Their Life's Work: Lake in the Hills martial arts club now posts recorded training sessions

Illinois has more than 1 million small businesses. Each proprietor has a story to tell about how things have changed dramatically for them with the onset of the coronavirus, how they’re adapting, how they’re trying to hold it together and how their life’s work hangs in the balance. Here is another profile of three suburban small business owners in the third part of a continuing series.

"When this hit we realized if we don't move fast, we're going to go out of business," said Jim O'Hara, who with his wife, Marianne, opened Focus Martial Arts & Fitness 27 years ago. They've been in the same Lake in the Hills location for the last 17.

"And then all these people that were part of our program that benefit from what we offer are going to have another loss."

The O'Haras have started posting recorded training sessions each week for those whose schedules had gotten out of whack. They're also doing live Zoom classes, which Jim says are vital.

"The social coming together is important," he said. "There is a lot of isolation right now, which can lead to depression. I'm concerned about my families because people are going to die, or people close to them are going to die.

"We're looking into making changes so we can help them deal with those painful times that people are going to go through.

"We're lucky enough with the technology that we could adjust so that people are hanging in there longer than they would if we couldn't connect with them," he said.

"We're hoping to keep our heads high enough above water that we can make ends meet and we can rebuild it when we move through this."

• Do you know of a suburban small business with a compelling story to tell about working through the pandemic? Send photo director Jeff Knox a detailed email with LIFE'S WORK in the subject line at jknox@dailyherald.com, and we'll consider it.