Earlier this week, we highlighted a blog post that asked why the widely predicted Startup Apocalypse of 2020 never materialized. Written by Aaron Dinin, who teaches entrepreneurship and invests in startups, the post offered an interesting theory, namely that the crisis compelled many venture-backed startups to do all sorts of things they probably should have been doing anyway.
With everyone predicting economic apocalypse and with the venture-capital spigots snapping shut, many startups hunkered down, preserving whatever capital they had, eliminating non-essential spending and personnel, and focusing on creating revenue–on survival. In other words, they started operating much the way bootstrapped businesses operate. And then they learned some important lessons. For example, employees working from home tended to work harder. And sales teams found they didn’t need to get on airplanes. They could close more deals and operate more efficiently on Zoom.
Bottom line, there was no Startup Apocalypse in 2020. In fact, many of these companies found themselves better positioned, growing faster, than they would have absent the crisis. It’s a lesson we all learn over and over. Sometimes it takes a crisis to get us to make that tough decision that we’ve been putting off.
What has the crisis taught you? What thoughts and practices will you hang onto even after it passes?
For 3 long weeks my two key employees were out with COVID - first because they each needed to take care of family members who had tested positive, and then they both came down with it while staying home. I felt like the last person standing on a deserted ship-wrecked island! My business was about to have its biggest month in decades. We had thousands of dollars of new orders pouring in - and it was just me and a handful of part-time workers. As the founder, I had developed most of our daily operations, but it had been years since I'd done all of the tasks myself. The first few days I walked around in circles muttering to myself. Then I triaged by sitting at each person's desk, figuring out where they were in the timeline of each open project.
What did I learn?
Well, first and foremost; Know what's going on in your organization! Luckily I currently have an amazing team (this wasn't always the case!) They're both so organized and deliberate that each task they perform, they do exactly the same way, each time. There's a protocol for picking an order. There's a protocol for boxing an order. There's a protocol for replenishing inventory. If you know the protocol, you can jump in wherever someone left off. This experience also screams for everyone to cross-train with at least one other person. No one should ever be indispensable. (And everyone should feel comfortable taking a stress-free vacation, knowing the world won't fall apart without them!)
Second, make it a point to periodically walk a mile in your employees' shoes! Shadow them. Do what they do! Man oh man do I appreciate my employees 10 times more than I did a month ago!! They work really hard. I was exhausted at the end of every day. My body literally hurt! I didn't realize how much physical work they do everyday. The good news is that I came up with a slew of techniques (and tools) to pick orders quicker, with less strain on your back, legs and neck. One of which was purchasing a "mechanic's creeper" which allows you to sit low to the ground but with the ability to scoot from spot to spot (like when you're replenishing inventory on the lowest shelves of a unit, taking items from production and placing them in their home on the warehouse shelf.)
And last, when your employees make a suggestion or have a complaint, listen. I mean really LISTEN!! My folks had been complaining about the way I'd designed a new product and what a pain it was to package. All I heard was; "wahh, wahh, wahh". Yah. That is, until I tried packaging those darn things myself. What a friggin' pain in the butt those new products were! Who thought this was a good idea?!?!?!? uh, that would be me. Their fearless leader. It goes without saying I won't be making that mistake again.
I'm happy to report that everyone is back at the office and feeling well. Although I wasn't able to package, pick, pack and ship every order we had in-house - I was able to at least queue things up so that when my team returned, they could hit the ground running. And they did. They're amazing. Since they've been back, I've made it a point to let them know, with much sincerity, how much I truly appreciate them.
This is such a valuable comment, Jaime. Thanks for taking the time to share it. One question: Can you explain why you were about to have your biggest month in decades? What prompted it?
In January of 2020, through many small, calculated tweaks, my craft supply business was starting to see growth after a long plateau. Then came the pandemic. But instead of taking a nose dive as I feared, business kept growing. People were hunkering down and enjoying the hobbies they hadn't had time for in the past. This is where my "pivot" came in. I didn't change my product, I changed my approach. There were no more trade shows where I could meet-and-greet, and some retailers were drowning while others seemed to be thriving.
To better understand this, I went old-school. I picked up the phone and just started talking to store owners. Or I should say, LISTENING. They told me that things were different. They needed their orders to ship to their homes instead of their stores. They needed to get product samples so they could do Facebook Live videos. Basically, they needed to be heard and supported in new ways that only a small responsive company could.
I also realized that being an American-made company was now my super-power. I spent a chunk of my limited cash on extra raw goods so I wouldn't get stuck in anyone else's supply-chain nightmare. We ramped up our own production in case we had to shut-down (which proved quite fortuitous for the 3 weeks we were living off existing inventory.) And last but equally important, we always remember to say "thank you" to our customers who are still standing and still supporting us with orders. They're the ones on the front lines (the retailers). It can't be easy. I think the way we treat our customers during these difficult times differentiates us from our competition. It says, "we care about your business", "you matter to us" and "if you do well, we do well". If they didn't already, they now see us as a partner versus just a "supplier". And for those innovative retailers, it's reinforced that we're willing to listen to out-of-the-box ideas in order for us both to prosper.
So to answer your question about why I was about to have my biggest month in decades, it's because I spent the past year doing everything I know I should've been doing all along...instead of just talking about it.
The crisis further highlighted the importance of kindness in the professional setting. I don't want to mistake this comment for being "nice." I do however want to highlight how just a little bit of kindness can go a long long way, especially in remote work. We never know what someone else is dealing with so we need to remember to be kind.
I've posted a few articles on LinkedIn regarding my lessons learned from the last year. The biggest one: Be prepared. There will always ben another business downturn. Your panel has said it a number of times over the past year: Make sure you have "dry powder" available (e.g. cash).
My personal toughest (business decision) was to take on debt for the first time in the company's history. Through the SBA, I got a (very) low interest EIDL loan and am working hard to pay it off before the first payment is due, while keeping enough dry powder for 1.5-2 years of operations.
For 3 long weeks my two key employees were out with COVID - first because they each needed to take care of family members who had tested positive, and then they both came down with it while staying home. I felt like the last person standing on a deserted ship-wrecked island! My business was about to have its biggest month in decades. We had thousands of dollars of new orders pouring in - and it was just me and a handful of part-time workers. As the founder, I had developed most of our daily operations, but it had been years since I'd done all of the tasks myself. The first few days I walked around in circles muttering to myself. Then I triaged by sitting at each person's desk, figuring out where they were in the timeline of each open project.
What did I learn?
Well, first and foremost; Know what's going on in your organization! Luckily I currently have an amazing team (this wasn't always the case!) They're both so organized and deliberate that each task they perform, they do exactly the same way, each time. There's a protocol for picking an order. There's a protocol for boxing an order. There's a protocol for replenishing inventory. If you know the protocol, you can jump in wherever someone left off. This experience also screams for everyone to cross-train with at least one other person. No one should ever be indispensable. (And everyone should feel comfortable taking a stress-free vacation, knowing the world won't fall apart without them!)
Second, make it a point to periodically walk a mile in your employees' shoes! Shadow them. Do what they do! Man oh man do I appreciate my employees 10 times more than I did a month ago!! They work really hard. I was exhausted at the end of every day. My body literally hurt! I didn't realize how much physical work they do everyday. The good news is that I came up with a slew of techniques (and tools) to pick orders quicker, with less strain on your back, legs and neck. One of which was purchasing a "mechanic's creeper" which allows you to sit low to the ground but with the ability to scoot from spot to spot (like when you're replenishing inventory on the lowest shelves of a unit, taking items from production and placing them in their home on the warehouse shelf.)
And last, when your employees make a suggestion or have a complaint, listen. I mean really LISTEN!! My folks had been complaining about the way I'd designed a new product and what a pain it was to package. All I heard was; "wahh, wahh, wahh". Yah. That is, until I tried packaging those darn things myself. What a friggin' pain in the butt those new products were! Who thought this was a good idea?!?!?!? uh, that would be me. Their fearless leader. It goes without saying I won't be making that mistake again.
I'm happy to report that everyone is back at the office and feeling well. Although I wasn't able to package, pick, pack and ship every order we had in-house - I was able to at least queue things up so that when my team returned, they could hit the ground running. And they did. They're amazing. Since they've been back, I've made it a point to let them know, with much sincerity, how much I truly appreciate them.
This is such a valuable comment, Jaime. Thanks for taking the time to share it. One question: Can you explain why you were about to have your biggest month in decades? What prompted it?
In January of 2020, through many small, calculated tweaks, my craft supply business was starting to see growth after a long plateau. Then came the pandemic. But instead of taking a nose dive as I feared, business kept growing. People were hunkering down and enjoying the hobbies they hadn't had time for in the past. This is where my "pivot" came in. I didn't change my product, I changed my approach. There were no more trade shows where I could meet-and-greet, and some retailers were drowning while others seemed to be thriving.
To better understand this, I went old-school. I picked up the phone and just started talking to store owners. Or I should say, LISTENING. They told me that things were different. They needed their orders to ship to their homes instead of their stores. They needed to get product samples so they could do Facebook Live videos. Basically, they needed to be heard and supported in new ways that only a small responsive company could.
I also realized that being an American-made company was now my super-power. I spent a chunk of my limited cash on extra raw goods so I wouldn't get stuck in anyone else's supply-chain nightmare. We ramped up our own production in case we had to shut-down (which proved quite fortuitous for the 3 weeks we were living off existing inventory.) And last but equally important, we always remember to say "thank you" to our customers who are still standing and still supporting us with orders. They're the ones on the front lines (the retailers). It can't be easy. I think the way we treat our customers during these difficult times differentiates us from our competition. It says, "we care about your business", "you matter to us" and "if you do well, we do well". If they didn't already, they now see us as a partner versus just a "supplier". And for those innovative retailers, it's reinforced that we're willing to listen to out-of-the-box ideas in order for us both to prosper.
So to answer your question about why I was about to have my biggest month in decades, it's because I spent the past year doing everything I know I should've been doing all along...instead of just talking about it.
Congratulations, Jaime. Very impressive.
The crisis further highlighted the importance of kindness in the professional setting. I don't want to mistake this comment for being "nice." I do however want to highlight how just a little bit of kindness can go a long long way, especially in remote work. We never know what someone else is dealing with so we need to remember to be kind.
I've posted a few articles on LinkedIn regarding my lessons learned from the last year. The biggest one: Be prepared. There will always ben another business downturn. Your panel has said it a number of times over the past year: Make sure you have "dry powder" available (e.g. cash).
My personal toughest (business decision) was to take on debt for the first time in the company's history. Through the SBA, I got a (very) low interest EIDL loan and am working hard to pay it off before the first payment is due, while keeping enough dry powder for 1.5-2 years of operations.
Here are the articles I wrote on LinkedIn:
Be prepared. (Or, How one independent consultant is getting through COVID-19): https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/prepared-how-one-independent-consultant-getting-harry/
Moving to Normalcy (Part 1): https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/moving-normalcy-after-covid-19-any-other-large-part-1-harry/
Moving to Normalcy (Part 2): https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/moving-normalcy-after-covid-19-any-other-large-part-2-harry/
Improvise, Adapt, Overcome: How one small business is plowing through COVID19 and some lessons learned. https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/improvise-adapt-overcome-how-one-small-business-some-harry/
Main lesson: it's a lot easier to weather a huge loss of revenue when the government hands out huge piles of cash.