This past flag season, which is the second quarter of every year, it seems everybody in America was looking to represent themselves with a flag.

As the shipping boxes began to pile up by the recycle bin, so, too, did my guilt. How many trees had to die in the fulfillment of my consumerism? Shipping a single item per box with all its packing waste is not exactly earth friendly, but I rationalized that I was saving on fuel and reducing air pollution. It seems that, in all of life, there is a trade-off.

This week on my radio show, Up In Your Business, the returning guest from Arkansas’s Small Business Administration, State Director Edward Haddock, went over the new programs currently rolling out for small businesses. Having applied for both the Economic Injury Disaster Loan and the Paycheck Protection Program Grant, I felt it was important for me to share my experience with my listeners and demystify the process for my business peers. Here is what I learned:

Though it was only last week, it seems like a lifetime ago that Mayor Frank Scott’s secretary called and, most apologetically, canceled the mayor’s guest appearance on Wednesday’s live broadcast of Up In Your Business, saying a COVID-19 case had just been reported in Arkansas and Governor Asa Hutchinson had called an emergency coronavirus task-force meeting.