A pivot to selling face masks saved small businesses. Here's what they learned from a year of selling the world's most in-demand product.

Darwin Manahan sat at the head of his dining table, surrounded by a team of friends helping out with his events business. To Manahan's right, his business partner, Pascale, was confirming the final sponsor for the Barbie festival they would be working that weekend.

It was March 3, 2020, in Los Angeles, four days before Manahan's birthday. His pregnant wife, Nikki, was walking around the apartment working on aprons for another business that the couple founded together, Manahan & Co. It would provide custom aprons for the staff at the festival, enough orders for the month.

Everything was locked in — staff and vendors secured, paperwork signed, equipment purchased, and apron fabric on its way.

A half hour later they got a call that summed up what the rest of the year would feel like for business owners across America: Because the coronavirus was sweeping the nation, the Barbie festival was cancelled.

The group was in shock. Dizzy and sick to his stomach, Manahan shut his laptop.

"Either I can laugh or cry," he recalled thinking. "I guess I'll choose the latter and laugh about it because it just seems so unreal."

In the days that followed, the COVID-19 pandemic decimated a year fully booked with events, restaurant openings, and apron orders. "In the span of a weekend, everything disappeared," he said. "It was an amazing shit show."

With a baby on the way, he and his wife needed a new stream of income, and fast. Then, days before LA issued its stay-at-home order, Manahan's brother-in-law called from Japan telling them about the country's shortage of face masks. He suggested the couple use their extra apron fabric to make some. Manahan asked, "What else am I going to do?"

In 2020, face masks hit the American retail market with unprecedented demand as federal guidelines began declaring masks to be one of the most effective ways to reduce the spread of the coronavirus.

From April to June, Etsy facilitated $346 million in mask sales. Between April 2020 and February 2021, the online printing service Vistaprint sold $90 million in masks, selling up to five masks every minute in its peak months of July and August, a representative said.

Around the country, as 800 small businesses closed daily, business owners turned to these face masks as a way to make up for lost sales from mandatory closures, stay-at-home orders, and physical-distancing requirements. While some spotted an opportunity to help their communities and generate extra revenue, others relied on mask sales for the survival of their businesses.

Today, many are selling masks and their flagship products, and the lessons in agility, innovation, and perseverance taught by COVID-19 are going to stick around long after the pandemic has ended.