potentially
teach. For instance:
• Entrepreneurship
• Investing
• Writing
• Podcasting
• Monetizing content
• Public speaking
• Idea generation
• Meta-learning
• Persuasion
• Comedy
•H ow to win at every game!
(Why not?)
•O r even a course on how to
start your own course (how
to make it, what platform to
use, how to sell it, how to
manage it, how to set up an
affiliate program, etc.).
B) Curation
Nobody is really curating all the
online courses that are out there.
But employers still want to know
that you have some sort of "ac-
creditation" to show you learned a
specific skill.
What about a board of experts that
is set up to create the ideal online
degree programs across platforms?
For instance, if someone wants a
"mobile computing" degree, perhaps
there's a good JavaScript course at
Code Academy, an IOS course at
Khan Academy, a SQL course at
LinkedIn Learning, etc. and tak-
ing all of them, supervised by our
experts, gets you a "degree."
C) Aggregation
What about something like Movie-
Pass but for online learning?
So if I have the LearnPass, I can
take X number of courses at each
major online learning platform.
The idea is similar to insurance:
People subscribe to LearnPass for
a small amount; most people will
end up taking 0–2 classes; that will
pay for the people who take many
classes, with profit at the end.

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2 THE ALTUCHER REPORT

People pay a subscription per
month so LearnPass makes money
upfront (this, like an insurance
company, is called "the float").
Example: Airbnb
LearnPass then makes money in
two ways:
• The "cost of float" – i.e., will
enough people take classes to
make a profit?
• Investing – LearnPass can in-
vest the float while it waits to
spend the money on people
taking classes.
out a price, make the trans-
action securely, deal with
customer service, etc.
1. Some people have excess
rooms in their houses
2. Some travelers want to stay
in those rooms
3. Airbnb helps people traveling
find empty rooms they can
stay in, handles all the mes-
saging, transactions, security,
customer complaints, etc.
gion rate super high? There were
reports of a possible 20 million
deaths in the U.S.
None of these things happened.
But here’s what did happen: Health-
care officials became policy makers.
A country is a difficult thing to run.
You can't shut down society because
of one disease with a death rate
similar to that of the flu (as a recent
Oxford research report suggests) is
making the rounds.

This is exactly the business model Yes, there will be people

of an insurance company. It's such
a great business model that Warren
Buffett gave up his hedge fund in or-
der to go into the insurance business.
To be honest, I'm working on a
business model right now revolv-
ing around the idea of monetiz-
ing content creation for people
who do not have large audiences
but they have great content.
Two types of business models
There are two ways to think of
business:
The three-part model
1.There's a group of people who
have excess inventory of X
2. There's a group of people
who need more X
3. A platform in the middle
that mediates between 1
and 2 above. The platform
handles discovery, transac-
tions, security, customer
service, delivery, etc.
Example: Uber
1. Some people have excess
empty seats
2. Some people want to sit in
those seats to go from point
A to point B
3. Uber helps the people who
want to sit in an empty seat
find nearby drivers, work
When thinking of a
who get sick. Yes, there
new business, think "If you can find a
will be people who die.
in terms of this three- business model that
But no, it shouldn't
part model.
serves the bottom third change the entire world.
of a society — a part of
The bottom third society that most busi-
People will shame you
if you say, "This is like
I was talking with Jim nesses don't cater to so the flu."
McKelvey, cofounder you have less competi-
It is and it isn't. It's
of Square (along with
Jack Dorsey). tion — you can make a turning out the fatality
billion-dollar business." rate is like the flu. But
He told me, "If you the amount of time an
can find a business ICU patient spends on
model that serves the bottom a ventilator is about double that
third of a society — a part of of the flu. So the fear was that this
society that most businesses don't would overwhelm the hospitals
cater to so you have less competi- and healthcare workers.
tion — you can make a billion-
Fortunately, in most places, it
dollar business."
doesn't seem to have done this.
So he started Square, which allows
mom-and-pop merchants to accept It also turns out the contagion rate is
much higher than initially thought,
credit cards — a group of people
who could never accept credit cards which means the fatality rate is
much lower, and it also means that
before. Until Square. Jim personally
made over $1 billion on that idea. herd immunity is achieved much
more quickly. All of this is a work in
Think of these business models when progress so we'll see.
determining your business idea.
But we shut down the economy for it.
What’s next? 30 million people might lose
their jobs.
We messed up but I don't blame the
government or society or anybody. As I've mentioned before, a lot of
It was a difficult, complex situation. those 30 million (or fewer) will
be rehired quickly if the economy
We didn't know what COVID-19 opens up quickly. Also, because
was. All of the news was bogus of the stimulus package, some of
at first. Was it biological warfare? those 30 million include part-time
Were the fatality rate and conta- workers and the self-employed.

THE ALTUCHER REPORT 3

But still, this has been horrible. We have to. So the economy will reopen. Will it
be soon enough?
People are depressed. Main Street and Wall Street
“Kill myself” is start- are not separate things. The Places like Standup NY, my com-
ing to spike on Google Main Street and economy IS society. You edy club, will survive thanks to the
Trends. I know more Wall Street are not can't pay healthcare work- stimulus package.
people who have died separate things. The ers without an economy.
of suicide in the past Doctors get paid because of All of the employees will get a com-
economy IS society. bination of stimulus checks plus the
few weeks than who the economy. We eat food
have died of COV- and grow food because of enhanced unemployment benefits.
ID-19. This, to me, is the worst, most the economy. The business itself will get the PPP
horrible outcome that is happening loan (2.5x your monthly payroll)
right now. Young people with pre- The government is not set up to man- plus other emergency loans. In fact,
existing mental issues who couldn't age these things. It never has been in the business might be flush for the
handle what is happening. That is any part of the world during any time first time in years. We'll see.
very sad. in history. Even now, it's the private
sector that is developing the cures, The question is:
The stimulus package will work, making the ventilators, building the
Will people leave their houses and
but only if we have something left to hospitals, etc. The government is no-
stimulate. My guess is that we start to toriously incompetent at these things. come out to play?
open the economy by the end of April. I hope so. Everybody needs to laugh.

state) affected by the virus until the number of new cas-

Looking at the
Important Math…
How Long Should Social Distanc-
ing Last? by Gerard Tellis of USC.
This is the only paper I’ve found
that looks at ONLY the important
data, AND takes into account the
inevitable slowdown of the virus’s
exponential growth. It looks at:
• Every country (and even
•H
 ow long was the virus expo-
nential? (I.e., how many times
did the virus double?)
•H
 ow long did it take for the
second derivative to become
negative? (I.e., when did the
virus’ growth stop accelerat-
ing—even if new cases/deaths
were still rising?)
•H
 ow long did it take to con-
trol the virus? (I.e., how long
es/deaths went down to the
point of being negligible?)
This is what you need to know to
determine the peak of the virus
and when it will end. To the left is
the main table to focus on.
Obviously, there’s still a lot of
uncertainty around the virus. More
data comes out every day. And we
won’t have all of it until this pan-
demic is over. But so far, this paper
is my favorite source.

Table 2: Times to Predicted Moderation and Control for a Select Countries and US States
Date-First Days to Date of Predicted Date
Region Action Day Days to Act
Incidence Moderate Moderation of Control
China 23-Dec 23-Jan 31 16 8-Feb 23-Feb
Japan 23-Jan 3-Feb 11 14 17-Feb (>29-Mar)
South Korea 23-Jan 12-Feb 20 21 4-Mar (>29-Mar)
Italy 31-Jan 6-Mar 35 17 23-Mar (>14-Apr)
Washington 21-Jan 12-Mar 51 Pending (>01-Apr) (>12Apr)
Illinois 24-Jan 21-Mar 57 Pending (>04Apr) (>21-Apr)
California 26-Jan 19-Mar 53 Pending (>02-Apr) (>19-Apr)
Germany 27-Jan 22-Mar 55 Pending (>05-Apr) (>22-Apr)
Massachusetts 1-Feb 24-Mar 52 Pending (>07-Apr) (>24-Apr)
Spain 1-Feb 14-Mar 42 Pending (>01-Apr) (>14-Apr)
New York 1-Mar 22-Mar 21 Pending (>05-Apr) (>22-Apr)

4 THE ALTUCHER REPORT

Does Your Small Business Need
COVID-19 Relief? Try These Resources
Deborah Sweeney is
the CEO of MyCor-
poration.com, a
leader in online legal
filing services for en-
trepreneurs and busi-
nesses, providing start-up bundles that
include corporation and LLC formation,
registered agent, DBA, and trademark
& copyright filing services. Here is the
advice she shared with the readers at All
Business.
SBA disaster assistance
Has your business or nonprofit
been severely impacted by CO-
VID-19? The U.S. Small Business
Administration (SBA) is working
directly with state governors to
provide disaster assistance loans
to help those companies recover.
These loans have low interest
rates: the interest rate for small
businesses is 3.75%; the inter-
est rate for nonprofits is 2.75%.
These business disaster loans
are provided through the SBA’s
Economic Injury Disaster Loan
program, which will offer up to
$2 million to small businesses
in assistance. Additionally, loans
provided to qualifying businesses
may be used to pay fixed debts,
payroll, accounts payable, and
other small business bills. You
may apply for a disaster as-
sistance loan through the SBA
website.
people with great local business-
es? You get a partnership that
introduces small business own-
ers to the Small Business Relief
Initiative, a program to provide
microgrants and fundraising
tools to qualifying small busi-
nesses that have been negatively
impacted by COVID-19.
As part of the Small Business
Relief Initiative, GoFund, Yelp,
and accounting software provider
Intuit Quickbooks are all pledg-
ing to donate up to $1.5 million
in donations to the Small Busi-
ness Relief Fund. Once that fund
has been depleted, GoFundMe
will continue to issue $500 in
matching grants to qualifying
businesses. This will allow small
businesses to keep raising funds
and inspire members of the com-
munity to assist with contribu-
tions and make donations.
Amazon’s Neighborhood
Small Business Relief Fund
Is your small business struggling
in the Seattle area? You may be
able to find relief in Amazon’s
$5 million Neighborhood Small
Business Relief Fund. This
fund was created to provide cash
grants for businesses impacted
by COVID-19 in and around the
Seattle area. As specified on the
fund’s home page, eligible busi-
nesses include those with fewer
than 50 employees or less than
$7 million in annual revenue.
Other eligible businesses include
those with a physical presence a
few blocks away from Amazon's
office buildings that are open to
the general public, and are reli-
ant on foot traffic for customers.

GoFundMe Small Business

Relief Initiative
What happens when you partner
GoFundMe, the world’s largest
social fundraising platform, with
Yelp, the company that connects
THE ALTUCHER REPORT 5
Facebook Small Business
Grants Program
You know what’s better than 100
million followers? $100 million
in cash grants for small business-
es. Facebook’s Small Business
Grants Program is offering $100
million in cash grants and ad
credits for businesses impacted
by COVID-19.
At press time, the social media
giant was still working out details
about the eligibility and applica-
tion status. However, we do know
a few key steps that the program
provides businesses:
The fund is available in the 30
countries where Facebook oper-
ates. The $100 million in cash
grants and ad credits will be
available for 30,000 eligible small
businesses.
6 THE ALTUCHER REPORT
The program, in addition to help-
ing with rent costs and covering
make the cutoff time with your
small business, the deadline for
operational expenses, will allow
federal tax return filing has been
small businesses to connect with
even more customers and maintain extended to July 15, 2020. This
a strong workforce. is the same extension date for
individual and busi-
Facebook has
launched a Business New fundraisers and ness tax filing for tax
initiatives are being
Resource Hub for payments of up to
small businesses and announced on a near- $10 million.
entrepreneurs. Here daily basis to provide
you’ll be able to find small business own-
even more tools and ers with relief during State emergency
resources to manage COVID-19.
through a crisis like relief
COVID-19. In addition to existing
disaster and relief programs avail-
Federal tax filing deadline able in each state, new programs
extension are also being launched.
Taxes are typically due on April
15th, but not this year. If you’re In California, for example, the
worried that you won’t be able to city of Sacramento has started a
fundraising campaign called Do-
nate4Sacramento. Donors may
give to small businesses impacted
by COVID-19, or they may direct
their donations to the homeless,
nonprofits, or families in need.
Check in with your local state to
see which programs may be ap-
plicable to your small business. I
would also recommend keeping
an eye peeled to the news as well.
New fundraisers and initiatives
are being announced on a near-
daily basis to provide small busi-
ness owners with relief during
COVID-19.
It may be darkest before the dawn,
but daylight will break—and we
are coming together as one for our
small businesses and communities
worldwide.
8 Things Small Business Owners
Should Be Doing in the COVID-19
Economy
Emily Heaslip, con-
tributor for the U.S.
Chamber of Com-
merce, shares the top
CDC-recommended
tips that small busi-
ness owners can take
to mitigate risk, protect employees
and support customers during the
COVID-19 pandemic.
1. Establish a remote work
option
With plenty of people already work-
ing remotely, there are a lot of free
tools business owners can utilize
so that teams can stay in touch and
keep working even if they aren’t in
the same place.
Implement a remote work policy
that covers when you expect your
team to be online or available, how
to communicate (via email, Slack, or
video call, for instance), and what
deliverables each team member is
responsible for completing.
2. Reduce meetings and
travel
Try to keep opportunities for ex-
posure to the virus to a minimum.
Postpone any team meetings or hold
them virtually. Skip any conferences
or other planned business travel.
If your workers get sick because of
travel or meetings, you could have
a liability issue on your hands, or
you will have to manage low morale
and sick leave requests.
3. Give employees flexibility
Schools across the country are clos-
ing, as are offices, stores, businesses
and commercial centers. With the
country slowly moving toward
total lockdown, you will need to be
flexible with your employees’ time.
Some team members may have to
leave unexpectedly if their child’s
daycare closes. Others may have stu-
dents who come home from school
for spring break and aren’t able to
return. Try to be as understanding as
possible when something comes up
and have a contingency plan in case
you suddenly become short-staffed.
4. Communicate transpar-
ently with your customers
Everyone is facing this crisis to-
gether, so be transparent about what
your business is going through.
Customers can empathize with
brands facing a crisis, as long as you
communicate with them properly.
As Harvard Business Review reports,
“When customers are separated from
the work that’s being done behind the
scenes to serve them, they appreciate
the service less and then they value
the service less.” Describe the steps
you’re taking to mitigate risk and give
them insight into the steps you’re tak-
ing to help the community.
5. Be obsessive about hygiene
Stop the spread of the virus by fol-
lowing these health and safety tips
from the CDC:
• No handshakes: Use a non-
contact method for greetings.
• Wash your hands: Employees
should wash their hands when
they arrive and every time they
enter the premises, as well as
frequently throughout the day.
• Try not to touch your face,
and remind employees to do
the same
• Constantly and regularly
disinfect surfaces, including
doorknobs, handrails, the POS
system, tables and desks.
Keep your employees and your cus-
tomers safe by being as proactive as
possible about cleanliness.
THE ALTUCHER REPORT 7
6. Shift your sales strategy
to online
Chinese companies, forced to
confront the reality of coronavirus
shutdowns before most American
companies, provide a blueprint for
weathering this storm. As storefronts
shuttered their doors and work-
ers stayed in place, savvy business
owners shifted their sales strategy to
avoid heavy losses.
For instance, in Wuhan, the cosmet-
ics company Lin Qingxuan closed
40% of its stores — but the brand’s
100+ beauty advisors took to digital
platforms like WeChat to engage
customers virtually and increase
online sales. “As a result, its sales
in Wuhan achieved 200% growth
compared to the prior year’s sales,”
writes Harvard Business Review.
If you’re closing your store, find
ways to keep your employees earn-
ing a paycheck by selling on social
media, putting your email list to
good use or using a video tool to
reach new leads.
7. Consider business
interruption insurance
Business interruption insurance may
be an option for you if you have sig-
nificant business losses as a result of
Other Resources for
Entrepreneurs and
Small Business Owners
Coronavirus Emergency Loans
Small Business Guide and Checklist
– The U.S. Chamber of Commerce
COVID-19 Action Platform – The
World Economic Forum
SmallBusinessMajority.org – Check
this site for daily updates and
webinars on the development and
COVID-19… how they could impact
small businesses… and how you
can prepare.
8 THE ALTUCHER REPORT
shutting down from the pandemic.
“Ask your insurance broker about
business interruption insurance to
cover unexpected major events and
see what qualifies for coverage. It
may not cover this emergency, but
you’ll be better prepared for the next
time your business suffers simi-
lar economic losses,” reports USA
Today.
8. Plan for the long term
Though China and other economies
are already starting to recover, the
spread of the coronavirus is still ex-
tending throughout the world, creat-
ing a ripple effect that will impact us
WeFunder.com – Raise emergency
coronavirus funds from your fans
for your small business.
And check out this list of free tools
and services you can use for your
business.
And Some Resources if
You Just Want to Help
ALONE Support and Befriending
Service – Help an elderly person
fight loneliness by becoming a
virtual friend.
iCouldBe.org – Become a virtual
mentor.
for some time.
As reported in SmallBizTrends,
"27% of businesses expect the coro-
navirus to have a moderate to high
impact on their revenue. Another
30% expect the virus to have a mod-
erate to high impact on their supply
chain.”
Speak to your suppliers, investors,
partners and local officials on a daily
basis to learn how you can start to
implement safeguards that will help
you stay above the red while officials
work to contain COVID-19. It might
be a while until your small business
gets back to business as usual.
Crisis Text Line – Become a crisis
counselor and help people going
through mental health issues dur-
ing these difficult times.
SaveOurFaves.org – This is a site
designed to help support local
restaurants in the San Francisco
area. But I bet similar sites exist for
other areas. For instance, in Port-
land, SOS is a support site for local
businesses. If something like this
doesn’t exist in your area, try mak-
ing your own support group.
GlobalGiving.org – You can donate
to this global coronavirus relief fund.
COVID-19 Survival Tips from a Former
Combat Medic
Jonathan Weiss is a for-
mer Navy Special War-
fare Combatant-Craft
Crewmember (SWCC)
and Special Operations
Combat Medic. He has
extensive experience in maritime special
operations and combat medicine. This is
chapter he wrote for the book Coronavi-
rus: How to Prepare, from the New York
Times bestselling editors at SOFREP.com.
As the coronavirus takes grip of
the world and panic surges across
communities, the actual facts of the
situation are often being ignored.
First and foremost, just to put
things in perspective, in spring
2009, the U.S. faced with the influ-
enza A/H1N1 virus, better known
as the swine flu. By spring 2010, 59
million Americans had contracted
the virus… 265,000 had been
hospitalized… and 12,000 had died
as a result of it. The World Health
Organization (WHO) labeled the
swine flu a pandemic.
More recently, during the current
2019–2020 flu season, the CDC es-
timates that 34–49 million people
contracted the flu… 350,000-
620,000 people were hospitalized…
and 20,000–52,000 died.
These are staggering numbers —
numbers that far surpass the cur-
rent COVID-19 numbers that are
being seen in the U.S.
With that being said, we don't
want to see anyone die or suffer
unnecessarily — that's why, at this
point, we need to do what is right
and take the proper precautions to
bring this pandemic to an end.
As a former Special Operations com-
bat medic, I have a few suggestions for
how we should combat COVID-19:
Stop panicking
The reason I listed those statistics
above is to help everyone under-
stand the gravity of our current
situation versus prior events. Our
country and the world have expe-
rienced events like this before. The
swine flu was pretty bad in 2009,
but life as we knew it never stopped.
I don't know if it's because of social
media, or smartphones, or the fact
that it's an election year, but this is
starting to spiral out of control.
Everyone is so quick to take drastic
measures that they're not thinking
about the long-term negative effects
of their actions. People are losing
thousands in the stock market and
many are out of work due to so
many events being canceled.
People are hoarding food, toilet
paper, soap, medical supplies, etc.
This is the worst thing to be doing
right now — yes, some of our sup-
ply chains have been interrupted,
but over-buying supplies is going to
create a negative chain-reaction for
the entire U.S. population.
Conduct good hygiene
First, I'm just going to say how
alarming it is that it takes an event
like this for people to go buy soap
and hand sanitizer. It sounds
simple, but humans are imperfect
and often fail to wash their hands.
Just putting soap and water on your
hands doesn't cut it: You need to
get soap into all crevices of your
fingers, scrub your fingernails,
wash the palms and back of your
hands. Pretend you’re going into
surgery, and sing Happy Birthday
twice to ensure you washed your
hands long enough. Constantly
apply hand sanitizer, especially
while out in public. When you use
hand sanitizer, scrub it around your
hands until it is completely dry.
Also, hold yourself accountable:
if you sneeze or cough on your
hands, wash them immediately
(even though you should be sneez-
ing and coughing into your sleeve).
Remember, we're in this together.
THE ALTUCHER REPORT 9
Hand discipline
We tend to always want to touch
our faces, our eyes, our mouths,
our ears, our noses (when no one's
looking). I'm guilty of it too.
Well, we all need to stop doing that
immediately. It's gross and it's a
sure-fire way to give ourselves the
virus if we've been near it.
It's also important that we don't
touch things while out in public.
Stay away from handrails. Push
doors open with your foot instead
of with your hand. Use your debit/
credit card instead of cash. Stop
shaking hands and hugging.
Leave the grandparents
alone
Research thus far has shown that
individuals 60 and older are more
susceptible to COVID-19 and are
more likely to experience severe
symptoms. Individuals over 80 are
at extremely high risk and have a
higher likelihood of dying from the
virus. Nursing homes throughout
the country are already closing
their doors to outside visitors.
Everyone should make it a point
to avoid contact with older people
when possible, in order to protect
them. With that being said, if you
do have an older family member or
friend, offer to go get their groceries
and supplies, and deliver their items
on the front porch. Keep them away
from the unsanitary public.
Maintain your personal
space
According to the CDC, the virus
is being spread by close (within 6
feet) human contact and through
respiratory droplets that enter the
air from sneezing and coughing.
So, make it a point to defend your
10 THE ALTUCHER REPORT
personal bubble and don't get too
close to others.
Sanitize
Whether at work or at home, clean
all surfaces thoroughly and often.
Depending on conditions, the virus
potentially can live for a few hours
up to a few days on surfaces.
Usually, we are able to maintain an
inventory of disinfectant wipes or
Clorox spray to kill germs. Since
the country is in panic mode and
these basic items are disappearing
from the shelf, you can make your
own homemade disinfectant spray.
All you need to do is mix 5 table-
spoons of bleach with a gallon of
water and you're ready to go.
If you're sick, stay at home
Whether you're sick with COVID-19
or anything else, just stay at home
(except to seek medical care). Right
now, we need to make an effort to
minimize the number of people get-
ting sick from anything. Everyone
is hypersensitive at the moment, so
even if they have the normal flu or
just a cold, they may fear the worst.
Additionally, it's important to
keep our immune systems strong.
We don't want to become immu-
nocompromised with any other
sicknesses (feel free to eat some
Vitamin-C gummies).
Also, unless you're sick, don't wear
a mask. Masks are in short supply
and are needed most by our health-
care providers and those that are
actually sick. If you are not sick,
wearing a mask will not prevent
you from contracting COVID-19.
No more large gatherings
Most institutions and governments
in the U.S. have shut down major
activities and events—so, we, as the
people, are having our decisions
made for us, regarding the ability
to attend populated events. But the
airlines are still flying, some cruise
ships are still sailing, and hotels are
still open, so travel and transporta-
tion decisions are still up to our
own discretion.
It is undoubtedly difficult to decide
whether to cancel a trip or a flight.
These decisions are up to each
individual.
You should ask yourself: what's
your appetite for things not go-
ing according to plan? What if
you get stuck at an airport or
potentially quarantined in a loca-
tion? How old are you and what
pre-existing health conditions do
you have?
These are all questions that people
should ask themselves before they
travel or attend events.
The right decision is not neces-
sarily black and white: a lot of
it depends on an individual's
threshold for risk. (But, if you
do follow the recommendations
listed in this article, you can
keep yourself much safer.)
Opinions vary on whether the
government, organizations, and
media are blowing this situation
out of proportion. At this point,
it doesn't matter: COVID-19 is
here and is heavily affecting our
daily lives.
The only way to get our lives back
to normal is to decrease the num-
ber of cases of COVID-19. This can
only be accomplished by everyone
heeding the requests and warnings
of our health professionals and the
government. If everyone makes
small sacrifices now, I believe this
virus, along with the social negative
impact, can be brought to an end in
the near future.
A Survival Shopping List for Any
Scenario
Brandon Webb is a
former U.S. Navy
SEAL Sniper. He
finished his time
in the Navy as the
Naval Special War-
fare Sniper Course
Manager. He is the founder and CEO
of SOFREP.com and CrateClub.com. A
New York Times bestselling author, he
is a member of YPO New York City and
Harvard Business School OPM 56.
What can you do to prepare
yourself and your family for
COVID-19 and all the craziness
surrounding it?
Losing strategy = wait until
something like this comes to a
theatre near you. Wait too long
and you're screwed.
Winning strategy = do some simple
preparation now and if the CDC
locks down your city, and you're
stuck, at least you'll be prepared.
So let's focus on winning, because
we've all seen enough "Outbreak"
types of movies showing empty
supermarket shelves. The time to
shop is BEFORE it happens, folks.
Some simple preparation you can do.
Basic survival shopping list:
• Four-week supply on perish-
ables. You're smart, do the
math.
• Clean drinking water. You can
also buy some plastic storage
containers and fill them up at
home to save $.
• Portable water filtration
(helps if you have to fill the
bathtub up to drink).
•H igh-calorie survival meals
that require no water or heat.
We call these Meals Ready to
Eat (MREs) in the military.
Buy only from trusted com-
mercial providers because the
real deal MREs are often faked.
No use giving yourself food
poisoning; buy the good stuff.
• Organic canned and dry food
options are a good alterna-
tive to the above. (Trust me,
I lived off MREs for a few
months in Afghanistan; it was
horrible. You'll want to mix
it up. Unless you don’t want
to be taking a crap for two
months, then avoid eating
only MREs all the time.)
• A good first aid kit.
• Over the counter pain and flu
medicine.
• Toiletries.
• Soap, alcohol hand rub.
• More water.
• Pet supplies and food.
• Good masks with filtration
(not the cheap ones). We
sourced some good ones here.
• If you have kids, better get
some board games.
• If you have infants, better
stock up on required baby
items.
• Portable radio with spare batter-
ies in case the internet goes out.
• A few LED headlamps for
when the lights go out.
They're hands-free and better
than flashlights.
• Portable GPS by Garmin (you
never know). I'm also a fan of
a map of your tri-state area.
REI has plenty of these.
• One good outfit you can put on
and wear for a week.
• One good backpack per per-
son in case you have to go for
a hike. Best to load it up with
a small first aid kit and food...
this is where those portable
water filters come in handy
too. We call this a "Go Bag" in
the SEAL Teams.
Most importantly: Have a simple
plan in place that all the family
knows in advance.
Meet here at Y, and do X. The simpler
the better.
I'm always surprised by how silly
people can be. We'll spend more
time planning a Disney vacation for
our family, or a trip to the Greek
islands than we do preparing a
simple survival plan and spending
a few hundred dollars at the store
for our family in case of a natural
disaster or worse.
A little preparation now, goes a long
way for when it matters.
THE ALTUCHER REPORT 11
The One-Day Coronavirus Book
Challenge
This is doable and there will be
demand.
A no-B.S. book that will help peo-
ple and spread rational thought in
an irrational media environment.
A lot of this info can be gained from
smart Googling.
THE ULTIMATE CORONAVI-
RUS BOOK:
WHAT IS THE CORONAVIRUS?
• Where did it start?
• Where did it continue to
spread?
• How does it work?
• How does it kill people?
• How does it spread?
• Conspiracy theories
• What we don't know yet.
WAYS OF DEALING WITH THE
CORONAVIRUS:
• Containment: does it work?
12 THE ALTUCHER REPORT
• Washing hands (sanitizer vs.
soap?)
• Symptom relief (Tylenol?)
• Cure research
• Vaccine research
• Social distancing.
HISTORY:
• Asian Flu (1957)
• Hong Kong Flu (1968)
• SARS
• MERS
• Avian and Swine Flus
• Zika, Ebola
• The differences between the
coronavirus and all others
• The differences between the
coronavirus and a cold.
ECONOMY AND THE
CORONAVIRUS:
• Short-term effects (supply
chain issues, oil, travel).
Check out ftportfolios.com
for a starting point
• Long-term effects (less reli-
ance on China for manufac-
turing)
• Political effects (will this af-
fect the election?).
PREPPING:
• The ultimate prep sheet
(various spreadsheets posted
online).
INVESTMENTS TO LOOK FOR:
• Oil
• India?
• General market? (what to
watch out for)
• Genomics
• Following the investments of
smart people (Sam Zell, Buf-
fett, etc.).
WHAT TO LOOK FOR:
• How is it spreading?
• Age and demographic of in-
fected, fatal cases
• S econd derivative of the
virus in each country (the
rate of change of the rate of
change)
THE RIGHT TWITTER AC-
COUNTS TO FOLLOW:
• Stick with the experts.
RESOURCES:
• Predictions of experts.
At the end of the book (and the
beginning), ask for people's email
addresses so they get regular up-
dates. Update the book at least once
a month.
Become a voice of reason in this
chaos.