By Lisa Blankman
Manager, Audit & Assurance Services
[email protected]
Now, in the third year of the pandemic and with restrictions diminishing, it’s important for business leaders to not let their guard down. As we slip into some sense of normalcy, it can be easy to get lost in the daily grind and lose sight of potential dangers ahead and the lessons learned from the prior years of challenges.
In these times, it’s incumbent on business owners and managers to have a plan in place to deal with the lingering and future challenges. With two years of experience in managing this crisis, there’s no excuse now for business leaders to go back to their old ways and ignore the current acute challenges, which include:
- Labor shortages (Go to any restaurant for proof of this)
- Talent shortages (In this case, you may have laborers, but they lack the necessary skills)
- Inflationary pressures
- Supply chain disruptions
- Rising interest rates (which might not impact your business but will likely impact your customers)
- Business disruptions that have never been contemplated
As a business leader, you must be proactive at all times — do not let your guard down! And that confident, proactive attitude should trickle down from where you sit at the top. Success depends upon not just you alone but upon a confident management team planning ahead with various alternative protocols in place. Again, after years of disruptions in business due to COVID, there’s no excuse for being unprepared if another variant, or mandated disruption appears — preventative measures should be ready and available for immediate implementation.
Decide now what you want to do with the financial resources you may have received when COVID hit. Are you going to use your PPP loans to invest in growing your company and broadening your services, or you going to set aside cash funds for another potential downturn in your business — whether by a potential recession or mandated restrictions to your operations? Be prepared and utilize your “lessons learned.”
As Alexander Graham Bell said: “Before anything else, preparation is the key to success.” And he invented the telephone, so he knows a thing or two!
If we can assist you further with achieving success in your business or personal affairs, please call Lisa Blankman at (317) 613-7856 or email [email protected].