Small Business isn't for the Faint of Heart - How to Run a Small Business in this Crazy Market

As one said, small business isn't for the faint of heart; it's for the brave, the patient, and the persistent.  This is particularly true in today's market: while COVID-19 affects almost every corner of the world, small business owners are getting more and more worried and confused about their future.  In this episode, we talked about the importance of having a professional network (investors, CPAs, attorneys, bankers, etc.) for you to rely on since no one can be an expert in every area.  As small business owners ourselves, our motto is: "trust but verify" so that we can make sound, well-informed, and rational decisions in this crazy market.

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spk_0:   0:02
welcome to critical thinking required. Hosted by lbw Our goal is simple way. Want to challenge you to think differently about finance and business? Join us and start the journey today. Okay, guys, we're back. This is Tim Vic Moore with my two colleagues, Nathaniel each and Dan Weiss. And today we're gonna talk about small business before we get into what we're gonna talk about. I just want to say that we all hear lbw recognize that small business is the lifeblood of the U. S. Economy, and we recognize that in this current time it could be difficult, Um, with certain circumstances for some small businesses. And it is great to see the U. S. Government step in or hopefully stepping in soon to help provide some relief to the people who have been affected by the current crisis. Um, but what we want to talk about today is what should you do in events that we're experiencing right now? And who should you be talking to? Who should you rely on who should be leaning on and give it a little bit of insight from from us And then in addition to that, we want to talk a little bit about the mentality behind this type of a crisis, because, as the three of us are, you know very well it's intense. The feelings are intense. This is really you know, it is affecting people in a very real way, and we just want to give an idea of how you could kind of combat that again, the qualitative that would speak about so often. So I'm gonna actually throw this one over to Nathaniel to talk a little bit about who you should lean on and different things you can look for, because he really is our in house expert when it comes a small business. So then if you want to kick us off and talk a little bit about that, that would be fantastic

spk_1:   1:44
shirt. So I'd like to start off by saying that that small business owners I have two hats. One of those is your trade. The other one is being a business owner, and being a business owner is a whole bag of stuff. And what I think small business owners should be aware of is that doing that job, it's it's very hard for you to do that on your own, which is why we have recognized that it's important to rely upon what we call our CEO Eyes or our centers of influences are professional network. That is the people that that help us act as business owners. So that would include our HR slash payroll team. We used the employer group out of Verona Uh, R C P A's. We use Johnson Block. We have, ah, number of legal sources for various types. That way, we have for our business, uh, we use like Stafford Rosenbaum. These are the people during this time period that we are relying upon for help in interpreting what is coming down the pipeline in terms of the bills that are currently moving through Congress and what is becoming actual law. So as we all know, before a bill becomes law, it can be re written a number of times. So, uh, you really want to pay attention to what the actual law is? That is the final product, and I can say that right now what has recently been passed in out of Congress and signed by the president has been left to ah ah, lot of interpretation. There are some holes in the understanding of what that law provides in that, for example, how what is the definition of being on paid leave do? Does the person who is requesting paid leave have to have AH record of going to the doctor or calling into their doctor what kind of record is required? Because, of course, the federal government doesn't want this to be subject to fraud, so they have to think of ways to pull it the step and those ways haven't been released. So we've already reached out to our HR people as well as our C P and ask them, Listen, can you can we take advantage of these laws, these new laws here? Can you help us interpret what we can take advantage of? And, quite frankly, they don't know. They don't know yet. They're still trying to piece it together themselves, and that's okay because we're not the experts when it comes to the law. That's that our past, a small business owners, we need to rely upon those those professional professionals that we have we have learned from. We also, though strongly believe in the concept of trust, but verify. So while we encourage you to rely upon that professional network. We also encourage you to be cognizant of what they're telling you, and you need to understand what they're telling you and how it may apply to you. Because ultimately the buck stops with you as a business owner. It's It's all on you. The liability, the responsibility, it's on you. I would also say that is that there are a number of resource is out there that we have come thio on the understanding of her own, which includes, uh, the following. So, for example, ah, the S P A. The Small Business Administration uh, they are providing loans that in the state of Wisconsin, at least you can get a loan that has a 30 year amortization at 3.75%. That's an incredible interest rate for an incredibly long amortization. That's an incredible deal. If you are in need of capital to run your business, that is an excellent possible idea. We also have heard that W E. D. C. Is offering grant money to people who apply for their first phone business owns. We've also heard that you can take initiative and you can call your credit card provider and ask them if they will defer your payments. Interest free and late charge free. That's That's incredible, I know for I know that American Express is offering it to some people, and I know that check this is offering to some people with their credit cards it can't hurt for you is a small business owner to just call people up. What about your commercial lenders calling them up and asking those lenders who have your line of credit and asked them, Listen, can I pull this line of credit and can I defer the interest payments or the principal plus interest payments? However, it's work that for the next three months, six months it cannot hurt for you to take the initiative and just ask. There is nothing wrong with asking. Another possible source of liquidity could be going to your landlord. There has been talk about and I'm not sure if it's been passed in the law, but there is some relief for mortgages. It's unknown if it I think that that is possible for both commercial as well as residential mortgages. So if you ever landlord is getting a break on their mortgages for the building that you operate out of, and there is no harm for you to go to that same landlord and asked for a deferment. There's nothing wrong with that. We would encourage those of you who, even if you have a big emergency fund effort to operate your business and you can last, you think you can last maybe 3 to 6 months under the current conditions. There is nothing wrong for asking for more help from that professional network of yours and also your your vendors that you rely upon 22 That you pay rent, too, that you have your working capital relationship with Atlanta credit. There's absolutely nothing wrong with that.

spk_0:   8:05
Yeah, it was good. That was actually really good. The only thing that I would, you know, add on to what Nathaniel was saying is that when you are looking at certain providers, be conscious of your also your industry, right? So some of this potential stimulus may effect, for example, restaurants or bars or industries that are more potentially afflicted by this crisis than others. So having someone that you know if you're CK is no a resident expert within, for example, restaurants deals with a lot of people. It's nice because they're gonna create a lot of synergies where they can. They can discuss it that can know it. They can interpret it a lot quicker. Um, so again, it just I would advocate being conscious of where you sit within, um, an industry and then who you're talking with that could be a lawyer, cause they will have some knowledge base, maybe on a specific industry than someone else. So it's always helpful because even, for example, for us within our small business, the way that we are treated from a regulation standpoint, even though the S B A loan could be very attractive US, we may not be able to take that on just depending on regulations and how we're regulated as our industry so even potentially have the ability to take advantage of it. So it can be industry specifics. You just have to be conscious of that. Which again, as Nathaniel mentioned trust but verify. Make sure you're getting good information. It's very easy, usually to search things. It may take a minute to read a few articles and some legalese, but overall it's definitely beneficial just to make sure that you know, you're verifying information you are receiving, Uh, Dan, I want to toss over to you and, you know, if we could talk a little bit about just the mentality behind this type of a crisis and being a small business owner yourself, but also talking with our small business owners in our book of business just about how to kind of guide yourself through such turbulent times, I should say,

spk_2:   9:57
I think that for any business owner, um, even if you're playing catch up because you're you're just swamped right now, this is a time for reflection, and it for most of us, passion led us in tow. The business that we've created in that we run and for most of those people they now are dependent on the success of that business on multiple ways. They're dependent on the success of that business. I think that what we'd want to drive home here is that understand that the vast majority of businesses cannot insulate themselves from events like we've seen over the last couple weeks. So don't be so hard on yourself and the truth. The matter is you may not make it through this and you also might. But either way, whether it's from a mental standpoint or from an operation standpoint, you're probably gonna come out of this a bit different than where you went into it. That's okay. And it could actually be very useful. Sometimes you have to burn it down to build it up better. And, um, you know, in in that kind of vain, be careful not to make rash decisions. Try to step out where you can step out so that you're making decisions that are sound to the business. And in doing so, you might find, ah, situation where you can evolve to something greater. So, for example, perhaps maybe you have on office or equipment that you really aren't utilizing in here in a time of crisis. That's evidence. Well, maybe it makes sense for you not to have that piece in play or we have a contact on the East Coast, the Philly area who runs an upstanding business in the insurance arena. And, ah, you know that that individual and her company has pulled back or help back, I should say on expansion up into this point, and now they can see that their expansion abilities can be done virtually to a greater extent and with a lot greater ease and they ever expected. And so their business has seen an expansion. So step back and think about really, how you're how you're dealing with your business. And indeed, if it survives what it should actually look like. And if it doesn't survive, and in a certain point in time, you have to be rational about about cutting that loss that happens, that is, uh, that's not sometimes that just that just can't be on you. Even the greatest businesses can fail in circumstances like this that are unexpected

spk_0:   12:50
and a both. And anything I've said some great things. I'm just gonna add two things on the Dan. One is that I think if if you are, have a business that unfortunately doesn't make it through this circumstance, uh, you should you should always hold your head up high. I think that anybody who has taken the risk and the opportunity to try to try to start a small business and run a small business for, you know, years to come. That's a feat in itself. There is a lot of businesses that do fail regardless of a circumstance like this. I mean, this is an unprecedented time, and I think that if you do fail, doesn't mean you can't start again. And it's a learning opportunity in a lot of different ways, and it's but don't get me wrong. I know how difficult it would be to have to step away from something, but it definitely is not a failure. I at least I wouldn't see it in that light. And then also, when it comes to making some of those decisions like, I mean, I can't emphasize enough that even for us going through some of this it if you can be very hard. The reality of it is it's hard to make decisions, but sometimes not making decisions the best decision you can make. So if you do feel like you need a rush, maybe sit on it for a day, right, give it 12 to 24 hours, sit on it, think about it and then make the decision because you really wanna have this clear mind as possible when it comes down to having to potentially let someone go to shutting your doors. Those kind of decisions deserve the time to think They really, really d'oh! Um so that's the only other things out. Add on to that. But guys, that really brings us up to, um I think my favorite part of our podcast is what we've learned today. Who would like to start? I'll take it. Go ahead.

spk_1:   14:33
All right. Eso Both Tim and Dan have said some excellent points here. I would just wrap up my piece by You have to be rational. I mean, despite the stress, because the stress is like no other as a small business owner versus working for is an employee for somebody else, this stress is completely different. It's, ah, we have a client likes to say that, uh, the highs air like no other, but the lows are just the same. There's just like no other. But that being said, I would say that there's Ah, there's a few key things that you have to remember. There's nothing. As Dan said, there's nothing wrong with with failing as a small business owner, uh, many many great companies have grown from supposed failures. Three. M. Based out of Minneapolis, Minnesota, I started out as a mining company. Now look at it today it's Ah, it's a comm plomb aerate that has an incredible culture that has survived for, I think. Well, over 100 years now, I want to sing. You should you should learn from these failures. You should learn from your mistakes. Don't just take the mistake and then put your head down and keep forging ahead. Learn. There's nothing wrong with that. Uh, I'd also say that you should You should constantly be positioning yourself. Position yourself to, as I said, to reach out to people toe to learn how these new federal laws can affect you. Position yourselves consistently with understanding where your businesses today and where you want your business to be tomorrow Position yourselves to be either to take advantage when luck presents itself when an opportunity presents itself and then third, luck is huge. Luck can be an incredibly powerful thing. And if you ever come across, it accepted and take advantage of it.

spk_0:   16:39
Oh, man, that was I loved the ending of that. By the way, That was my favorite. Um, I was I was awesome. Dan, I'm gonna have you go last cause I'm not someone pick on you. I'm gonna go really quick. Ah, you know, the biggest things I think I took from this is I would emphasize Nathaniel's trust, but verify, you know, even, you know, always make sure that you are educating yourself on different matters. We really, really believe in that. And we think you should, but at the same time also rely on you're professionals, right? Have them do the heavy lifting. Having do the work. Don't be scared to ask those questions like the thing you mentioned and then my second point would really go based off Dan's conversation of mentality is we talked about this on the personal side, but I think it's just a CZ. Important on the business side is if you don't have another business partner like I do with an Nathaniel, don't be scared to talk to somebody about the things you're going through, right. Discuss it, see if you can talk to another business owner. See if it's a family member. Whatever your outlet is, take the steps toe. Really. Just speak it out right? You mean even if it's just venting, right, you're not gonna make a decision because that could be really, really helpful to get through some of these times because they're very riel. Um and so don't be scared to talk about the difficulties because everyone's going through it. You know, a lot of people go through this even through this circumstance or not. Being a business owner is a very different kind of stress, like Nathaniel mentioned, but it it needs to be talked about. So please, if you ever want even to talk to us, we're always open to talking with other business owners because we're going through the same thing and we can relate. So those are the two things that I would I would leave you with today. Dan. Send us off.

spk_2:   18:18
I was gonna leave with a quote because they love leaving with a quote. Everyone from the while these podcasts. I'm still going to do that before I do that I wanted just because of Tim's comments, he just made that were just They're fantastic. I wanted to dive a little deeper in there in my last moments here. Ask for help. Be comfortable with it. Like like my two partners in this podcast are saying and look for help where you may be one necessarily see it reach out to those other industry pairs that maybe you wouldn't do so. We know a lot of restaurant owners at this time period where they walked into this with a labor shortage, afraid to share employees because another restaurant would take that employee. That's a fear. But right now we're all in this together. It may be it makes sense to re explore the situation like that. You know, we speaking from our own from our own business, we've done virtually none from from a work standpoint as faras prospecting over the last number of weeks. We haven't had the capacity to do that in fielding calls on and furthering research. So we have made ourselves more comfortable asking our clients, Hey, if you feel this service has been great, please introduce it to other people, and we've had an overwhelming amount of support from our clients and their willingness and desires to do that. So sometimes you just have to just get comfortable with asking. And then here's the quote that I'll leave you with. This is a quote from De Hoc who is the founder of these failure not to be feared. It is from failure that most growth comes.

spk_0:   20:00
No, man, that was great. I love quotes. Ah, that was That was really good. Well, guys, thank you for obviously joining me so And thank you all the listeners for listening to our podcast. We hope you're enjoying our episodes, and we look forward to continue Thio produce him as the time comes. Everyone have a great day and we'll we'll talk soon. Thank you for taking the time to start your journey of thinking differently and listening to lbw talk about stuff they love until next time. The opinions expressed in this program are for general informational purposes on Lee and are not intended to provide specific advice or recommendations for any individual on any specific security on any specific broker, dealer or custodian. It is only intended to provide education about the financial industry to determine which investments, broker, dealer or custodian may be appropriate for you. Consult your financial advisor prior to investing. Any past performance discussed during this program is no guarantee of future results. As always, please remember, investing involves risk and possible loss of principal capital. Please seek advice from a licensed professional. All opinions expressed by podcast participants are silly their own and do not reflect the opinion of leech Big More and Weiss Wealth Management LLC. Leech Bickmore Unwise Wealth Management LLC is a registered investment adviser. Advisory service is our only offered to clients or prospective clients or leech. Bickmore and Weiss Wealth Management LLC and its representatives are properly licensed or exempt from licensure. No advice may be rendered by leech. Think More and Wise Wealth Management LLC unless the client service agreement is in place.