Opening Up. . . for the unexpected

It's hard to believe that about 3 months ago, we were working, playing and living like we had been for some time. I was out of town with my wife for a week in late February visiting family. I remember the news reports about a virus and seeing the shift of stories to that topic. By the time we got home, the news and the public in general were talking "pandemic" and "quarantine". More than strange to us, this event changed so much about the way we would live for the next 3 months.

I took the picture at the left about a week ago at a popular Town Center shopping area. You can tell from the grass growing through the cracks in the sidewalk and the trees having a more unkempt appearance that life has left this once busy place.

It's still not back to normal. We've grown uncomfortably accustomed to phrases like "the new normal" and "social distancing". Maybe I should say most of us are pretty worn out from hearing those phrases.

Opening up is going to mean so many different things for so many people. Businesses will reopen; and they won't. People will return to jobs or have to find new ones. In the most recent weeks, these are the things I've seen and heard:

• Restaurants are opening up at half internal capacity
• Some retail stores are scanning customers for body temperature before entry
• Companies with office staff are reconsidering renewing leases at lower square footage levels as working from home kept the business moving
• Cardboard packaging has shifted heavily from central locations like stores to our homes
• Telehealth visits have skyrocketed

This is a very random sample. There are so many more that each of you could contribute based on your experiences.

So here is what I am thinking about what comes next: The pulse and flow of business is constantly affected by legislation, supply chain issues, consumer demand and choice and 1000 other things we could quickly list. This event is yet another new problem that we must get through. And we will.

Recessions, depressions, conflict, droughts, storms and even pandemics are part of life. The key to being prepared is stopping to consider your processes, making a decision and preparing. Instead of hoping things will calm down and return to normal, whatever that is, maybe it's time we think about tomorrow as a still random, highly variable event. We, as business owners, prepare for meeting our customer’s needs. But we don't naturally prepare for the internet to drop, our supply chain to choke, our customers to demand the same product but delivered differently, and certainly NOT a pandemic.

Building a Resiliency Plan is what should come next for EVERYONE. And real resiliency means establishing a plan B and C for everything from vendor selection and diversity, to system redundancy, to financial role permissions and access and much more.

Instead of trying to figure it out on your own, talk with your peers. Be open to how you might pivot what you do. And bring in experience that can help you make the adjustment while you and your staff can continue to focus on the simple things: having your customers vote for your goods and services with their dollars.

We at Intellectual Capital Advisors have over 75 years of collective experience in preparing and implementing Fortune 500 plans that can be condensed down for small to medium business in an effective and expedient way. Open the discussion with us and let us participate as your Surge Partner to get through this event and be prepared for the next unexpected event.

Let's move ahead as a nation and live like we matter to one another individually.

We are in this with you.