Planning for the future right now is extraordinarily difficult. We know that unemployment is at record high levels. High unemployment is a signal the economy is going to tank. When consumer spending drops significantly (like when lots of folks lose their jobs), the consumer companies get hit first, but pretty soon the whole economy suffers. Worse…
It looks like the US will be reopening slowly, perhaps county by county, but the fact is that where ever you are, your business will eventually get the chance to resume working in the office. When that chance comes, what will you do? At this point, my assumption about the “Level 1” opening is that…
Over the last couple of weeks, I’ve had some anxious conversations with business owners who are looking at their workload, and their staff and wondering, “Do I need to make some cuts?” To answer that question, we need to have a solid look at your finances, and a point-of-view about what the future holds. How…
I had been getting anxious emails from one of my clients for a couple of days. Each day the anxiety seemed to be getting higher and higher. She was worried about the future of her business. (Aren’t we all!) It seemed like every night she’d wake up, and her mind imagined another doomsday scenario that…
It’s only when the tide goes out that you learn who has been swimming naked. ~ Warren Buffett What’s going on right now is not a test, but it is showing you what’s not working. If you step back from the crisis a couple of paces and look at your business overall, the stress of…
I started my business in April of 2001, 5 months into my new business’ life the US economy froze completely, and my fledgling business shut down with it. I was lucky that one of my clients needed an interim VP, and I spent nine months working for them before restarting my business. I spent the…
For the last three weeks, I’ve been working with business owners grappling with the impact of the coronavirus shutdown on their business. We’ve been thinking not just about the immediate impacts Sending people to work-at-home Securing existing business as clients start to wavier Adjusting your sales and marketing strategy But also thinking about what it’s…
I was onboarding a new client, she was telling me about some challenges she faced running her branding firm when she said, “I don’t do numbers.” “Excuse me? What was that?” I asked. “I don’t do numbers. I’m more of an art person; math, and numbers aren’t my thing.” “I see. You don’t do any…
Here in Chicago, we’ve just completed our third week under a “Shelter in Place” order. Three weeks of working from home, kids underfoot, hunting for toilet paper, and a thousand more adjustments. We’ve gotten our team settled, reached out to clients and prospects, applied for our PPP Loan, reworked our budget for 2020, and made…
I’ve talked to a lot of business owners this week and heard a lot of different stories. Some are fielding record numbers of new business requests; others had seen their business drop by 50% or more. Some who don’t know anyone who had suffered from the virus, others who had seen friends and family members…