Coronavirus (COVID-19) Is Killing Our Small Business: SAVE Flex Comics

Flex Comics is the leading bridge between Geekdom and Fitness. We create webcomics along with punny pop-culture parody geek and fitness apparel. We’ve made hundreds of FREE webcomics over the last 6 years. Our goal is to make you smile.


COVID-19 Coronavirus is Killing Our Small Business

Meeting our Flexers at Comic Cons, Gaming Expos, and Fitness Events are the highlights of doing what we do. We love and live for it. More than 60% of our revenue comes from these events.

The Arnold Classic was canceled this week due to the Corona Virus. This is our largest show we do each year. It takes months of preparation.  Airfare, hotel, inventory, freight, vendor fees and expo handling charges are so far all non-refundable. This unexpected turn of events has landed a critical blow to our small home operated business.

We are the little guys in the pond at a show like the Arnold Classic. We go up against multi-million dollar brands with our small pop-up booth.  We max out our credit to showcase alongside the best of the best in the industry.  The Arnold Classic happens each year at the beginning of our tour. The success from it paves the financial way to attend other expos throughout rest of the year.  Simply put, we aren’t large enough to absorb such financial losses and survive very long.

Emerald City Comic Con just canceled their event over COVID-19 concerns. Which then pushes us out to Wondercon in a few more weeks.

We foresee more cancelations of large public events this year until the Corona Virus is contained. Although we understand and respect the decisions to do so, it means we won’t make it to the end of the year without going out of business.

Our 2020 Tour:

LA Fit Expo, CA
Level Up Expo, NV
C2E2, IL
Arnold Classic, OH
Wondercon, CA
AZ Women's Expo, AZ
Phoenix Fan Fusion, AZ
San Jose Fit Expo, CA
Anime AX, CA
Denver Pop Culture Con, CO
Anime Matsuri, TX
San Diego Pride, CA
San Diego Comic Con, CA
Game On Expo, AZ
Anaheim Fit Expo, CA
Mr. Olympia, NV
AthletiCon, GA
Tuscon Comic Con, AZ
San Diego Fit Expo, CA
Palm Springs Pride, CA

Update - Arnold Classic Canceled: Puts High Reps  out of business
Due to COVID-19 the Arnold Classic was cancelled. Our Father company Flex Comics (along with TuffnTiny  and Unicorn Muscle)  had booth spaces. We are a small home-run operation. It saddens us beyond words to have to close one of our growing ideas - High Reps  - in order to try and stay afloat with Flex Comics. 

We've Paid It Forward

We've given back along the way. We've donated, sponsored and helped countless causes, aspiring athletes, and events over the years. We've funded Children's Hospital visits with superheroes, Women's Shelter contributions, supported and worked with charities like Heartfelt Heros and Comic Care,  sponsored and supported the Cosplay community, and donated to many small and large lifting meets along with sponsoring many causes and fundraisers in the LGBT Community. All possible because you've supported us over the years with your likes, comments, swolfies, and shares.

Action Plan:

Step 1

25% Funded will help with our immediate financial setbacks:
- 8 incredible team members depend on us for income directly and an additional 6 crew members from our screen shop indirectly. Many of which have offered to work a few free days to help out (that's how amazing this crew is!).

Step 2

25%-50% Funded will help us Pay off debts:
- This is a takes-money-to-make money business. We have to front the costs of every expo we do months in advance.  We've maxed ourselves out to do the Arnold Classic and this has left us unable to move forward not only with upcoming expos but with our everyday operating expenses. 

Step 3

50%-100% Funded will help us build a workshop warehouse at Flex Ranch (where we do all this at).

- Building a workshop has been our ultimate dream since we started this business in a 700sft apartment. Aside from the much needed space to grow, it will help us add long-term stability to our brand. We won't have to rent a space and equipment for our screen printing operations. We can finally do it all in one place. We can also house all of our brands under one roof, allowing for easier ordering online across brands (TuffnTiny, Unicorn Muscle, Flex Comics) and order fulfillment. Keeping our internal costs as low as possible is our primary way of competing with big business. This will make a world of difference for us.

Call To Action: Toss a coin to your Flexers

If we’ve made you smile, if we've made fitness a little less intimidating for you, if we've helped you to embrace your inner geek, we ask that you help us continue putting that vibe out into the world. 

ANY amount will help. Spread the word!

Lift Long and Prosperous,

Jeremy Flex & The Flex Comics Team

saveFC.com

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