Sibile Marcellus ofYahoo Finance
It’s been a trial by fire for small-business owners trying to survive the coronavirus pandemic.
“We walked into 2020 with a plan that we made in 2019 and then Covid gut-checked us. Surprise!” Black upStart CEO Kezia Williams said in the latest episode of #Next20, a new Verizon series about the issues that will define the next 20 years.
Keeping to that 2019 plan amid the economic upheaval in 2020 is the biggest mistake a small-business owner can make.
Entrepreneurs on shoestring budgets who have managed to keep their businesses open during the pandemic have had to rip up their business plans, lay off workers, pivot, renegotiate leases, reduce traffic at their shops for safety reasons, try to rehire fewer employees, and develop new products to sell – all while maintaining cash flow in an environment where many consumers are cash-strapped and unemployed.
Entrepreneurs wishfully thinking about what could have been without coronavirus, risk botching the pivot to the mask-wearing, socially distanced new normal needed to survive.
“Think of erasing your white board and starting over. No matter how awesome your business plan was prior to Covid-19, you have to relook at it, rebuild it,” said Elizabeth Gore, co-founder of Hello Alice, which has partnered with Verizon to help small businesses navigate the pandemic. “The world has changed, customer behavior has changed, cash flow has changed.”
‘Entrepreneurial spirit is what makes small business owners great’
Cash flow headaches abound during the pandemic as hundreds of thousands of businesses around the U.S. have been forced to shut down permanently.
“Being an entrepreneur and an owner is incredibly hard,” said Gore. “That entrepreneurial spirit is what makes small-business owners great. I actually think we will see some incredibly innovative businesses come out of this pandemic.”
As the fastest growing segment of entrepreneurs in the U.S. economy prior to the pandemic, women have been small business trailblazers, generating $1.9 trillion in annual revenue. The business pivot required during the pandemic has put women at an advantage in dealing with the wreckage, Gore said. Read more from Yahoo news
