To
the small business owner, to the self employed or to
the entrepreneur, who feels defeated by Hurricane
Katrina, please take a few minutes to read this:
On
this four-year anniversary of September 11th,
I noticed many people trying to find parallels between
9/11 and Katrina, and searching for a way to help. I
find myself with similar thoughts.
My
offices were located 100 yards from the World Trade
Center site on 9/11, and still are today. In the days,
weeks and months after 9/11, I had to deal with the
reality of trying to figure out how to save my small
business and safeguard the employment of my 32
employees … many who have been with me since Drum
Associates’ beginnings in 1967.
Looking back over the last four years, I realize that
the first thing I did right was to think about a game
plan … but most importantly I kept the spirit and
drive that had helped me to become a small business
owner in the first place. After 9/11, I was
emotionally scarred and the business was financially
devastated. Still, my family, friends, employees, and
clients stood by me and did everything they could to
help me weather the storm. However, through the
ordeal, there was always something missing: that one
person who could legitimately tell me they understood,
someone who could say “I understand and can help”,
“I’ve been through something similar and here is what
you have to do ....”, even “I can relate”. I
could’ve used someone like that to encourage me that
my business could survive and that the future wasn’t a
complete unknown.
So,
to the thousands of small business owners in the Gulf
Coast who have been adversely affected by Hurricane
Katrina, I would like to say, “I have been through a
similar tragedy and it is possible to keep your small
business alive!”
Clearly it is NOT going to be easy but with the right
drive, the right perseverance, and a plain old “back
to basics approach”, it can be done! Realize and
accept the fact that one could NEVER be properly
prepared emotionally or physically for a catastrophe
like Hurricane Katrina. You need to also realize that
it’s not your fault that you weren’t prepared for an
event the scope of Katrina. This is not something that
can be taught in business school or in books.
Unfortunately, experience is the only teacher.
Let
me clarify also that I can’t relate to the additional
horrors of losing a loved one, the shirt off my back,
or the shelter of my house. I wasn’t without food and
water, or sleeping on the ground or on the street.
What I can relate to is feeling lost: feeling that
years, if not decades, of hard work were gone. I can
relate to wondering how I was going to make payroll …
and I can relate to feeling the enormous pressure of
having to protect my immediate family and also my work
family. These pressures are the ones that keep you up
at night wondering “what next?” … “Where are the
answers?” Hopefully, the next few paragraphs will
help at least one entrepreneur, one small business
person or one self employed person stick with it, keep
working hard, keep holding on to those dreams that
seemed to disappear.
Obviously every business owner will have to consider
their own needs, but I wanted to provide a basic
process.
Stage
1:
·
Assess the physical and emotional damage.
·
Hold
a meeting with your team/company regarding how you can
help (any needs that they have). This allows the team
to know that you are on their side and it is not just
a business but more of a family. Once employees feel
that they are part of a family they are typically more
loyal.
·
Approach companies that still have working facilities
for temporary workspace and facilities. (Often,
customers, clients and even competitors will step
forward to offer assistance). People can also work
from home.
·
It is
critically important that you reach your clients as
soon as possible – by phone, email or mail – to assure
them that you’re still in business, and that you
haven’t quit.
·
Collaborate with local businesses to have a central
bulletin board where clients and vendors can be
notified of temporary changes of address and contact
information. These could be in town halls, local
libraries, or businesses can pool together for a
centrally located sidewalk bulletin board.
·
Put
together “Project Teams” and adjust the business
model:
- Relief Efforts Team: Put together a team to find out
about relief efforts, insurances for the company,
grants that the company can apply for, etc. Also find
information on what personal aid is available for the
family and individual level – local, state, federal,
etc.
- Strategy Team: Put together a strategy team to come
up with ideas on what to do next: (1) New business
ideas such as how can “our” company use our core
skills to help with this current situation? (2) are
there services or products that we can offer?
- Adjust the business model so that it is no longer “about
dollars” but more about efficiencies, especially when
the company is running in recovery mode.
·
Manage your vendors/suppliers so that your business
will continue to have a steady supply of essential
goods and services. Call your vendors to provide them
any temporary change of business address and contact
information. Give them a realistic payment schedule
for any pre-emergency balances due – and be sure to
honor that schedule, to maintain a good working
relationship. Remember, your business credit will be
affected if you renege on payments. Some vendors will
work with you to negotiate a reduced amount for past
due payments.
·
Your
banker is one of your most valuable allies. Arrange
to meet at your first opportunity, and request special
cooperation from the bank during this period. For
instance, ask for check clearing time to be reduced
when you receive checks from clients. This can be
crucial, making funds available to your business in a
matter of hours rather than days. If you have a line
of credit, consider moving those funds into your
checking account – so you have a less-restricted cash
flow. You can always move the funds back if they are
not needed.
Stage
2:
·
Continuously rally the troops – assure the team that
we will all work together and if we do, we will
eventually overcome and succeed.
·
Provide staff with more business information than
usual – this allows them to know that everyone is one
big team – when facts are disclosed, staff will not
have fear of the unknown (lay-offs, etc.) and can
apply themselves wholeheartedly to the process of
rebuilding.
·
If
necessary, ask office staff to volunteer their
services, or accept a pay cut, for a few weeks. Let
your staff have a date when this temporary measure
will be reviewed. Some salary, or the promise of a
salary, is better than no salary at all in the event
that the business is forced to permanently close.
·
As a
business owner, establish clear and measurable goals
for each employee. Discuss those goals with each
employee to make sure both parties see them as
essential, reasonable and attainable.
·
Devise a short and long term plan – assign “Project
Teams” to tackle the objectives of each initiative.
·
Understand and explain to everyone that business plans
need to be flexible in these times, and be willing to
take “Smart Risks” (new business ideas that can be
executed and, more importantly, are researched,
analyzed and found to be needed).
·
Re-assess employees’ talents. See how employees can be
used in addition to their current functions so that
the new business ideas can be implemented with current
staff, rather than spending money on outside sources.
·
Speak
to clients. See where you could be of help to them,
both within your main functions, as well as outside of
your main functions.
·
Work
on developing true partnerships with your clients.
Examples would be:
-
Ensuring that all agreements/contracts are mutually
beneficial.
-
Working on longer contracts that allow your clients to
benefit by discounted fees, vs. transactional
contracts that charge premiums.
-
Showing clients that you can help them on multiple
levels, including strategic counseling for the
particular service area that you are in.
-
True
Partnerships = Mutually Beneficial.
Stage
3:
·
Continuously respond to the needs of staff and
clients.
·
Keep
the environment upbeat – weekly team meetings, weekly
pizza lunches, achievement acknowledgement,
brainstorming sessions, etc.
·
Implement the projects and continue moving them along
the timeline.
·
Ensure that you are an “added value” to your client(s):
stay consistent and work at the highest level of
performance (this is a time where clients will
eliminate any “vendor” that is not as strong as the
other ones).
·
Ensure that everyone internally is pulling their
weight (weak links stick out like sore thumbs in these
environments, and they drag down team morale).
·
Continuously look at adversity as an opportunity for
advancement and change for the better! This is not
something you would have chosen to have happen – but
now that it has, think back to all the things you
would have done differently when you ran your
business. This is an opportunity to do it over again
– and to build it better than it ever was before.
Remember that you as an entrepreneur or a small
business person are a special breed and can find a way
to go beyond your normal capacity! Always keep
fighting … if you can think outside the box, use the
resources that you have and can inspire your team to
work together … you will be able to create new
opportunities. You can and will get through this
ordeal. Sitting in my offices 4 years after 9/11,
watching them break ground on the footprint of the WTC
site, my business is out of the woods – and we’re
having our best year since 1999. It CAN BE DONE!!!
©
