The American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA), its business and technology arm, CPA.com, and fintech leader Biz2Credit today announced they are teaming up on a new platform, CPALoanPortal.com, to streamline the process for CPA firms advising small businesses both on loan forgiveness under the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) and additional small business financing options that clients may need to fund growth.

The platform adds new CPA-centric capabilities to the automated PPP loan forgiveness tool (PPPForgivenessTool.com) the companies introduced in July that has been used by over 30,000 borrowers and more than 5,000 CPAs and financial professionals so far. It incorporates the PPP forgiveness calculator developed by the AICPA and is available to any business approved for a PPP loan. The platform produces all government forms required under the PPP program, supports calculations on payroll and other expenses, and produces a master report with the applicant’s electronic signature that can be delivered to the underwriting lender.

The basic loan forgiveness tool is included in CPALoanPortal.com, with enhanced functionality now available specifically for CPA firms to support clients more efficiently. These features include:

• ·Functionality that allows firms to easily aggregate clients, customize engagements and track progress on loan and financing applications
• ·Integration to additional lending options for clients
• ·Enhanced customer service for CPA firms

Two subscription tiers, premium and enterprise, are available based on the number of users and volume of loan applications a firm is managing. The original basic loan forgiveness application service remains free.

“Over the past six months, CPA firms have played a defining role with their clients around the different business relief programs, especially the Paycheck Protection Program,” said Erik Asgeirsson, president and CEO of CPA.com. “We have been helping the 44,000 firms provide advice and direction to their clients through our weekly AICPA Town Halls and resource tools. We’re now taking the next step in launching a cloud-based business relief platform for firms to use in providing these services. In many ways, this is developing into a strategic service line for firms and it is important for them to have professional tools to support it.”

The PPP is part of the CARES Act stimulus package and was designed to help businesses impacted by the coronavirus pandemic to maintain operations and payroll. PPP loans are forgivable if borrowers follow guidelines on payroll spending set by the Small Business Administration (SBA) and Treasury Department, which administer the loan program. 

 “The PPP loan forgiveness process is only the start of the journey to recovery for many small businesses,” said Biz2Credit CEO Rohit Arora. "Many will need continued support and sound financing as the economy continues to slowly recover from the impact of the pandemic. That’s why the additional lending options we’re providing in CPALoanPortal.com are critical.

“It’s also crucial that CPAs play a key role in guiding small businesses through these decisions, particularly when it comes to financing,”  added Arora, one of the nation’s leading experts in small business finance. “We’re committed to helping firms serve their clients better at this critical time and in the future.”

For more information, visit CPALoanPortal.com. The site has FAQs and other details about signing up for the new service.

Small businesses might find it hard to navigate the Paycheck Protection Programs forgiveness program, reports the Cleveland Business Journal.

Development consultant Alrich Lynch has a Paycheck Protection Program loan — and now he has a forgiveness problem.

Read the article on Cleveland Business Journal

According to Politico, the Payroll Protection Program is running into problems as the program struggles to convert the loans into grants that can be forgiven.

When the government pledged to give small businesses billions of dollars in rescue loans during the pandemic, it was an offer almost too good to refuse: The loans could be forgiven if employers only maintained payroll

Read the article on Politico

After a disaster small businesses could engage a public adjuster; a professional that will help them navigate the insurance process, reports USA Today.

The morning of Sept. 9 started out as any other for Brian Garrison, owner of Garrison’s Home and Garrison’s Sleeper in Southern Oregon. Just a few hours later, he saw two of his four stores burned to the ground in a fire that swept through the Rogue Valley, Oregon.

Read the article on USA Today

The COVID-19 pandemic is putting people out of work, slowing down lots of industries, and causing businesses to close. But at the same time, an uncertain chapter in America’s economic history may provide opportunities for individuals looking for a fresh start – or a soft landing.

Nearly half of small business owners in the U.S. are 65 and older, and a good number are considering selling their business rather than putting their resources and energy into bouncing back from the recession. But isn’t an economic downturn an inopportune time to sell a business?

Not necessarily, says Terry Monroe (www.terrymonroe.com), founder and president of American Business Brokers & Advisors (ABBA) and author of Hidden Wealth: The Secret to Getting Top Dollar for Your Business.

“Some think due to the current difficult times many businesses are having that they wouldn’t be able to get a reasonable sale price,” Monroe says. “And they worry that  they’ll have to delay retirement for several years because of COVID-19. But the reality is, there are lots of people, including the unemployed, looking to reinvent themselves and for a chance to run their own business. Investors with plenty of money are always around looking for good opportunities.

“The baby boomers who own many of these businesses are burned out and want to get out. But small business owners in general often don’t realize all that is required to achieve a successful sale. Done the right way, selling can result in owners walking away feeling they got good value for all they put into their business.”

Monroe says owners should think about the following factors when considering putting their business on the block:

• Ask yourself why. “Selling a business can initially be an emotional consideration, but one has to drill down to the reality of why they want to sell and why it would make sense,” Monroe says. “Burnout is a common reason. If it’s affecting health or company performance, it’s time to get out. Another common factor is the inability to expand when necessary – the owner doesn’t want to incur the added debt relative to their age.” Other reasons owners decide to get out, he says, include lack of a family succession plan, too much disruption in the particular industry, and hitting a wall in terms of profitability.
• Put together a professional team. “The selling process is very stressful,” Monroe says. “You can manage that by putting together a team of professionals who will guide you through it.” The team should include an accountant, a mergers and acquisitions specialist, and an attorney, in that order, he says. “You’ll hear business owners brag about the money they saved in fees because they did the negotiations themselves, when in reality they ended up leaving considerable amounts of money on the table,” Monroe says.
• Know if you’re selling too low. How do you know if you are selling too low? Do the research before you decide to sell your business. “Finding out what a business like yours is selling for in the marketplace is not going to be very difficult in the internet age,” Monroe says. “In the end, you should confer with a professional who understands your industry and can provide data to find your business’ worth in the current climate. Don’t over-focus on the price. What you should focus on is how much you would put in your pocket when the sale is complete.”

“Selling a business involves considerable thought and performing lots of work with an unknown timeline,” Monroe says. “But doing it right can lead to the reward one deserves.”

Terry Monroe (www.terrymonroe.com), is founder and president of American Business Brokers & Advisors (ABBA) and author of Hidden Wealth: The Secret to Getting Top Dollar for Your Business.  Monroe has been in the business of establishing, operating, and selling businesses for more than 30 years. As president of ABBA, which he founded in 1999, he serves as an advisor to business buyers and sellers throughout the nation. His knowledge and expertise in multi-store operations and sales has led to many multimillion-dollar transactions. As an expert source in the convenience store industry, he writes a routine “Financial Insights” guest column for Convenience Store News and has been featured in numerous publications, including The Wall Street Journal, Entrepreneur magazine, CNN Money, and USA Today.

As a small business, the coronavirus pandemic has presented countless challenges mainly as a result of lockdowns and social distancing restrictions. This has forced governments to come to the rescue by providing funding and tax breaks. Apart from the government, other organizations have also stepped in to help small businesses to survive and keep offering services during and after the virus. However, the biggest help for small business owners comes from the IRS in the form of tax credits. Some of the benefits that the IRS has promised to offer include new credits for the employers that include the employee retention credits and credits for paid sick leave and family leave. With these credits, you can save your small business from the effects of the pandemic while ensuring that your employees are protected as well. Here are some of the tax credits that can help you and how they work.

Employee retention credit

Employee retention credit is a refundable payroll tax credit that is paid retained to employees between March 13 and December 31, 2020. It is available for employers whose gross receipts decline compared with last year or those that have to shut down entirely or partially due to the orders by the government.  This credit amounts to 50% of as much as $10,000 in qualified wages paid to the employees. This includes planned expenses. However, due to the $10,000 wage cap, the maximum amount of the credit is $5,000 per employee. This package is applied using the employer’s share of Social Security and railroad retirement benefit taxes. However, since the amount is refundable, employers can refund even if it exceeds the taxes owed. For an employer to receive this credit and request an advance in the form of a check, they can reduce the amount of federal taxes that they are depositing.

Credits for paid sick leave and family leave

This is a new relief that provides options for the employees that get the coronavirus, those who must care for another person with the coronavirus or those who have to care for kids because their daycare or schools have shut due to the coronavirus pandemic. The employers that pay out the needed sick leave or family leave credits receive a credit for the full amount that is paid out. The circumstances under which employees qualify for the paid leave include:

• Those who cannot work due to quarantine or because they are suffering from the coronavirus symptoms or are waiting for diagnosis are eligible for up to 10 days of paid sick leave. The maximum payment is $511 a day, which translates to $5,110 for the ten days. 
• Employees that cannot work because they are taking care of a relative or a friend with coronavirus. It is also applicable to employees whose children become unavailable due to a coronavirus-related reason. Both these groups of employees are eligible for a $200 maximum payout daily and $2,000 in 10 days. 
• Employees who cannot go to work or work because they must attend to their children whose schools or daycare are closed due to the coronavirus-related issue also qualify for paid family and medical leave for up to 10 weeks. These employees qualify for up to a maximum of $200 daily and $10000 in 10 days.

As an employer, you can claim the entire amount paid out for this leave and any other health plan expenses. Please take advantage of these credits and their availability as this will make the difference in keeping your small business operations and keep critical members of staff on the payroll even when they are not working. This will be a win-win for the employees, the government, and your business in the long run.

Customers today want customization. From startups to big brands, most businesses today are providing their customers with unique options to personalize their products. The increased demand for mass customization is changing the nature of many industries, while also providing a new way to extend product lines and increase sales.  

Founded in 1965, American Cutting Edge (ACE) is an Ohio-based, privately held, family-owned company that specializes in manufacturing industrial knives and razors. Over the years, the company grew due to our ability to manufacture custom products to fit our customers’ needs. The ability to offer custom industrial knife and blade design improved the customer experience and satisfaction and allowed American Cutting Edge to become a leading brand in all things knives and blades. In fact, a third of our sales today come from custom requests.

From the beginning, American Cutting Edge understood that customer experience is a reflection of a company’s internal processes. Just as customers demand an effortless experience from the products they purchase, they also expect the same in their business relationships. As the business continued to grow, we needed to ensure profitability, growth and foster a culture of continuous improvement.

Streamlining with a Modern Cloud Platform

During the process of reorganizing three separate businesses into one, the ACE management team decided it was time to streamline divisions in order to prevent internal siloes. By modernizing finance software with Sage 100cloud, ACE now has the ability to support finance, accounting, sales, purchasing, and warehouse operations seamlessly across multiple lines of business and place more focus on our customers. Sage has provided American Cutting Edge with significant business value through savings in time and resources.

Shortly after ACE implemented Sage 100, we attempted to have the software conform to our prior processes. However, this revealed how broken some existing processes were and didn’t make for the best use of the software. This required us to take a step back, re-evaluate our processes and use of the system, and reformulate some key processes. By doing so, we were able to establish best business practices that more effectively leveraged the capabilities of Sage 100cloud.

Improving Processes and Increasing Visibility

Through well-defined processes and a focus on data integrity, American Cutting Edge has been able to extend our visibility far beyond financials. For sales, having visibility into daily, weekly, and monthly performance metrics is critical. We set clear sales goals, and by using Sage more effectively, our teams can now publish a Daily Sales Report (DSR), which shows goals, bookings, shipments and margin by specific salespeople, giving a 360 view on our operations, from sales to the shipment of the product. This data is used to produce a monthly trend and pace report that gives the company a full view of revenue by salesperson.

Through the introduction of automated processes and well-defined best practices, the Sage platform provided us with real-time visibility, a strong data-driven culture and an increase in efficiency. By implementing Sage 100cloud at American Cutting Edge, we were able to:

• • Reduce administrative personnel from seven full-time to three full-time and one part-time saving more than $100,000 annually
• • Reduce excess inventory
• • Reduce cash conversion cycle by nearly half

Sage 100cloud has allowed American Cutting Edge to increase its focus externally, enabling us to build a strategy centered around how we can make the customer experience more effortless. Customers today expect that treatment and if a company can deliver it, your business will be at a significant competitive advantage. In order to achieve this, organizations have to look inwards. By deploying the Sage 100cloud system more effectively, our organization has become more effective and efficient. Understanding the needs and challenges of their team members and the organization as a whole was critical to the improvements as was getting the users involved in the solution creation process.

Gregory Billhardt, President and COO at American Cutting Edge

If you’re not familiar with accounting or financial statements for a company, just looking at them can be intimidating. Even once you’ve figured out things like gross margin, cost of goods, and cash on hand, there are other line items that will still cause you to scratch your head, like amortization.

What Is Amortization?

Amortization can be a useful tool, but it’s also an abstract concept. While it’s a very tangible line item, it represents spreading a one-time payment over time which may feel counterintuitive to accounting practices that track expenses in real time.

Amortization doesn’t appear on a cash flow statement because the cash is typically laid out up front. Instead, this line item is found on the balance sheet. Amortization is a company’s way of showing the value of a (usually large) one-time payment that represents a benefit for a long period of time.

Understanding The Abstract

For instance, if your supplier has a great idea for a new product of yours, you may want to buy the rights to that intellectual property from them. There’s not a physical ‘thing’ that trades hands, but the IP is still worth what you and the seller agree it is worth. Continuing with our example, if you estimate that the IP is going to be valuable to your company for 5 years, that is how long you would amortize the payment to the seller. So, if you paid $50,000 for the IP, you would have $10,000 amortized on each of your next 5 years’ balance sheets.

So why doesn’t that $50,000 you paid appear in cash flow? Shouldn’t that appear as a $50,000 expense on all of your financial statements? The short answer is, ‘no’. It should appear on your cash flow for the period that you spent the cash. You no longer have the $50K cash, so that needs to be accurately represented because cash is king, and if you don’t keep good track of cash on hand, your balance sheets can look flush even as you’re struggling to cut payroll.

Putting It To Good Use

As long as you keep your eye on your cash flow, Amortization is a critical tool for measuring the health of your company. Amortizing these 1-time spends across the useful life of the asset helps level out how your business is doing on your balance and income statements.

Amortizing the $50,000 spent on the IP in our example above across all of your monthly income statements helps show how much this new product is adding to the top line, and then how much is being depleted from your bottom line by the cost of the IP, month over month or year over year.

This also gives your management team a powerful tool to know when to pull the lever on buying new trademarks, license agreements, or intellectual property, or when to hold fast so that you don’t over-leverage yourself with every ‘great’ idea that comes your way. If you are already over-budget on amortization because your R&D team got overzealous in buying up IP, you know it’s time to pump the brakes until some of that spending shows in your finances as payments completed, or fully amortized.

The coronavirus pandemic has wrecked many industries across the globe, leaving many companies and individuals struggling to survive. Although almost all businesses, both big and small, have been affected by the pandemic, small ones have encountered the most damage. According to a report filed by the National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB), as early as March 30^th, that was early in the crisis, 92% of small businesses had already suffered significantly from the effects of the pandemic. Only 5% of small business owners had not experienced the challenges yet. Nine months into the pandemic, most of the small businesses that had not been affected are now counting losses with others having to shut down completely.

Here are some ways in that you can adopt to emerge from the pandemic:

1. Assess the level of damage from the pandemic

The first approach you must take as you seek to emerge from the pandemic is to determine how deep your organization has been impacted. You can do this using different methods. However, it is best if you start by updating your financial statements such as the company’s profit and loss accounts or the recent cash flow statements. Compare the current income with last year’s to see the losses you have incurred from the pandemic. After considering the hard numbers, consider other areas that might have been impacted by the pandemic. These areas can be human resources and budget cuts. These are the areas that need to be clearly understood before reopening.

2. Relook your operating models and business plans

Although the current business plan and operating models might have worked well before the pandemic, many things have been changed significantly by COVID-19. You may need to assess the changes in the environment and think of how your business plan can be tweaked to match the new normal and succeed. For example, if you have been running a brick-and-mortar store that depends on foot traffic to sell, you may need to move your operations online to tap into the online marketplace, that is gaining fame.

3. Look for funds to help your business recover from the damage

Unless you have massive savings from your past sales of goods or services, you will likely need some money to restart your operations. There are many ways and financing methods that can be considered depending on the type of business you operate. A perfect starting point is to apply for the government relief that is meant for small and medium-sized businesses. Other alternatives include short-term business loans, bank loans, or grants from other lenders. All these financing options can help you start smoothly.

4. Strategize on how to rebuild

While there are several things that you need to do to recover following the pandemic, doing everything once without a specific order might cause many problems than it can solve. This can be avoided by setting up timelines and prioritizing the most critical tasks first. Always design a guide to help you follow set steps in the process and track your progress. This will save you the little money borrowed from financial institutions or other sources.

5. Prepare for potential challenges and crisis

The pandemic has been a wakeup call for all businesses, whether small or large. Although the pandemic may take long to occur again, the reality is that businesses should always be prepared for future unpredicted disasters that may affect operations. As a small business owner, always have a contingency plan and funds that can sustain your operations and allow you to move forward.

Now is the right time to think outside the box and prepare for the hardest restart. Design a plan that will help you improve your survival odds and lead you to thrive again.

Amid the coronavirus pandemic, there is something odd that is taking place. There is a growing disagreement on how the future of the workplace will look like. While some professionals believe that the workplace will still be done in the office, many people are beginning to see otherwise. It is fast emerging that the future of the workplace is remote working. After COVID-19 forced organizations to shut their physical offices and shifted to working from home, it has emerged that remote working is a viable alternative for many companies.

The pandemic is proving millenials right. Most of these people prefer working from home as they believe that remote work makes them more productive and allows them to have fun. Without the long commutes, that is associated with office work, employees can spend more time with their families privately and reduce the costs that come up with transportation. On the other hand, organizations are quickly realizing that working from home (WFH) allows them to get more done at a low cost. As such, some of them have started making working from home permanently.

Studies that have been carried out before indicated that people preferred working from home even without the coronavirus pandemic. The reason for this is the flexibility and changing priorities among people. Younger employees are increasingly looking for ways to be independent and get jobs done without necessarily doing their jobs in physical offices.

Although WFH has gained fame in recent days, mainly due to the coronavirus pandemic, it has been there for years. Many smart businesses and large corporations had embraced this mode of working before. Some companies had already invested in mobile tools and expanded the ability of employees to work remotely. This was a response to young workers and their growing demands for this kind of arrangement. Many organizations now realize that for them to be competitive and attract the best talent in the market, they need to embrace new ways of working, and WFH is one of them. Using traditional ways of working that were in use two decades ago will not attract younger employees, mainly millennials.

Companies must take advantage of the sophisticated mobile technologies, smartphones, tablets, and the 5G connections that are taking over different industries. These technologies have enabled fast and secure processing of orders. They have also enhanced the processing of receipts, and the way documents can be shared between employees.

Despite the availability of the right remote working technologies, organizations need to define new remote working policies that cater for the cloud and mobile technologies, among others. Some have resisted this, but a day will come when they will have no other choice.

Away from the policies and technology, learning to work virtually is also part of the process of improving how to live digitally even after the pandemic. The change in the way we work will, without doubt, need advancement in our mindset as well as the architecture of our institutions. We will need to detach our thinking from physical offices as we move towards adopting the new viable solution in remote work. The biggest thing that small businesses are learning from all this is that remote work works. Other organizations now realize that employees can be trusted to work independently from home without too much supervision. Most importantly, it is emerging that virtual meetings and video conferences deliver just as much as physical meetings with less cost and needless time consumption.

From all these, a conclusion that can be drawn without much effort is that remote work will sooner rather than later replace physical workspaces as technology advances. Maybe the pandemic is exposing weaknesses in our current systems and giving us viable alternatives as we move towards technology-driven future.

As we hunker down in our separate home offices, the stakes around innovation are only increasing. Innovation will remain a key differentiator in the market today and tomorrow. And there’s no turning back from the changes the pandemic has brought to the workplace.

My firm, Centric Consulting, is in its 20th year of developing a thriving “office-optional” workforce, which has grown from just a handful of people to more than 1,000 employees in 13 cities in the U.S. and India. We’ve overcome many of the difficulties remote work presents, and have cultivated an innovative culture in the absence of face time.

The key? Remote innovation is something that can be planned for, managed and grown, much like every other aspect of remote work. Here’s how we keep innovation expanding, even when employees aren’t always working side-by-side:

Make Serendipitous Encounters Intentional

The right collaboration tools can create the same sort of opportune encounters that Apple and Pixar champion while also facilitating remote collaboration. Microsoft Teams and Slack, for example, provide an online space for people to talk about new ideas and track progress on innovation projects.

Start a Problems-to-Be-Solved Repository

Nothing triggers innovation like having a problem you’re itching to solve. That’s where a remote repository of problems comes in handy. The more people contribute to the repository, the better: Innovation requires a lot of ideas coming in from a variety of people.

Although you do want to collect as many ideas as possible, you also want to provide some guidelines to make sure those ideas align in some way to larger company goals or to real client or industry challenges.  A repository can be a great tool for vetting which new ideas fit the bill.

A repository can also connect a firm’s natural innovators with employees who may not have an idea to offer but are strong problem-solvers and creative thinkers. Successful innovation efforts engage both types of people.

Institute A Virtual Innovation Lab

Too many organizations focus only on getting ideas, neglecting what comes next. If one of your employees has a concept they want to explore, do they know how to go about developing it?

Centric created its Virtual Innovation Lab to guide innovators as they explore their idea and see if it has legs. The lab acts as a collaboration portal and provides tools and resources for remote teams to work through the innovation lifecycle, helping them overcome major hurdles as they mature their concept and get it to the minimum viable product (MVP) stage.

Our virtual lab essentially provides a blueprint for rapid prototyping using agile development and human experience design principles, among other innovation frameworks. The goal is to help innovators quickly assess proof of concept and proof of value. This is important. If something works, that’s great, but is it feasible from an operational standpoint? Does it actually provide value to the end users or customers? Does it solve a real problem? If the answer is no to any of these questions, your innovator either needs to pivot or kill the project.

Be Deliberate About Forming Teams

While self-forming teams can work and come together easily when you’re in an office setting, in a virtual environment, team formation needs to be more deliberate. To do this, get to know your internal network and who has what skills, capabilities and passions. Use that knowledge to build teams that will mesh well and play off one another’s strengths. The goal is to virtually replicate the relationships and collaborative spirit that happen effortlessly in an office.

While the recession caused by COVID-19 has wreaked havoc on businesses of all sizes and industries, some are finding new ways to run daily operations, reach customers, re-shape their business, and stay relevant. But others are still trying to figure out how to transform, and an expert in the field says that launching a transformation begins with setting the right scope.

“Over the years, I have seen an ill-defined program scope cause serious problems,” says Edwin Bosso (www.myrtlegroup.com), founder and CEO of Myrtle Consulting Group and the ForbesBooks author of 6,000 Dreams: The Leader’s Guide To A Successful Business Transformation Journey.

“For example, the scope may drift from the originally defined target. The scope is the description of the transformation’s area of focus, and in most cases the scope is defined as a combination of categories. Examples are functional – sales, logistics, production, operations – and organizational – leadership, technology, processes, management systems. It’s most important that the scope is defined to address the challenges at hand and avoid distractions or wasted resources.”

Bosso has five tips for companies to set the right scope for their transformation:

• Articulate the problem. Which problem are you trying to solve? Bosso says that question is at the heart of a company transformation. “Defining the specific problem may take numerous discussions and disagreements,” Bosso says. “The human brain has a natural tendency to drift. Blurry lines sometimes separate root causes and symptoms. This step is generally completed with a well-crafted statement of the problem that the organization is setting up to solve.”
• List the ways. “When properly conducted,” Bosso says, “this step helps in visualizing the solution. Listing possible solutions is a way of testing the definition of the problem. This step calls for honest questions and thorough analysis to identify the solution options.”
• Identify the means. “This is the stage where you test the capabilities of the organization against solution options by identifying necessary means,” Bosso says. “It comes down to understanding internal means, or levers that would need to be pulled to solve the problem. Potential means available might include people, office space, computer systems, or technical expertise in sales, R&D, inventory management and procurement. The process allows organizations to match the correct means to solutions.”
• Capture the enablers. Examples of enablers key to the transformation process are those in program management and data science. “Enablers cannot operate on their own to make something happen,” Bosso says. “They are, however, necessary or simply useful for that same thing to happen. For example, change management cannot improve the performance of the sales organization without some level of sales expertise. Once enablers are defined, it is important to capture the various ways in which each enabler supports the transformation program.”
• Explore synergies and interdependencies. This step focuses on understanding the overlaps, synergy opportunities, and constraints caused by ongoing initiatives. “Start with a list of all current initiatives that the organization is running,” Bosso says. “The finance department is typically a good source for the information. Meetings should be held with each team, and it’s important to understand that each may be protective of its objective, ways, and means. This could set up turf battles and heated discussions, so explicitly setting the objective of the meetings to understand synergies can help alleviate disagreements and fears.”

“Undergoing a major transformation is really the best hope for struggling businesses to survive in these difficult times,” Bosso says. “There is no time to waste. There are no resources to waste. To get your transformation on target, setting the right scope is critical from the outset.”

Edwin Bosso, the ForbesBooks author of 6,000 Dreams: The Leader’s Guide To A Successful Business Transformation Journey, is the founder/CEO of Myrtle Consulting Group (www.myrtlegroup.com). Bosso specializes in operations improvement and change management, and his project history includes work for major brands such as Heineken, Texas Petrochemicals, T-Mobile, Anheuser-Busch, Rohm and Haas, Campbells Soup Company, Kellogg’s and Morton Salt. A wide range of assignments have taken him throughout Asia, Europe, and North America. He completed his undergraduate education at The Hague Polytechnic in the Netherlands and earned an MBA from Rice University in Houston.

An ever-changing economy creates new opportunities for entrepreneurs, even during these rocky times that COVID-19 has caused.

Whether people are looking for a better work-life balance, a new job after having lost one, or an extra source of income, opening a seasonal business is one strategy that fits those goals, says Chris Buitron, president of Mosquito Authority® (www.mosquito-authority.com).

“Many people are taking this route as a reliable way to generate income,” Buitron says, “because although the economy is changing dramatically in some ways, seasonal businesses still fulfill annual consumer needs.

“The benefits for a seasonal business owner are attractive: more freedom, both in running a business and having the ability to take a few months off; the satisfaction of providing a service or product to which customers stay loyal; lower overhead costs than a year-round business; a solid second income; or, if done right, a sufficient income by itself.”

Buitron offers these tips on how to run a seasonal business successfully:

• Carefully construct your business model. Since you won’t be open year-round, it’s important to account for downtime in your cash flow. “If the seasonal business is your main or only source of income, you’ll need to put in extra work during the season in order to make it through your off-season,” Buitron says. “Make sure you have access to credit and plan your budget very specifically. It’s a bonus if you can find ways to diversify income streams for your seasonal business in the off-season. Determine the other needs of your customers and how you can fulfill them.”
• Evaluate the past season and plan accordingly for the next season. “Analyze your successes and shortcomings from the previous season,” Buitron says. “Seek customer feedback to assist your evaluation. Overall, determine why some things worked and others didn’t. The analysis will help you build a solid plan for the next season. Look at areas such as staffing, inventory, and other expenses. Did you have enough employees and how did they perform? Which products or services weren’t successful? Should you introduce new ones? Would it be cheaper in the long run to buy your equipment rather than lease it?”
• Connect with the public year-round to build your brand. Social media allows a seasonal business owner to build their business, their authority and strengthen their place in the community. “Your target audience is just as accessible in the offseason,” Buitron says. “You can reach out to them and offer exclusive pricing, or create a rewards program. Publish blogs and post updates on the sites your customers follow. Give them content that can educate them beyond the reach of your business’ services. Showing you care about their lives and the community helps them remember you.”
• Attend networking events and workshops. The off-season is the time for self-improvement that leads to business improvement. “Learning and networking opportunities help you and your business grow,” Buitron says. “Local business events, trade shows and conferences are great ways to gain new partnerships and skills.”

“A seasonal business comes with an array of unique demands,” Buitron says. “But with the right combination of good business practices and the passion to make it a way to enhance others’ lives, it can be a profitable and enjoyable experience for the seasonal business owner.”

Chris Buitron is president of Mosquito Authority® (www.mosquito-authority.com), a nationwide leader in mosquito control with franchises serving communities across the U.S. and Canada. Buitron has an extensive background in franchise industries. He was chief marketing officer for Senior Helpers, vice president of marketing for Direct Energy (home services division), and director of marketing for Sunoco Inc., where he supported the company’s 4,700 franchised and company-owned rental facilities across 23 states (over $15B in annual revenues).

Running your own business can be hectic for many business owners. For small business owners, however, having all the responsibility to all operations, including successes and failures, can be detrimental to one’s health. Sadly, health among small business owners has not been taken seriously as it should despite the economic significance of such businesses to society and the economy. The mental health of small business leaders leads to a healthy working environment. It also leads to effective teams that are characterized by respect and trust in one another.

Large corporations with complex and well-structured succession plans can hardly be affected by health issues that may affect their leaders. The well-laid down succession plan ensures that in the absence of the CEO, operations run without hitches. Unlike big multinationals whose operations cannot be affected by the health issues among those in the high offices, poor health among the leaders of small businesses can end operations and render employees jobless. The simple structure of a small business is risky, and the impact of the demise of a CEO is unimaginable. With an instant disease or a condition such as a heart attack, everything can go down the drain since everything revolves around an individual. From this, it is evident that health is the greatest capital of small business owners. The smaller the firm, the higher the vulnerability in case the owner develops health complications, either physical or mental.

The health of such business owners may have damaging consequences not only for those that have been employed but can also impact those that depend on them entirely. For example, the family members who rely on the owners can also be significantly impacted. Similarly, health problems among the personnel and family members can destabilize operations and how the business runs. Small business owners face many challenges that often affect their mental wellbeing. According to a Danish study, there is a significant link between entering entrepreneurship and receiving prescriptions for sedative or hypnotics and/or their spouses. This is a clear suggestion that entering entrepreneurship is a health risk as it is a potential source of stress for entrepreneurs and their family members.

Many studies have found out that stress level among the business owners is higher than those of the employed. The always conflicting issues such as ambiguity in the business environment, lack of adequate resources, and daily hassles as well as failure to clarify roles increase stress and the possibility of health complications. Work overload is another factor that many small business owners face and may result in a complication. Entrepreneurs often work for more than 50 hours a week. Working for long hours, including weekends doing intensive tasks, is a potential cause of stress. 

Uncertainty is often identified as another factor that can cause health problems among self-employed individuals. The fast-changing business environment is always a concern for entrepreneurs who are always worried about their businesses in case things do not go as planned. These owners have many things to worry about, including their employees, government regulations, and reduction in profits, all of which determines the success of their businesses.  Loneliness of business owners also results in burnouts, which in itself is a potential contributor to mental health. Loneliness can be harmful in an environment where difficult decisions are to be taken, such as firing or hiring employees.

As seen above, health issues among the small business owners have severe spillover effects on those they employ and their families. Unlike CEOs of large companies that have a proper succession plan, health challenges among small business owners can cripple operations. As such, it is crucial to always stay ahead by addressing potential causes of health problems before they manifest into catastrophes.

In a world where working from home, family, recreation, faith and other factors compete for our time, people speak about the need to seek a “balanced life.” But maybe “balance” is the wrong goal.

“The concept of being in ‘balance’ has the potential to set us up for immediate failure,” says Michael Sipe, author of The AVADA Principle and founder of the consulting firm 10x Catalyst Groups (www.10xgroups.com).

“We talk about work/life balance as if work and the rest of our lives are separate things. But in reality, work and everything else are all part of one life.”

Instead of balance, Sipe suggests seeking an “integrated life,” where the integral parts of life are combined into a fully functioning whole. He acknowledges that’s easier said than done.

“It’s a challenge to determine what the integral parts of human life are, how to integrate them, and what a fully functioning and completely whole life would be like,” he says.

For Sipe, a major part of that integration involves faith. But his suggestions on how to approach your job so that it is integrated into the rest of your life are relevant regardless of spiritual views.

In Sipe’s view, work often gets a bad rap. Work is actually a neutral concept, he says,  and the larger evaluation is not that we “have” to work, or how much we work. Instead the key is to look at the purposes toward which our work is directed and to be intentional about how we allocate our energy.

In managing your attitude about work, Sipe recommends that you:

• Focus on purpose. “One definition of work is energy directed toward a purpose,” Sipe says. “If you find yourself holding a detrimental attitude about your work, take a look at your purpose. Perhaps you simply are not directing your energy toward a purpose you care about.” If so, he says, consider changing your work so that you can invest your energy toward a purpose that matters to you. Alternatively, perhaps you have not connected your work to your purpose, and thus, your motivation to work is suffering.
• Avoid griping. The more you declare that work is hard, bad, unpleasant, a waste of time, and a drag, the more it will be all those things for you, Sipe says. “Reframe work as good, as a joy, a blessing, a challenge, an opportunity, a privilege, an investment,” he says. “Loving your work is a choice – your choice.”
• Take responsibility and take charge. If you don’t like your work, Sipe says, then change it. “You are not a tree rooted in place; you can move,” he says. “You are not a victim or a slave. If you are blessed to live in the Western world, and especially if you are blessed to live in America, you are free to do the work you love toward purposes you desire”
• Ask yourself better questions. When things aren’t working out as you hoped you might be inclined to ask yourself, “Why me? Why is this so hard? What did I do to deserve this?” Instead, Sipe says, ask yourself: “What am I supposed to learn here?” He says you could also do as the late Jim Rohn, a motivational speaker, instructed: “Don’t ask why things are so hard; ask how you can get better.”

“The concept of work is simple, but we tend to complicate it,” Sipe says. “And work really does apply to everything we do. Yes, we can work at a job, but we also work on our health, work on our education, work on our marriage, work on our friendships, and work on our faith. It’s all energy applied toward a purpose.”

Michael Sipe, author of The AVADA Principle, is the founder of 10x Catalyst Groups (www.10xgroups.com), which helps entrepreneurs grow profitable and thriving businesses organized on a foundation of Biblical principles. Sipe has also enjoyed a successful 30-plus year career in mergers, acquisitions, and business development as the founder of CrossPointe Capital, a middle market investment-banking firm. In that capacity, he consulted with and evaluated over 5,000 companies and has provided advisory services for approximately a half-billion dollars in business sales involving hundreds of companies. He remains active in transactional work and has been a key advisor in mergers and acquisitions projects covering a multitude of industry sectors.

Even before the coronavirus pandemic struck and sank the world’s economy, retiring at the age of 65 was already becoming a hot topic among many professionals. Now that the pandemic has impaired many businesses, both small and large plans of many organizations are in shambles. One of the areas that have been significantly affected is retirement. Business owners that were planning to retire are now forced to rethink. This could mean that the retirement age is likely to fall further as employees try to pick up from where they left once the economy reopens and the pandemic eases.

Although the recovery is expected to happen sooner or later, it may take some time. This is if the 2007-2009 recession is an example to go by. The recovery time can even be longer considering the severity of COVID-19 compared to the recession witnessed in 2009. As such, many small business owners may be tempted to consider selling their businesses rather than waiting for things to get better.

A study by StreetWise Retirement Confidence Index in May indicated that 26% of those interviewed stated that they would postpone their retirement plans after the coronavirus. Their decision is due to the economic conditions that the virus has caused. As damaging as they may seem, the decision is not surprising, given the uncertainty and fear that the pandemic has caused in many industries in different countries. The uncertainties have had an impact on the financial strategies of organizations and have forced many businesses to change their priorities. Another study by Allianz Life Insurance Company found out that almost half of Americans interviewed went into early retirement for reasons beyond their control. One of the reasons that were cited in the research is job loss. This was cited by 34% of the respondents, while 25% cited health challenges as their primary reason for retiring early. As an entrepreneur or employee who is willing to persevere and try their best to achieve their dreams, all is not lost. Taking some steps can enhance value and build your business so that you can sell more and retire as you planned or even early.

Creativity is one of the ways that can help you remain open in the current era of uncertainty. As a business owner, try your best to find creative ways that can adapt to the changes in the business environment. One way you can do this is by adding other services that will replace the revenue that has been lost. For example, as a restaurant owner, you can supplement the revenue lot by ordering food and selling them. This will create a new stream of income and increase profits even when other sources of revenue are not doing well enough.

A good rapport with banks is also crucial to businesses. Regardless of the size of your organization, always ensure that you have a good relationship with financial institutions. Having a wrong sense of security will only deceive you, and you will not have anyone to turn to in case things become tough. With the right relationship, you will have someone to run to for loans when the revenue stream dries up, and you need additional funds to keep running. Always ask yourself, is my bank relationship stable? If the answer is yes, then you are in the right place.

Coming up with a transition plan is another approach that you must consider. Just because you are delaying your retirement plans does not mean that you should not establish a transition plan. Take time to build a working transition plan that will not leave your organization in chaos when the right time comes. Most business owners lack a proper transition plan. This leads to a lack of focus on what is needed for a business to operate successfully.