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Making it Work

How creators and businesses are trying to thrive in 2020

Illustration by Claudia Chinyere Akole

The Verge presents Making It Work, a special issue about how small businesses have found clever and creative ways to adapt to the current climate, be it the pandemic, sweeping tech platform changes, or literally the climate. Whether it’s selling face masks on Etsy, hosting 10,000-person dance classes through streaming video, or getting a community to take COVID testing seriously with free tacos, these are stories about how the internet has enabled scrappy underdogs and thoughtful problem-solving.

Illustrations by Claudia Chinyere Akole

The mask barons of Etsy

How a couple of mom-and-pop shops made millions selling masks

Jacob Kastrenakes
COVID ruined weddings, so now people are eloping on Instagram

It’s the Vegas wedding chapel for social media

Zoë Schiffer
Boring, mundane businesses have an exhilarating, viral life on TikTok

Landscaping gone viral

Jacob Kastrenakes
The 10,000-person dance party streaming in your living room

How Dance Church became the mega event of quarantine

Zoë Schiffer
The links that do it all, and the scrappy startups that power them

The link-in-bio side hustles are moving to full-time

Ashley Carman
Facebook is turning VR into a platform — but some indie developers fear its power

‘We’re basically guinea pigs.’

Adi Robertson
The diner that isn’t afraid to piss off Seamless, or customers who use it

Seamless fees could’ve squashed Golden Diner if the chef hadn’t pushed back against third-party delivery apps

Alexandria Misch
Zen and the art of bicycle fenders

There’s joy at the end of this Rain-Bow

Thomas Ricker
To fight the pandemic, a Brooklyn restaurant turned to tacos

Brooklyn’s Jalapeño King offered tasty tacos and tortas to encourage more COVID-19 testing among migrant families

Chantal Flores
The mask barons of Etsy

How a couple of mom-and-pop shops made millions selling masks

Jacob Kastrenakes
COVID ruined weddings, so now people are eloping on Instagram

It’s the Vegas wedding chapel for social media

Zoë Schiffer
Boring, mundane businesses have an exhilarating, viral life on TikTok

Landscaping gone viral

Jacob Kastrenakes
The 10,000-person dance party streaming in your living room

How Dance Church became the mega event of quarantine

Zoë Schiffer
The links that do it all, and the scrappy startups that power them

The link-in-bio side hustles are moving to full-time

Ashley Carman
Facebook is turning VR into a platform — but some indie developers fear its power

‘We’re basically guinea pigs.’

Adi Robertson
The diner that isn’t afraid to piss off Seamless, or customers who use it

Seamless fees could’ve squashed Golden Diner if the chef hadn’t pushed back against third-party delivery apps

Alexandria Misch
Zen and the art of bicycle fenders

There’s joy at the end of this Rain-Bow

Thomas Ricker
To fight the pandemic, a Brooklyn restaurant turned to tacos

Brooklyn’s Jalapeño King offered tasty tacos and tortas to encourage more COVID-19 testing among migrant families

Chantal Flores

Table of contents

COVID ruined weddings, so now people are eloping on Instagram
Boring, mundane businesses have an exhilarating, viral life on TikTok
The mask barons of Etsy
The links that do it all, and the scrappy startups that power them
The 10,000-person dance party streaming in your living room
Zen and the art of bicycle fenders
To fight the pandemic, a Brooklyn restaurant turned to tacos
The diner that isn’t afraid to piss off Seamless, or customers who use it
Facebook is turning VR into a platform — but some indie developers fear its power
COVID ruined weddings, so now people are eloping on InstagramCOVID ruined weddings, so now people are eloping on Instagram
Boring, mundane businesses have an exhilarating, viral life on TikTokBoring, mundane businesses have an exhilarating, viral life on TikTok
The mask barons of EtsyThe mask barons of Etsy
The links that do it all, and the scrappy startups that power themThe links that do it all, and the scrappy startups that power them
The 10,000-person dance party streaming in your living roomThe 10,000-person dance party streaming in your living room
Zen and the art of bicycle fendersZen and the art of bicycle fenders
To fight the pandemic, a Brooklyn restaurant turned to tacosTo fight the pandemic, a Brooklyn restaurant turned to tacos
The diner that isn’t afraid to piss off Seamless, or customers who use itThe diner that isn’t afraid to piss off Seamless, or customers who use it
Facebook is turning VR into a platform — but some indie developers fear its powerFacebook is turning VR into a platform — but some indie developers fear its power