Crisis

Hard Decisions

2020-07-12T22:21:13-05:00July 13th, 2020|Tags: , , |

One of the hardest decisions an employer makes is eliminating a position or job. As a country, our small business leaders have made many hard decisions. The question is, “Did we learn anything?” This is a time to reflect on questions such as, “Did I wait too long and why?” “Did I make the decision in a vacuum or did ...

5 Steps from Struggling to Thriving in Business: Part V

2020-07-10T00:43:58-05:00July 10th, 2020|Tags: , , |

In this series, we’re discussing five steps to move from struggling to thriving in business. The final step is to Focus on Customers. Since the pandemic, several restaurants I’ve visited have taken their customer service to a whole new level. They realize their survival is hinged upon retaining and growing happy customers. When a business is struggling for survival, there ...

5 Steps from Struggling to Thriving in Business: Part I

2020-06-30T12:34:59-05:00July 6th, 2020|Tags: , , |

In my banking and consulting career, I helped many struggling companies become profitable. Many businesses have folded recently, and many more are doing all they can to survive. In this series, I will highlight five steps that can help your business get financially stable and move towards thriving. The first step is to Know the Condition of Your Flocks. You ...

The Benefits of Unforeseen Change

2020-06-11T23:56:46-05:00June 11th, 2020|Tags: , , |

According to the Census bureau, 5.2% of workers worked from home prior to the pandemic. Global Workplace Analytics believes that by the end of 2021, 25-30% of the workforce will be working multiple days remotely. This can be good for business. A recent survey by digital.com discovered that 70% of remote workers feel more productive working from home. An unforeseen ...

Reopening, Part V: Model Your Cash Flow

2020-06-05T10:31:47-05:00June 5th, 2020|Tags: , , |

In this series, we are looking at what we can learn from entrepreneurs about restarting our businesses post-lockdown. Sadly, many of us don’t know whether our businesses can survive this restart. That is why many startups use bottoms-up financial models to quickly test new scenarios and whether they have enough cash to survive. They make decisions to increase cash, reduce burn ...

Reopening, Part IV: Customers First

2020-06-03T22:12:45-05:00June 4th, 2020|Tags: , , |

In this series, we are looking at what we can learn from entrepreneurs about restarting our businesses post-lockdown. Many startups have adopted Design Thinking. The shortest definition of design thinking is to focus on the needs of the people you serve. Jesus reminded us in Matthew 22:39 to “love your neighbor as yourself.” Some startups use a process called Customer Discovery. This requires ...

Reopening Part III: Restart Your Business Model

2020-06-02T22:14:06-05:00June 2nd, 2020|Tags: , , |

In this series, we are looking at what we can learn from entrepreneurs about restarting our businesses post-lockdown. A business model is “a representation of how an organization makes money." Startups focus on business models because they need to find a way to be profitable. The business model your company established long ago may now no longer work. A business ...

Reopening, Part II: Testing Your Hypotheses

2020-06-01T17:30:41-05:00June 2nd, 2020|Tags: , , |

In this series we are examining what we can learn from entrepreneurs about restarting our businesses post-lockdown. Yesterday, we learned that startups test hypotheses and adapt as necessary. But, what does that look like? Some entrepreneurs identify their most critical hypothesis and design a low-cost experiment to test it. They iterate through a “build-measure-learn” loop as rapidly as possible, zeroing ...

Reopening, Part I: Restart Like a Startup

2020-05-31T23:55:52-05:00June 1st, 2020|Tags: , , |

A Praxis Labs article described our post-lockdown situation as “every business is now a startup.” In this series let’s take a look at what Christians in business can learn from other entrepreneurs. One thing startups do is to treat ideas as a hypothesis until proven true. Right now, you may think that everything will return to normal. That’s only a ...

Transparency in a Crisis

2020-04-02T14:38:16-05:00April 6th, 2020|Tags: , , |

When China discovered the coronavirus in December 2019, they had a choice to make. They could try to bury the news, or they could be transparent and address the problem publicly. Unfortunately, they decided to try to bury the virus for six weeks. If handled transparently, those six weeks could have prevented thousands of lost lives. When crises surface in ...

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