Remember before COVID-19 when you were doing well in your business? Things were, as we say, normal – and you were thinking about a little planning to continue to grow your company. Most of your employees had been with you a while, they were trained, and most of them were hard workers with company loyalty. You had worked extremely hard to build your company into what it was at that time — and you felt that the prospects of your company continuing at a steady growth rate was a good possibility.
THE FIRST FEW WEEKS
Little did we know what was going to change literally in three days. Your revenue totally or partially went away due to customer isolation and you had accumulated bills to pay as usual but now you could hardly pay them. And you had no idea what the future had in store for you. Remember the first few weeks of the pandemic when we did not know what was going to happen and how long the crisis would endure? We did the best we could in the circumstances by furloughing some employees, laying off some, and in some companies employees were working virtually for the first time.
IS IT TURNING AROUND?
Now COVID-19 seems to be subsiding to some degree with fewer new virus cases and, most thankfully, fewer deaths. So, it is realistic for you to ask yourself what will your company look like in three months — or even six months? There are several aspects of your business that you should think about NOW so that you can return your business to normalcy as quickly as possible.
COMPANY BUDGET
Your budget for expenses and revenue projections only three months ago is most likely no longer applicable. So it is mandatory that you spend time developing a brand new budget that is realistic based on what your market can currently bear. There is no crystal ball, but you should project how much revenue will be coming in on a weekly basis, determine the amount of product or material needed, estimate the number of employees required to produce your services or products, and how much you can eliminate in order to get your feet on the ground again.
We recommend that you not be too negative nor be too positive. If you are a member of a trade association, see what they are projecting for the revival of your industry, which most likely has been developed by professionals. You must know what you can spend in order to provide the services based on a realistic projection of your revenue.
YOUR NEW VISION
In moving forward to build back your business, you should enjoy the process. We have all been hit upside the head with a lot of challenges we’ve never had to deal with before. Now it’s time for a fresh start. The definition of a good entrepreneur is:
You hit a wall, you go around it;
You do not know the word NO. Let this attitude and philosophy carry you forward in the next three months while you’re reviving your company.
ENJOY THE COMEBACK – YOU DESERVE IT
Enjoy the process of developing a new vision and possibly making your company what you‘ve always wanted it to be. Your enthusiasm will spill over to your employees because they need to see their leader having confidence in the organization where they make a living. Not having a positive attitude is a guarantee that not only will your employees fail or resign – but YOU will fail along with them. Make YOU and YOUR business be one of the success stories of becoming an even better organization than prior to the pandemic. Then we can enthusiastically discuss what your business will look like SIX months after your first three months of comeback.
Author: Emory Mulling
Emory Mulling is a nationally recognized HR Consultant and Executive Coaching expert. As Founder and Chairman for the Mulling Corporation, the Mulling family of businesses is headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia. The firm was founded in 1986 and is a leader in HR consulting for small, medium and large companies.