The Covid-19 pandemic has brought the world to a standstill, with most countries in some form of lockdown for the past three months. For businesses, it has been a devastating time. Forced to close their doors or switch to remote working, the pandemic has drastically changed the business environment. As companies struggle to adjust, there […]
Strategic Planning
How to Use COVID-19 Crisis to Refocus Your SME
There may be no business in America that has not felt the impact of COVID-19 one way or another. SMEs are more likely to be disproportionately affected by the crisis; in fact, more than 60 percent of smaller businesses believed that their revenue was likely to shrink in the next six months. Where larger businesses […]
Your Local Business Can Survive COVID–19
A few short weeks ago everything was so great. The weather was getting warmer, business was brisk. The stock market was soaring, and customers were flowing through the door. Now – Disaster! The Coronavirus, COVID-19, has completely upended your plans for 2020. No one is leaving the house, never mind visiting your store. The market […]
Making the Best of a Bad Situation: Covid-19
COVID-19 has brought negativity into virtually every aspect of our lives, not least in business. As an entrepreneur, the threat to the very future of your company cannot be ignored. Despite the fact that the immediate sales opportunities are limited, it’s still possible to turn this situation into a productive one. Pixabay CC0 License In […]
How to Speed Up The Checkout Process For Your Customers
One thing that’s absolutely certain when it comes to running a retail operation is that customers hate waiting in long lines. This is especially true during the Coronavirus social distancing guidelines, when people prefer not to stand too closely to one another. The checkout process should be short, simple, and efficient. If your customers have […]
COVID-19 Is a Black Swan Event–Do You Even Know What Questions to Ask?
Great executives and managers seem to intuitively know what they don’t know. But it is not at all uncommon to not even know what questions to ask. Who would have thought about COVID 19 and public’s panic responses? Image credit: Alexas_Fotos / Pixabay One week we all thought we had our responses dedicated to supply […]
CoronaVirus and Small Business: A Discussion About Economics
The CoronaVirus (Covid-19) will potentially cause some real economic disruptions in the US. Specifically, it will have an adverse affect on small and medium-sized businesses. Here are some tips to consider. Advice to managers, entrepreneurs With a multitude of caveats, it might be worthwhile to heed the following advice: Anticipate the worst, prepare for it, […]
5 Ways to Lead Through the Coronavirus Crisis
Small businesses are especially vulnerable during this latest public health crisis. Supply chain issues, voluntary social distancing by customers, fear among employees about short term layoffs (not to mention their own health concerns) and financial management are just a few of the challenges that face the small business owner. Circumstances like these, however, also provide […]
Do Those Summaries. Use Those Frameworks. But Don’t Think They Replace Business Planning.
There is some bad advice floating around in the startup world. Useful as the Lean Canvas is, and despite some well-intentioned suggestions of summaries, those are not business plans. They don’t deal with the drivers and components of cash flow. They don’t set milestones, metrics, and tracking. You can’t run a business with them. And […]
Do This to Develop Leaders Who Are Strategy-Driven
Every successful small business faces the challenge of growth. When that happens, others must be relied upon to provide the same level of commitment, smarts, and grit to get the job done. Developing others with the same passion as yourself is never easy. Research indicates, however, that a planned and intentional approach that focuses on […]
