The question of the day is whether to go about SBA loan applications and how.

There are lots caveats, but here are the broad strokes.

Legislation passed congress and was signed by Trump Friday

It provides for loans of 2.5x last year's average monthly payroll (up to $10 million)

It can be used for payroll and other essential overhead items like employee benefits and debt interest

Here are the main points for mandated medical leave and child care.

Beginning April 1st you must comply with the new paid leave mandate.

If you have fewer than 500 employees the law applies to you

Sick leave is for ten days (two work weeks). It covers someone under quarantine, self-quarantine or someone with COVID-19 symptoms seeking a diagnosis. These people get 100% of their regular pay, limited to $511 per day.

Some good news, we have been incredibly encouraged this week and last. The teams we have met with are grounded, in good spirits and are demonstrating great leadership. A couple of things have stood out.

1) A plan helps a lot. I’ve talked to a lot of business owners over the last three weeks. Our clients with a strategic plan, even a plan that is undergoing revisions as we speak are handling this much better than other businesses who don’t have a plan.

Video, Video, Video

The necessity to hold meetings virtually has seen teams adopting video platforms like Zoom. That's no surprise. But some of our innovative and creative clients are harnessing the power of video to record and distribute daily updates to teams. This is powerful. At a time when our teams are longing for connection more than ever video delivers in a way that text alone does not. As the leader it is your job to reassure, inspire and motivate your team. Use all the tools available. I have no shame in ripping off good ideas so true to form this message is also available as a video.

We are seeing some great examples of proactive communication, and it is working to put employees minds at ease. This is a time to lead and give those on your team an alternative to the fear and hand wringing they see in the media.

The most proactive leadership teams are meeting every day to stay on top of new information. Already we are seeing a shift in attitudes and approach. Here's what I mean. Last week all the focus was on "What can we do to assure customers it is safe to work with us?" Now companies are starting to ask "How can we make sure customers aren't going to get our employees sick." The shift is pragmatic.

There is a lot of information circulating on the coronavirus. This is not a replacement for that information. It is meant for our small community of clients and their top leaders. My hope is that we can share with you what we are learning from other businesses like yours, how they are responding, and what they are experiencing. Mass media is totally disconnected from the world of real small business owners, and little of the information they provide is helpful in making decisions.

With that in mind…

Want to make the new year your best ever? That sounds cliche, but if you’re ready to do the work it is imminently feasible.

The biggest difference between growing businesses and stuck ones is the amount of time they spend working ON the business. It' isn’t about filling customer orders or handling complaints. It is about tearing apart and rebuilding the order process and asking why the complaints are happening in the first place. It isn’t reducing overtime by hiring more people. It’s asking how many people are we going to need ten years from now and in what order?

Mark sat across the conference table from me utterly frustrated and ready to resign. He'd had enough. Running a $20 million company was not an easy task. He was responsible for four locations, 180 employees, and over 20,000 retail customers. The industry was under assault from Chinese competitors and low unemployment was making labor hard to find. His controller and right hand person was 70 years old and struggling with health issues. But it wasn't these challenges that had Mark on the brink of resignation. It was his family.

It is not uncommon for baby boomers to see business sale as the logical end game over the next 5-10 years. But there's a dirty little secret when it comes to getting your business ready to sell.

The same things you have to do to maximize sales price are the same things that make selling your business a terrible idea.

To understand where I am coming from let's start with how businesses are valued.

Have you ever found yourself running around the house wiping things down and straightening up BEFORE the housekeeper arrives. It sounds crazy, but we’ve all been there…embarrassed or unwilling to let the world see what’s REALLY going on, how bad the mess really is.

Businesses fall into this same trap when it comes to working ON the business through strategic planning and execution. There is always one more thing to clean up or straighten out BEFORE they can rally the team to build and execute a strategic plan. The list of examples we’ve run into is long.

What does it take to grow a business?

Good operating procedures? Yes.

Adequate working capital? Yes.

A capable and engaged team? Absolutely.

Effective marketing and a sales team that convert? Almost always.

We could keep going down this list. It’s a big one. But there’s one thing I like to see at the top of the list when we start working with a new client.

“Just don’t screw it up.”

That’s the attitude of most parents when they entrust the business to their kids. But what does this say about the culture those kids are inheriting?

Or for that matter….

What is culture?

Does it matter?

What does it have to do with passing the business on from one generation to the next?

Think vision statements are hokey?

I’m with you. I have seen more useless vision statements than the average bear. But that doesn’t stop us from forcing the issue with our clients. Vision statements are important if you plan to get anyone to help you grow your company. They need to be clear and they need to be worthy of everyone’s best effort. In this post we aren’t going to go into a ton of detail on how to set a vision for your company. That isn’t necessary, because honestly it isn’t that complicated. It may not be easy, but it is pretty simple.

“Money doesn’t grow on trees!”

How many times did you hear that when you were growing up? It seems like all parents say this to their kids at some point. But when parents become business owners they often treat the business just like a money tree. How?

Jobs for everybody - We see businesses hiring the owners kids, nieces, nephews, brothers, sisters…all regardless of whether or not these people are actually making a meaningful contribution to the business. It seems like this is especially rampant on summer and winter break. Before long the office kitchen starts to look like the student union.

Boundaries are important for parents and family members working together. Done well family business should draw families closer and enhance the personal relationships between generations. But too often a lack of intention about the direction of the business and the roles played by each family member leads to stress and strained relationships

If I were to ask you what the two most important ingredients for growth in business are, what would you say? Think about it for a second.

You’re probably thinking about sales, efficient operations, better marketing, great customer service, or better employees.

Though these are often present alongside growth they are not the driving force behind growth. The two most important ingredients for growth are a compelling vision and clearly defined values. Although these are intangible, they are respectively, the destination you grow towards and the solid foundation that will support all that growth.

In our previous video on the topic of family business we answered the question, “How do I know when they’re ready to take over the family business?” In this video we move from theory to practice. Plenty of parents know the next generation is capable, but actually letting go? That’s another matter.

There are three stereotypical approaches to managing the transition:

You’ll get it from my cold dead hands.

Just take it!

No decision

Complacency is a company killer. It’s exactly what led Kodak to bankruptcy in 2012. What role did complacency play? Well, many years before its ruin Kodak snubbed the invention of their own engineer, Steven Sasson. He invented the digital camera technology in 1975, and rather than embracing the novelty, Kodak dismissed it. Who knows what led to Kodak’s complacency? The fact is, it crept into Kodak’s executive arm with disastrous effect.

Parents are never quite sure what time is the right time. In this series we tackle the first of seven strategic questions many family businesses struggle to answer. Of all seven this is perhaps the most common.

How will I know when my kids are ready to take over the family business?

Effective conflict resolution is a necessity in every business, no matter how big or small. Sooner or later a ball will get dropped, a piece of information will be miscommunicated, a customer crisis will develop, a promise will be broken…the opportunities to resolve conflict are nearly endless.