Trey Bowles, an entrepreneur in Dallas, Tex., who co-founded and is now the executive chairman of the Dallas Entrepreneur Center (DEC), put together some great tips and links in his Entrepreneur’s Survival Guide in the Age of Coronavirus, aimed at business owners dealing with the COVID-19 outbreak and its aftermath.
Writing on Medium.com, Bowles offers his survival guide which centers on four tips that he and partner Nick Kennedy also rundown in the inaugural episode of their podcast, Switchbacks.
Here’s a quick look at the advice they give:
- “Cash is King.” While P&Ls and balance sheets remain important, in a crisis, it’s critical to have money in the bank. So the first step when you’re in a crisis is to get a handle on where things truly stand and then create a plan to cut costs, talk to your supplies about payment plans or extending terms, and generate more cash.
- Communicate. Talk to your employees and feel free to over-communicate. Nick Kennedy offers his “drive-thru” communications advice—have your employees repeat back to you what you said, as they do at the fast-food drive-thru, to make sure they heard and understand you.
- Develop a 30-60-90 day plan. Especially in a crisis, you may find that the first 30 days are different from those that follow and that you need to keep updating the plan as things change. In the first month you may triage and “stop the bleeding.” In the next 30 days, you will be working a more solid plan for getting business done in a “corona world.” 30 days (or more) after that, the next step is (hopefully) to implement your “build and grow” plan as we come out of crisis mode.
- Innovate and lead. Bring your team together and come up with ideas to “innovate, disrupt, and find ways to provide services and technology” that people need during the crisis or in the “new normal” that will follow.
The entire blog entry is a great read, and it points to a number of other resources such as the resources put together by the DEC at www.letsgrowntxbusiness.com and ways you can get involved outside of just your own business challenges at www.beaneighborcampaign.com.
[photo courtesy FWD/DFW & Dallas Morning News via Facebook]
