We are all continuing to learn a lot during this COVID-19 outbreak. One of the more interesting takeaways from this entire scenario is the definition of what’s an “essential” business. During the show we talked about how “essential” businesses and operations are defined in our home state of Ohio which has been one of the states at the forefront of the coronavirus response thanks to the leadership of our Governor Mike DeWine.
One of the things we have a lot of experience with is turnaround situations in business. A turnaround situation in our books is simply defined as taking a company that is losing money and turning it around to making a profit. Why is this important in the current Coronavirus/COVID-19 world?
To say we live in uncertain times might be an understatement given the recent and ongoing changes to lives worldwide as we all wrestle with the fallout caused by the Coronavirus and COVID-19. As a business owner, it can be twice as difficult as you are dealing not only with your personal situation, but also your business. So how do you plan in uncertain times?
As you can probably appreciate, many folks don’t like to plan under normal circumstances. But when it comes to uncertain times and your business, as the owner you really have no other choice but to pull a plan together. The key is where do you start and how do you do it in a way that you can take action quickly?
We had so much fun talking about business plans last week that we only got about halfway through what we wanted to cover. This week we shared the rest of the story when it comes to business plans.
We hear all the time from frustrated small business owners who say all they need is a business plan. When we ask them why, it’s usually based on them hearing that from a bunch of people who ask them what their plan is for the business. What does this even mean?
Most owners start and fund the initial growth of their business through a combination of their own personal savings, borrowing from family and friends, and maxing out their credit cards. As those sources of money dwindle or become tapped out, the growth of the business can often be stifled by this lack of capital. It’s at this point that many business owners approach alternative money sources (e.g. bankers or investors)
Small business can be emotional. This isn’t a good or bad thing. It’s just a thing. It can be a great thing if you can get your team emotionally connected to the business where they start to take ownership of their decisions and activities.
This week we were joined in studio by Jeff Tomaszewski, owner and Chief Life Transformer at Max Strength Fitness. Max Strength Fitness is a different kind of training company where they focus on twenty minutes twice per week to transform you.
So you’ve been running your business for years or even decades. Some days you hardly have time to think. But you heard about a friend who recently sold her business or your spouse is asking when you’re going to retire. So how do you know you’re ready to sell your business? What do you need to do to get your business ready to sell?
This week we were joined in studio by Tom Wasinski, owner of Aerial Agents. Aerial Agents is Ohio’s premier aerial photography & videography company. As experts in UAS (unmanned aerial systems) or “drone” piloting, they specialize in capturing professional, high-quality aerial photographs and videos for our clients. Tom is also a graduate of the Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Business Program and he shared with us some of his key takeaways from that program in our monthly Goldman 10 for 10 segment which included how he was put in a lot of uncomfortable situations where he had to explain himself to strangers!