Take your Time - Work ON Your Business during the Pandemic

Hi everybody, my name is Marc Haine. I decided I wanted to put together a quick little video, and I hope to goodness you can hear me, because I have been talking to some business owners and I know that during this unprecedented event, this crisis with this pandemic, I know that you are probably extremely scared, that there's a lot of uncertainty. Because this is something that we don't know how to control. It is outside the scope of our control, and it's resulting in business owners closing their doors, laying off staff. They're scared because they have very little income or no income at all. And, you know, you have things like rent due and still have fixed costs to have to manage, and it is a really tough time. And businesses are shutting down not because Of some massive catastrophe, in that it's not a physical catastrophe like a tornado or a massive flood or the things that are closing down businesses and communities all over the world. But this is a common disaster. This is a disaster that's happening all through— throughout the planet. Wherever there are people, this disaster is coming. And so it is forcing us to close down our businesses. When our businesses are still rather viable. And this is so devastating to the livelihoods of yourself, of the business owners, but also livelihoods of their employees. You know, I watched a, um, a very nice broadcast yesterday. They interviewed a hair salon owner in Montreal, and he said in his, uh, in his broken English, he says, uh, I have to support my family. And he goes on to talk about how he defined his family wasn't just his immediate family but the people who work for him as well. And so, he said he has 18 families that he's worried about. And that's a rather impactful statement to say because I think that we all as business owners have this same kind of challenge. That we all have these families that rely on our businesses. We are major contributors to our communities. It gets really scary when you think about the Canadian Federation of Business expects that about 25% of small businesses will not survive for more than a month if they have a drop in income of more than 50%. And that is really scary to be able to have to look at your business. And I can't imagine what that must feel like if you're one of them, that you can look at a line in the calendar and say, if it continues past we no longer have a viable business. And I, I'm really hoping that that is not you. You know, my background is hospitality and tourism, and hospitality and tourism is a people business. It is a business that relies on supporting and gathering people together, usually in some sort of celebration, or even, you know, if you think about How criminals are being impacted right now. We we can no longer bring people together, and the hospitality and tourism trade is all about creating experiences for people, creating experiences that become memorable. You know, we're talking about businesses like restaurants, hotels, banquet and catering operations, casinos, meeting venues, theaters, playhouses. Museums, theme parks. I mean, all of these things are being affected right now. And without people, hospitality has no business. And when you think about, you know, things like suppliers, suppliers are being affected. Suppliers to these industries are being affected. When you think about like meeting planners and event planners, when you think about my other realm, you know, professional speakers, all their Contracts are getting cancelled throughout the world right now. So this is a really, really difficult time. But at the end of the day, this is temporary. What makes it painful is we don't know when it's going to end, but it will at some point end. There will be a new reality with this disease that we haven't realized yet. And whether that is— that's just gonna be vaccines or whatever, is going to become that new reality. It will change. You know, human history is full of times when catastrophic events have taken place and mankind has not only been able to survive, but it's been able to thrive. And I think this is no different. But it is scary because by all reports, we still have— I think yesterday they said 4 to 5 weeks in Alberta from the pandemic hitting its peak. That's 4 to 5 weeks before we see the worst of it. So this is not going to go away quickly. But I do believe that in the throes of chaos, new opportunities will emerge. But I think it's only going to emerge if you are ready for them. So I'd like to maybe share 3 points of focus with you that we could, we could maybe talk about. The first— and please feel free to throw something in the chat window, I'll try to keep my eyes open for it. But 3 points of focus. First of all, we must look after people first. There is absolutely nothing more important than the health and safety of people. And we're talking about, of course, yourself and your families, but your staff and their families. We're talking about our neighbors. We're talking about our customers. We're talking about our communities. You know, just before I went live here, I got an email from IGA, from Sobeys. Saying that they are creating community funds now so that operators within their communities can do whatever they need to, to help support the communities in which they operate. To me, that is wonderful corporate citizenship. And so we have to be out looking first and foremost towards people before we do anything else. The other thing that we need to do is we need to really look at our communication. We really need to stay in tune with what's going on. And I know it is so tough to be turning on the news every single day and all we're hearing is the devastation that COVID-19 is creating havoc around the world. It's, it's really tough and it is a horrible situation, but having to listen to it is even harder. Sometimes mentally it's hard, but we have to stay abreast of what's going on. I know in the States today, I believe that Trump is going to be announcing some massive payout to be able to sustain communities across the US. I know tomorrow the Parliament is getting together and they're going to be passing some objectives to be able to get businesses out and supporting the welfare of their employees and so on. These are all things that are coming in. It's important for us to stay in communication, to understand what's going on. Take that a step further, you have to be talking to your staff. I mean, if you're sitting at home thinking, oh my God, what's going on with my business? What am I gonna do? Imagine what your employees are doing right now. They're probably looking and saying, where the heck am I gonna pay my rent? How the heck am I gonna get through this? Right? And I know people are calculating. I know people that I've talked to just recently are starting to calculate what their EI payment would be and thinking, okay, what do I need to cut in order just to make my rent and put food on the table? It's tough. You have to talk with your landlords. If you rent a brick-and-mortar and you have a landlord, you have to be talking to your landlord and figuring out a strategy for your business. I just read again this morning that Restaurants Canada is asking the government to make evictions illegal. So there, I mean, obviously there's a fear if you're not paying your rent or if you're empty in an empty building, that's, you know, your landlord might Initiate a legal process in order to evict you, especially if maybe you're not on very good terms. I'm hoping that's not the case, but that is definitely an opportunity for landlords to maybe even do that. And so Restaurants Canada is going out and asking the government, please make this illegal during this process. Make it so that landlords cannot evict tenants at this point in the process. You need to be talking to your suppliers. Find out what their issues are as well and what opportunities they might have for you as well. You might owe them money. You might owe them, you know, they might have delivered stock that, or they might even be sitting on stock. And so, if we go back to point number 1 where we're thinking about the people, maybe there's an opportunity to create some sort of a partnership where you can use whatever resources you have to help feed your community as well. And of course, it would probably be a really good idea to keep in contact with your customers. Your customers become your loyal customers or your loyal fans, and they deserve communication. They deserve to hear from you. And don't be afraid of telling them what is actually really going on. Tell them what your problems are. Tell them what is ailing you. Because if I'm right and you have really good customers, they're the ones who are going to be with waving the flag on your behalf in order to make things happen. So it's really important to stay on top of that. Other resources you should be looking at too is talk to your banks. You know, some, some people have mortgages and loans. We could ask them to defer loan payments. You can even maybe secure some renovation or business development loans or even lines of credit so that you can push forward other things within your business as new opportunities come to the fore. Again, you know, the government is really focused on wanting to get you and your employees back to work, right? Another avenue you could touch with, of course, is your local Chamber of Commerce. You could be talking with your trade association and your various business associations. I know here in Alberta, we have Community Futures in various different communities. We have the BDC is up and around. I know that I've been keeping an eye on what Service Credit Union and ATB are having to say. Even the World Bank is putting out memos to their clients. There's a lot of people on your side wanting to make sure that you don't close your doors. And so, with the government being really motivated to get people back to work, there's going to be a ton of programs out there that you might be able to take advantage of. And then point number 3 is think about the future of your business. I don't mean sit there going, oh my goodness, my business is terrible. I don't mean think of it in that context. I think that right now, the fact that we have slow volumes or no volumes, this is the perfect time now to start thinking about your business, start working on your business. Typically, when we're in operation, we're so busy working in our business, making money, generating revenue, making sure that we're sustainable and we keep pushing forward, that we stop really working on our business. Especially if you're a 1 or 2 person operation, a family business maybe. These tend to be set by the wayside. Some strategy stuff gets set on the wayside. But now is a perfect time for you to be able to sit down and start looking at your business plan. Look at your marketing plan. What's been working? the last 5 years? What hasn't been working? What would you, if you could do the Bewitched twinkle your nose, what is it that you could do, would love to do if you had that magic bullet? And now's the time that you can start creating these strategic plans to start putting this down so that when you reopen, that you'll be able to initiate some of this. You could take a look at your policies. If you have workplace policy or safety policies, HR policies, You could start taking a look at all this stuff that really takes time and attention away when you're working in your business. This is really something that you could sit down now and start really cranking out. And I would strongly recommend that you do this with your team on virtual meetings or on telephones. Sit through and talk about things that have worked for you in the past and try to debug that a little bit. It's a perfect time to look at your product or service offering. What can you do better? What can you do that's going to, when you reopen, is going to shine to your fans and to your community? And you notice I've been saying when you open. I'm not saying if you're going to open. You know, I subscribe to Jack Canfield's philosophy of think as if. You know, I think that we have to go forward and say we are going to reopen, right? And to that end, I would say now would be the time, perfect time to freshen up your property. If you have a brick and mortar, it's a perfect time to get contracts in, get contractors in if you need new upholstery and so on, but only if it's safe to do so. That's my only proviso. Um, some, some in some areas it might not be safe to be able to bring people in because of social distancing and so on, but if it's a question of, you know, taking the bench seats and getting them reupholstered or getting a new coat of paint on the walls, these type of things, there are small things that you can do that aren't very costly that will help not only get your business fresher or up to speed, but it'll also create some economic spin-off as well. One of the big questions you should be asking yourself at this point is, are there any new markets emerging? Are there new things now that in the scope of the pandemic, of the crisis, are there any new markets that are emerging that you're going to see I think personally that the worst thing that we can do is sit around and do nothing. I talk to a lot of business owners, and unfortunately there are quite a few who are sitting around just harping on this issue. They, they're scared, and that's absolutely understandable. But I suggest that if we're harping on the issue, we're not dealing with the issue. If we're not looking at and and investigating all the different resources out there, then we are not dealing with the issue. We're just crying the woe is me. And I know that as a business owner, you have had the fortitude and perseverance to start your own business. You've seen ups, you've seen downs. This is just a really bad down, something really horrible. This is a really horrible hiccup to your dreams and your aspirations. And I understand that. But folks, this is not the end of the world. Personally, bigger than the COVID-19 disease is the disease of apathy, the disease of not doing anything and expecting that the world will bail you out. And as much as the government is trying their best to do their things, please don't rely on the rest of the ether to do the work for you. You still have to get the work done. So I'd like you to call your team. I want you to look after your people first. Stay in the loop. You know, even put together a list of resources as they come to fore. Have a piece of paper, and as you hear about new programs, write them down so that you have something, a checklist. You can call up one of your staff and say, hey, do me a favor, go online and investigate this. Discuss your business's future. What can you do now to make your reopening impactful. You know, for no other reason than that I'm homebound and doing my part in social distancing, all my contracts have been canceled and I have a lot of free time on my hands right now. But you know what, if you'd like to talk about your situation, maybe do some brainstorming, I would love it if, you know, you along with your team, would schedule a free, free 30-minute session with me. I can't promise to solve all the problems, and maybe I can help. I might not be able to do a lot for you. I don't know. But you know what? Just having somebody to listen to you, and I do have tons of resources. I do know lots of people in the small business world. As a past economic development officer, I understand the headspace that you're in. But, you know, maybe I can help push you towards some resources that might help you. And I'm willing to do this absolutely free. I promise there's no sales pitch, no nothing. It is literally just a 30-minute conversation. Listen to what you have to say. We can brainstorm some ideas and maybe help move you forward. I don't know. But it's worth a 30-minute call. I'm more than happy to do it. I will post a link to my online scheduling software down below. Unfortunately, the— my feed thing didn't work properly, so I can't pop it up on the screen like I was going to because that would have been so cool. But it's, it's going to be there. And if worse comes to worse, you can always email me, Marc with a C, marc@marchaine.com, if you need to get a hold of me. Now Or you can go to my LinkedIn profile. All my details are there. Anyway, so, you know, 5 weeks ago— and I was, I was really kind of just thinking about this over the weekend— you know, 5 weeks ago, we were all arguing about politics and the economy and climate change. That was top of our mind, right? We were thinking oil and gas in Alberta. We were thinking climate change all over the place. The rail lines had been closed down, and we're talking about the impact of that. But right now the virus has changed our priorities and our focus. I think that, and I, well, I hope and I think and I pray that this virus is actually making us more human, that this virus is getting us to, to really prioritize what is important to us. And first and foremost, I think it is going to be people in our communities, and this is where our small businesses are set up. I mentioned it before. If you are a business owner, this is a hiccup. It is something that we will tell our grandchildren about and will go down in history as a dark time, just like we're talking about you know all the Spanish flus and all the plagues that happened before. So this is a dark time, but I truly believe if you take steps now. to continue to develop and hone your business. Even if it's closed, you can be like the phoenix rising from the ashes when this is all over. I think that you can reestablish, reinvent, and restore something that is actually better than what you had before. I'm glad we could spend this time together. My name is Marc Haine. Please dare to be the exception. Thanks for joining me today.