“The Leadership Perspective” is a series of articles on LinkedIn designed to assist millennials and emerging leaders with navigating difficult situations. Each week, successful business leaders provide targeted, actionable advice to enhance your perspective and improve your leadership skills.
The first Leadership Perspective Panel features three small business owners and hospitality industry leaders:
Julie Freed, Principal at Freed Events LLC
Dr. Lalia Rach, Founder and Partner of Rach Enterprises
Tim Glanzer, CEO of Elevated Meeting Solutions
In this unsettling time of the COVID-19 crisis, small business owners are confronting our new reality: suspended contracts, cancelled work, halted cashflows, and increased uncertainties. The significant decrease in business offers us the unique gift of time as well as the interesting question of how to fill it. This week’s panel discusses how you can stay busy when you don’t have business:
Button Up your Bottom Line
To overcome this short-term challenge, small business owners must revisit and review the financial status of their business in detail. Like the approach to social distancing, it is imperative to recognize the essentials. Julie Freed suggests, “run a cash flow spreadsheet to get a handle on your inflow and outflow…then cut back on any necessary expenses, including subscriptions to apps, data base systems, etc. Everything adds up!” When your expenses are under control, learn about the government relief options so that you can access the cash you need.
Stay Connected and Stay Relevant
Many businesses are conflicted with generating sales and respecting consumer spending patterns during this difficult time. So, what is your best course of action?
Tim Glanzer explains, “Relationships are everyone’s business. Now is a great time to activate your network and build your relationships, not by selling your services but by serving your clients and partners during this very unique time. Create conversations of collaboration and support with your clients and define how you can work together in the new normal”.
Keep your message clear and concise. Your ability to clearly communicate how you plan to help your clients showcases the value that your business creates for them, which is ultimately what your clients care about most. Just as important, make sure to recognize and empathize with those who are affected, professionally and even personally, by COVID-19.
Use this time to strengthen your relationships with your clients, colleagues, industry partners and create new connections. Tim adds, “more than ever, our ability as business owners to stay connected and relevant to our industries is vital to the success we will experience when this challenging time passes”.
Be Adaptable
When we return to the office, business won’t be quite as usual. The predictable past is over. Things are and will continue to be different. And as we endure this period of chaos and disruption, adaptability is becoming a sign of true leadership.
Dr. Lalia Rach suggests we take the quote “necessity is the mother of invention” to heart. She encourages business owners to ask themselves, “what do clients need, can you provide a different service to meet their needs? This requires different thinking to gain a new perspective. Thinking beyond your normal line of sight. Individuals who are creative and flexible will always be needed. How you let others know this is the key to success”.
You make the decision to put adaptability into action. When you look back at this crisis, what do you want to remember?
Learn more about government-assisted option for your business by visiting sba.gov, uschamber.com or reading this Washington Post article.
Maggie Glasser is the founder and owner of Maggie Glasser Enterprises, a boutique consulting business that provides strategic guidance in sales, business development, and client services to hospitality businesses and event agencies. She writes about topics that provide business professionals with actionable advice to improve their skills and advance in their careers.
