Barbara Corcoran: Here's what I'm doing to keep my team and my Shark Tank businesses alive during this recession
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Barbara Corcoran
Barbara Corcoran.
It's a scary time for small business owners. One month ago, COVID-19 was barely on anyone's radar and now, the biggest outbreak in the United States is happening in my hometown, New York City. When I leave my apartment for something as simple as food it takes hours of standing in line. Every nonessential business is closed down, and while it's the responsible decision to make, it has catastrophic consequences for small businesses and our entire economy.
Small businesses aren't so small. There are about 30 million small businesses in the United States that employ half of working Americans. They're in small towns and in big cities, so everyone is affected. In the coming weeks, small business owners will be making impossibly tough decisions, like talking to their staff about cutting hours or being laid off.
Ultimately, we have to believe we're making these decisions in everyone's best interests. Here are a few things I've been doing with my team and Shark Tank businesses which may be helpful to you.
Everyone on my team is working at home but they're working harder than ever. Now is the time to keep your employees in the loop. We're scheduling daily and weekly meetings on Zoom, Slack, or Google Hangouts. Why? Because face to face is key to keep people connected, motivated and morale high. Take advantage of conferencing apps and use them to brainstorm with your team on what to focus on, what to do differently, and how to help one another.
Clear communication from the boss is so important now. No one wants to reduce pay or lay people off but for many of us, it's our only option. You need to address the topic square between the eyes because it's the question on every employee's mind. Instead of firing people, I've encouraged many of my businesses to reduce pay evenly across the board. I'd rather temporarily reduce everyone's income by 25% than lose a third of my people. And, help is on the way - the $2 trillion stimulus package was approved, and most of it is directed to help small business owners. Emergency loans will be made available to keep your workers on payroll, so you should be on top of the details and share them with your employees and 1099 workers.
You need to challenge everything that's worked before because only the most creative companies will survive. How can you do things differently? What can you offer your customer or client that you've never done before? The fact is everyone is still shopping and in need of services, but they have to be offered a good deal.
My Shark Tank companies are making me very proud right now. They continue to blow me away with their creativity and dogged efforts to reinvent themselves and change their business models:
Everyone is thinking creatively on how to do more.
If you have a credit line now is the time to draw it down and sock it away. Why? Interest rates on credit lines are cheap right now and if you wait until you need the money, the banks will pull the line. I know because I've had my credit lines pulled out from under me in the middle of every crisis.
Assess what your cash needs will be over the next 3-6 months if COVID-19 continues to rage on. With little business coming in, it's important to only draw on your credit line or spend any money when it's absolutely necessary. Take down your expenses to the bare essentials and only use the credit line cash if you have to.
However scary this is for all of us right now, it's important to remember we always come through. Every business is feeling the strain of COVID-19 so we're all in it together.
I can distinctly remember the dark days of building my little real estate business in New York City - the stock market crashed in 1987 and 2008, causing the housing crisis. Interest rates hit 18% and no one was buying real estate.
Even after 9/11, people wrote NYC off as a goner, but we came back, and we'll always come back. It's important to remember that. The businesses that succeeded after each crisis kept their teams tight, reinvented themselves, stayed positive, and were all pulled through by great leaders.
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