Colorado Center for Innovation in Community Capital

Do Not Let This Dark Night Pass Without Realizing Its Blessings

En una noche obscura,
con ansias en amores imflamada,
¡oh dichosa uentura!
sali sin ser notada,
estando ya mi casa sosegada….

So began the great poem by Saint John of the Cross. While locked in an attic cell by his superiors and in grave danger of martyrdom at the hands of the Spanish Inquisition, John wrote of how this calamity caused his heart to soar.

Many of us are now in undeserved confinement. Some of us are in grave danger. Let us not pretend things to be otherwise, but do not let this confinement of the body become a poison to our souls. Take the time to reflect, imagine and even dream. Reach out, as did St. John, to things beyond yourself and your current condition. Reconnect with who you are and why you have chosen your current path. Rewrite your story and prepare for the dawn that is coming.

Small business owners, you will be hurt economically by what has happened. Nevertheless, this could be your opportunity to rethink everything and start many things anew. Give thought to:

• Why did you start your business anyway?
• What has fundamentally changed with you or your circumstances that might make your mission look vastly different?
• What has pulled you away from your real mission – the real you?
• What do you have to throw overboard to get you back to your real intent?
• Who will help you do that and who will not?

Write these things down. Don’t write a business plan yet…there will be time for that later. Rather, write your epic poem. Pour out your soul and then read it aloud. I think you will be surprised with what you say to yourself. Be careful, however, that you don’t let the past define who you are. You may have become an Accountant because you liked understanding numbers, working with business owners, understanding taxation or helping people build wealth. It is not likely that you became an Accountant because you were born one or destined to be one. Hence, your future might include giving up your CPA and moving on to something else that actually expresses your personal mission even more than being a CPA.

Too often we let events, the fear of consequences and short-term “opportunities” steal our dreams from us. More often the effects are more subtle. Our business and the messages we use to describe our businesses drift away from original intents and passions. We are no longer able to describe what we do. Not because we don’t believe in our mission but because the day-to-day has become filled with the tasks and the people that don’t exactly match that mission.

There is a sad tale about what happened to western farmers in the dust bowl days. Many of them defined themselves as farmers and not as husbands, fathers, mentors, leaders or many other basic attributes. Many dust bowl farmers held onto shattered land dreams so long that they we virtually incapable of doing anything but fall into poverty. Others moved on to California to start over before they were completely exhausted. Still others found other work in the growing oil and gas or services industries. They didn’t “remake” themselves. They redeployed their talents and renewed their dreams.

So, let the words you have written be a guide to your thoughts. Get comfortable with who you really are and then try to squeeze them into action plans. Think about what the “daily grind” has crushed out of you in the past few years and how you might regain your enthusiasm. Once you get some of these things in writing, share them with one or more friends in honest conversations. Frequently our close friends see our strengths and weaknesses far more clearly than we do. By the way, cherish such friends as these.

A time is coming, and it will only be a few months, when this sweet madness, this glorious sadness, will be but a memory. We will soon be back in the day-to-day. Don’t let this time pass without taking stock of who you are, where you wanted to go and what you will do when new opportunities arise.

 

The Colorado Center for Innovation in Capital (CCICC) helps small businesses raise capital. For more information visit www.cc4icc.com or email [email protected].

Recovering from the Pandemic

Everyone’s first priority in the COVID-19 pandemic is physical health. We all need to do what we can to protect ourselves, our families, our friends and neighbors from the virus and speed their physical recoveries. We also need to deal with the emotional impacts as well by working with our social, neighborhood and religious organizations to maintain our mental and spiritual health.

After we deal with these top priorities we will want to deal with economic recovery. Our businesses are going to be hurt. This is not just our airlines or car manufacturers, but also our health care industry and many others. The list could go on and on. It is not just the big players like Delta, GM or UnitedHealth Group, but also thousands of small businesses, clinics, doctors and dentists. All these groups will be dipping deeply into reserves, inventories, credit limits and personal savings during this time to serve others and weather this storm. They will need our help to recover.

This is not a matter of avarice. We need a healthy economic environment to have the services and reserves to provide healthy environments and good health care during “normal” times and especially in “extraordinary” times.

We at the Colorado Center for Innovation in Community Capital (cc4icc.com) applaud the efforts now being made by government agencies and private industry to not only protect physical health, but also for developing extraordinary programs to assist in financing economic recovery. Individual states are developing programs right now that are often tailored for local needs. You should check with your state’s economic development group for what is happening locally. The Small Business Administration and the US Department of Agriculture are also working on some very aggressive programs that small business owners should link into immediately and watch for new developments.

As much as we feel the pain of the COVID-19 pandemic, we need to, as soon as practical, turn our attention to the future. Right now is a great time to think about rebuilding and improving your business. The current crisis has certainly shown you some weaknesses in your business, but it probably has also shown you some new opportunities. These could include opportunities to allow employees to work at home, ways to communicate with customers and prospects digitally, new ways to deliver your products and services and new ways to reduce costs while keeping quality and service high in difficult circumstances.

The COVID-19 pandemic is likely to change working and buying habits. It is hard to know what will change and what changes will persist. There will be a lot of charlatans out there that will be trying to sell you on the idea that they can tell you what will change and how to get ready for it. All you need to do is join their forum, buy their book or pay for their seminar. Frankly, they don’t know. They especially don’t know how general trends will impact you and your business.

The keys for your business recovery are:

• Identify what weaknesses showed up during this crisis
• What opportunities do you think or have you heard might have shown up
• Ask your customers, suppliers, regulators and investors directly about these

The most important issue is the last one. Ask you stakeholders what they think and what they need. When habits are changing the most important thing to do is to keep in contact with your customers. Direct two-way communication is best, but it is time consuming. Digital communication/marketing is a great tool to initiate the conversation, get general feedback and set the agendas for one-on-one discussions.

If you need help setting up digital communications/marketing, we would be happy to help. In any case, don’t wait on us. Start talking now to all your stakeholders – that is your customers, suppliers and investors. Call them or email them now and find out how they are faring through this mess. Ask them what they are thinking and how you can help them as a supplier, a customer or as a friend.

The Colorado Center for Innovation in Capital (CCICC) helps small businesses raise capital. For more information visits www.cc4icc.com or email [email protected].