18 minute read
MAKE THE BEST OF IT
Making the best of it
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STRATEGIES FOR OVERCOMING BUSINESS SETBACKS
BY HANNAH MASSEN
We’ve all been there: one of your best clients leaves W you for one of your competitors. The new product you thought everyone would love falls flat. Your sales fall short of your goals for the quarter, or you signed a contract and realize you made a mistake too late.
Entrepreneurs know that there is no straight shot to success. The road to starting or growing your own business is rocky at the best of time and downright unpredictable at the worst. Even when you make the best decisions you can with the information you have, you might find yourself at a dead end. But a creative flop or unexpected expense doesn’t mean your business is doomed (no matter how defeated you feel). Use these strategies to approach – and overcome – business setbacks. ■
■ Acknowledge the situation Any time a human is involved in a project, there’s the potential for human error. Going into denial or letting your pride keep you from owning up to a mistake will only make a bad situation worse. The first step in overcoming a business setback is to take a critical – while not criticizing – look at what really happened. Take responsibility where needed, then hold your head high and get to work on a solution.
■ Find the deeper meaning In the words of Jennifer Aniston, “There are no regrets in life, just lessons.” As devastating as setbacks may feel in the moment, there’s usually something to be gained from even the most difficult situations. Maybe a financial setback points to a pattern of over-giving and undercharging, or a fight with a coworker clarifies your need to set boundaries at work. Whether you call it a “silver lining” or a “teachable moment,” treat the experience as a lesson learned or experience gained. ■ Revisit your goals When you’re barreling down the track, it’s easy for things to fly off the rails. Slow down after a setback and take a moment to revisit your goals. Are you any closer to where you wanted your business to be five years ago? If not, why not? When was the last time you updated your products, services, or infrastructure to meet current demands? Does your brand still accurately reflect your business? Taking a good, long look at your company goals may be the key to solving your current problem and preventing similar situations in the future.
■ Reach out to your support system You don’t have to go it alone when the going gets tough. Leaning on trusted advisors, coworkers, or friends in your industry won’t only benefit your mental health, but it could benefit your business, too. Chances are, your mentors have been in similar situations before, which means they have years of experience to share. Don’t waste time experimenting with solutions if someone you know can guide you out of the woods.
■ Don’t dwell When the worst of the setback is over, it’s tempting to wallow in fear and anxiety that the same thing will happen again. When you stop treating setbacks as failures, you’ll be able to move on more easily and help your business recover faster.
e First... and e Best
“Being first doesn’t guarantee being the best. That’s a title earned through day to day excellence. I am proud to join other members of the team in giving my best to help my company remain the best at the services we provide.” Yair Ortiz-Trujillo
Resident Services Technician
The best of both worlds
ARE YOU HEADING BACK TO THE OFFICE, OR IS YOUR REMOTE WORK MODEL HERE TO STAY?
BY HANNAH MASSEN
It’s no secret that the pandemic
Iforced thousands of businesses across countries to close their doors, but as companies reopen at full capacity, their owners and employees seem to have landed in one of two camps: those who miss their morning commute, in-person meetings, and communal coffee maker at the office, and those who are reluctant to leave behind the comfort and flexibility of working from home.
Now, business owners aren’t wondering when they’ll go back to the office, but if they’ll go back to the office at all.
Leaders at large corporations also have been grappling with the to-go-or-not-to-go back to the office dilemma. Netflix co-founder and co-CEO Reed Hastings has emerged as one of working from home’s most vocal opponents. “I don’t see any positives,” he said in an interview with the Wall Street Journal. “Not being able to get together in person, particularly internationally, is a pure negative.” Microsoft, on the other hand, is allowing employees to decide where they’d prefer to work. The tech giant recently adopted a new policy which includes allowing employees to work from home full time with approval or move to a new location with salaries adjusted based on geography. Facebook also is allowing certain employees to work remotely full time, and Twitter said employees can continue working from home “forever” if they wish.
Even if you’ve desperately missed your workday routine or have started calling the beach your “home office,” the decision to transition back to in-person or to continue working remotely is about more than personal preference. We’ve made a list of factors for you to consider while finalizing your post-pandemic business model. ■
COMMUNICATION
As we’ve all learned in the last year, communication still happens when working remotely, it’s just different. Face-to-face meetings become video calls, quick questions are asked over Slack, and emails – well, they’re still emails. No one can escape those.
One of the most common cases for working from home is the ability to take calls and send messages from anywhere. But nothing can quite replace the connections coworkers create when they share an office or bump into each other in the break room. It can be difficult to build meaningful work relationships through a screen – especially when most people have their cameras turned off or are clearly checking their texts.
FLEXIBILITY
When you head to the office on workdays, it’s likely you have a set schedule. Your alarm goes off at 7, you swing through Starbucks at 8:15, and you’re at your desk by 9. But when you’re working from home, every day could look a little different. You might not start work until after your morning yoga class, but you might be on your laptop through dinner, too. Some people enjoy having the flexibility to work and take breaks when it suits them, while others are tempted to wake up two minutes before their first meeting, making for a chaotic start to the day.
Working remotely takes a good deal of discipline if you want to meet deadlines on time, but it also requires intention when it comes to maintaining a work-life balance. Your team members might know that their workday is done when they see their coworkers pack up for the day, but at home, those cues don’t exist. It can be all too tempting to tweak a presentation during your “personal time,” which can lead to a serious case of burnout.
FINANCE
There’s a big difference between working from home and at the office where finances are concerned – and we’re not talking about how much money you make.
First, there’s the obvious advantage of saving on rent if you’re not paying for an office space, allowing you to allocate the money that would normally go towards your workspace, utilities, and insurance to other areas of your business. But working from home can help you and your team cut personal, day-to-day costs, too. You’ll most likely save on gas money if you’re not commuting to work every day, and may not be as tempted to get lunch or coffee out. However, working from home may come with its own monthly fees for you and your employees, like a high-speed internet bill, personal software plans, and at-home office equipment.
PRODUCTIVITY
A study conducted by UC Irvine found that a typical office worker is interrupted every 11 minutes. If that wasn't bad enough, it takes 25 minutes to get back on task.
It might be easier to focus at home if you have a quiet space to yourself, but that isn’t the case for every worker. Many people found it tough to hold down the fort at home while trying to concentrate on work during the pandemic. But for those who are tempted to chat with coworkers while they’re on the clock or linger by the vending machine, working from home may be the way to go.
Business owners now have a unique opportunity to create an environment that truly works for them and their employees. It may take some time and energy to adopt a new business model, but if we’ve learned anything in the last year, it’s that anything is possible.
The best is yet to come
JAKE HIGGINS’ JOURNEY AS A SERIAL ENTREPRENEUR
STORY + PHOTOS BY LUCY ROSEN
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People start businesses for all kinds of reasons. Some are in it for the money, some are in it for the thrill, and others have dreams of making it big. But Jake Higgins, former detective sergeant of narcotics at the Jasper County Sheriff's Office and serial entrepreneur, is in it for the people.
Higgins doesn’t remember the moment he realized that helping people was the driving force behind most of his career choices, but it’s been a common theme throughout his life, from his time as a law enforcement officer to his current position as CEO and owner of eight local businesses. He says it’s gratifying to know that he’s making a difference in the lives of his employees, especially when he can give them their first job or a fresh start.
“Being a part of those memories is sobering and I view it as an awesome responsibility,” Higgins said. “We all have had terrible bosses and I know that I am not one.
Investing in my staff and giving them a fun place to work are really the drivers to starting more businesses. We really are a big family and everyone in my companies know each other and cares for each other.”
Higgins started his first business when he was a teenager in Baltimore, Maryland, detailing cars so he “could make a few bucks.” He took a job as a police officer in
Ohio where he was named Resource Officer of the Year and received the Top Gun Award. Even so, Higgins says he lived paycheck to paycheck, and after purchasing a house and a car at 22 years old, Higgins lost it all to bankruptcy and knew it was time for a change.
“I walked out of the bankruptcy court and thought to myself, I'll never be poor again,” he said.
While holding down a full-time job working as a school resource officer in Ohio, Higgins started a security company, SecurityNow USA, that catered to pop-up clubs, strip clubs, and inner-city bars.
of narcotics at the Jasper County Sheriff's Office and serial entrepreneur, is in it for the people.
Higgins doesn’t remember the moment he realized that helping people was the driving force behind most of his career choices, but it’s been a common theme throughout his life, from his time as a law enforcement officer to his current position as CEO and owner of eight local businesses. He says it’s gratifying to know that he’s making a difference in the lives of his employees, especially when he can give them their first job or a fresh start. ruptcy and knew it was time for a change.
“I walked out of the bankruptcy court and thought to
The major fights, shootings, and gang-related activity he encountered motivated him to grow his company so he wouldn’t have to work at those venues anymore. Higgins secured a contract with a local school system and has provided security for them now over a decade. Then he jumped on the opportunity to work with a restaurant chain that had experienced multiple robberies. Ten years later, the restaurant chain is still one of his biggest clients – which is saying something. Higgins’ security company expanded to all 50 states and now has thousands of employees, contractors, and accounts servicing major brands in the restaurant industry.
He took a job at the Bluffton Police Department and spent six years working as a narcotics detective, community police liaison, and US Marshals Fugitive Task Force officer. Higgins was named Town Employee of the Year in 2017 and Bluffton Cop of the Year in 2018 before taking his position as detective sergeant in Jasper County. But he didn’t stop there.
In addition to running his national security firm and working for the Sheriff’s Office, Higgins bought and opened a series of local businesses, beginning with Coastal Sunset Property Services of HHI in 2019. In 2020, Higgins purchased Which Wich of Bluffton, Kilwins of Bluffton, and Coastal Sunset Carwash of Bluffton. This year, he purchased Coastal Sunset Carwash Express of Bluffton and Dairy Queen of Bluffton and opened Bluffton Pizza Company and Coastal Sunset Car Wash of Beaufort.
Higgins receives calls and emails daily from people looking to sell their businesses, but he’s especially interested in buying establishments that improve our Lowcountry community. Higgins didn’t buy the local Dairy Queen just because of the possibility of endless Blizzards – he did it because the business is a Bluffton institution.
“I do like all of the DQ products, but I bought the DQ because it is a staple in the Bluffton community,” Higgins said. “Historically, it has suffered and been neglected but now we have almost 20 people with jobs, teens with their first jobs and people who needed a second chance in life now with a job. That's why I’ve gotten into so many businesses here, just to help my community.”
Higgins says that there’s no “secret sauce” when it comes to starting a successful business, but he emphasizes the importance of cultivating a strong company culture. Higgins plays an active role in each of his companies, taking the time to get to know each of his employees on a personal level. He knows every aspect of his businesses, from bottom to top, so he can jump in and support the managers whenever the need arises.
Higgins knows that he could just work his full-time job in law enforcement or his position as CEO of SecurityNow USA alone, but his dedication to community and customer service is what motivated him to grow his portfolio. He is now finishing the process to be a state trooper with the South Carolina Highway Patrol, a career goal he is most passionate about. He spends time with his three daughters and is excited to one day give them the keys to the enterprise.
He says that when entrepreneurs harness their own drive to succeed, they can be sure the best is yet to come.
“Success isn't found in someone else's book about themselves or even this article about my success,” Higgins said. “It is found in your heart. When that indescribable drive fuels you, success is soon approaching.” ■
Jake Higgins’ best advice for entrepreneurs
BUILD STRONG STAFF
RELATIONSHIPS
Early on in his career, Higgins was told that “You reap a harvest where you place an emphasis.”
He places an emphasis on getting to know each of his employees personally and creating a company culture of mutual respect. “I could have started these businesses alone, but they never would have grown,” Higgins said. “The most valuable asset I have is my staff.”
TAKE ADVICE WISELY
Everyone loves to offer business owners advice, even when they have no stake in the success of their companies.
Higgins recommends taking advice from fellow entrepreneurs who have a proven track record of success. “Don't always listen to those with all of the degrees and education,” Higgins said. “Listen to the business owners who have put the time in and have proven results for years. Take the advice of the lady or gentleman who has put everything they have into a successful business and someone who knows if they don't work that day, they don't get paid.”
FIND YOUR DRIVE
"Successful people will do things that unsuccessful people won't," Higgins said. That’s because they’re intrinsically motivated to improve their businesses, industries, and communities. Figure out what motivates you to succeed, then use it to your advantage.
How one dental practice aligned its brand with its altruistic goals
REBRANDING Q&A WITH DR. MATT MASTROROCCO, DMD, THAT WILL MAKE YOU SMILE
[LOCAL Biz] Dr. Mastrorocco, you have had a very successful dental practice for over 17 years. Why did you decide to make such a transfor-L mational change?
[Matt Mastrorocco] In the winter of 2019, my team and I began a rebranding initiative that extended well beyond the creation of a new practice name, logo, and colors. We took a hard look at our business model and messaging that had placed me, the dentist/owner, at its center. While this is a common, traditional approach for a private dental practice, it didn’t do the very thing it should: tell the story of who we are and where we want to go (and grow).
[LB] What was the first step in your brand transformation?
[MM] After building my practice on Hilton Head for 17-plus years, we wanted to continue to flourish so that it could have a larger, positive impact on my team and community. It started with new vision and mission statements homing in on our core values, placing this idea firmly at our center and clearly in black and white. “The mission of ROC Dental Group is to continually improve and enhance our practice so that we may offer the best quality of life to our team, patients, and Lowcountry neighbors.”
[LB] Mission and visions statements often get put in a binder and are forgotten about. How is it different at ROC?
[MM] For me, putting this mission into action means making sure my team members love to come to work and are supported in their personal lives so they can provide an exceptional patient experience, and support local nonprofits financially and in our advertising. For example, recently my staff voted on a roster of “ROC star charities” that receive recognition in our print ads, social media promotions, and patient newsletter as well as a $1,000 donation. When my employees feel empowered, it contributes to the incredible care they give our patients from that first phone call until they depart our office.
[LB] Would you say your rebranding has been successful?
[MM] Absolutely. Our rebranding was a catalyst for continued growth. While we added two new amazing dentists and are growing our financial results, most importantly, we are making a difference in the lives of our team, patients and community. ■
Tips for a successful rebranding:
Start with your mission (‘your reason for being’) A clearly defined mission will lead to a well-articulated brand.
Engage employees, customers and community A brand isn’t something to ‘push as’ employees and customers. Your audiences should feel a part of the brand.
Be clear, consistent and concise
Colors, fonts, logo and imagery should be consistent everywhere, including uniforms, signs, collateral, advertising and website. Details matter. On brand
ROC’s advertising reflects the new brand strategy by featuring team members and local charities.
