Diary of a Small Business Owner in 2020

A boom and bust cycle in a short period of time spins off many lessons

BY LUANN NIGARA

JANUARY 1, 2020

Dear Diary: It is 2020 and we have big goals. I cannot wait for this year to get underway! Cool number, 2020. Sort of reminds me of Y2K, except that was all about uncertainty and weird predictions. This is all about hope and possibility. Somehow the word “intense” keeps bubbling up in me. I suspect that will be my defining word for the year.

JANUARY 21 It’s a great day at Window Works! We just had a company retreat with our succession and organizational coach, Eileen Hahn. We did team analysis and team building exercises. We rewrote our mission and vision statement. Together, we wrote our 2020 company and individual goals. It was invigorating, inspiring and satisfying to see our team work and laugh together over two days. FEBRUARY 1

Great news. We are planning to bring our entire team to the International Window Coverings Expo in Charlotte. This is big for us. This has been a goal of ours for years, and this year we are going to make it happen. I cannot wait for all of our employees to be in the seminars and meet our colleagues from Exciting Windows and WCAA. We’re all really looking forward to this.

MARCH 13

High Point Market postponed because of coronavirus? Whaaat?

MARCH 15

International Window Coverings Expo postponed because of coronavirus?! Yikes.

MARCH 21

New Jersey residents in quarantine for 14 days? How will we do this? How will we install window treatments and awnings? How will we make new sales? Restaurants are closed too? How will Vin and I eat?

MARCH 22

We need a partner meeting, stat. Top concerns: making decisions on how to run remotely for two weeks, marketing, maintaining sales, cutting expenses and communicating with employees and customers.

We also need to schedule team Zoom meetings every day for two weeks. Objectives: help employees stay connected and be productive, drum up creative ways to continue to do business over the quarantine and develop a game plan for handling customer communication and order flow process as we work remotely.

APRIL 7

New Jersey quarantine order extended 30 more days. OMG. We decided our partner meetings will continue every Saturday for the foreseeable future. The meetings go on for three to four hours. Strategizing to handle this crisis is insane.

APRIL 18

Sales projection for April, as of today : We are more than $200,000 off the goal number. OMG.

MAY 15

Dear Diary: At our team retreat in January, we scheduled this day for a team lunch/happy hour event. But our showroom coordinator quit two weeks ago. So instead, on this exact day, we had a Zoom send-off for her. How will we manage a team of 10 working remotely without her? She is called coordinator because she coordinates us. Ugh.

AUGUST 15

So sorry Diary, I have been a bit busy. We went from hemorrhaging money, scared out of our wits that we would have to lay off employees and panicked we would lose our business, to handling an increase in sales of more than 40 percent over the last three months.

We have been so busy. Our salespeople are doing five and six appointments a day and are stretched to their limits. Our installers are working 12-hour days in 90-degree and higher heat with 85 percent and higher humidity. We have been going at this pace for eight weeks. We are all literally existing on fumes. Everyone is exhausted and cranky and there is no end in sight.

Oh, and our lead awning installer fell off a ladder last Monday, broke his ankle, needs surgery and will be out for 12 weeks. We are relieved, though, because despite what this means to him and to us, it could have been so much worse.

August sales are projected to be $200,000 over any previous August. It is so hard to believe that four months ago we thought we might lose the business we built over 40 years because of lack of sales. Now we are in jeopardy because every single order is looking like it will be installed late. Like, really late.

Since customers are home, they are ordering like crazy and calling for their order status like crazy. The factories are overrun. Their customer service teams are working remotely, so their efficiency is, let’s just say, outside voice, “compromised and doing their best.” But seriously, inside voice, “nearly nonexistent and driving us up a tree!”

The world is still crazy and I haven’t seen my kids and grandkids. OMG. The holiday vacation could not be more anticipated or needed. Thank you for another lesson. I will appreciate this week off even more this year. You know, when I looked back at the first entry of 2020, I see my word for 2020 was “intense.” Diary, don’t mind me, but I have decided not to pick a word for 2021.

I keep saying to myself, LuAnn, you cannot complain. No whining. You need your big girl panties like never before.

NOVEMBER 16 So, what are my lessons?

Here are five strategies we used to manage both of these crises.

Another couple of months have passed, so I’d better catch you up. We have hired three new people since the “spring of COVID.” We are on track to hit our original 2020 sales goal. We have survived the grueling installation pace of July, August and September. Our lead installer is back and we are thrilled to have him on a truck, good as new.

1

To do:

• Schedule marketing budget meeting for next year. • Schedule employee reviews for

January. • Meet with sales team and set sales goals for next year. • Review new truck and other capital purchases at next owner’s meeting. 2 WEEKLY OWNER AND LEADERSHIP MEETINGS

In normal times, we have weekly team meetings and monthly owner meetings. When things get back to “normal,” we can go back to normal monthly owner meetings. Until then, if you have business partners, it is key to be on the same page. If you do not have a business partner, find a mentor or peer or hire a coach. Now more than ever, you need someone to bounce ideas off of, someone to see the angles you don’t, someone to simply support you mentally.

EVALUATE YOUR TEAM

DECEMBER 1

Dear Diary: Thank you, 2020, for all of your lessons. LOL.

The most significant: A huge surge in business is every bit as stressful as a huge downturn in business. Vin, Bill and I agree on this: Too much business is, in hindsight, the more stressful of the two. We experienced the frustration of disappointing so many customers, seeing our installers exhausted for weeks on end and having our salespeople running a mile a minute. It came with the same sleepless nights for us as the downturn did. 2020, you challenged us to stay on our game with months of plummeting sales followed by months of record-breaking sales. With leadership, teamwork, a positive outlook and lots of red wine, we made it.

If you have poor performers, now is the time to rehab them or cut them loose. Six months ago, during the worst of the crisis, it became clear how important it is for every employee to be productive, positive and part of the solution. The same is true during this massive surge in home decor sales. Everyone needs to be an A Team player. Without a crystal ball for how long this crisis will last or what trajectory it will take, having an A Team will ensure you are prepared for whatever comes your way, feast or famine. COMMUNICATE WITH YOUR CUSTOMERS Have the hard conversations. Do not avoid 3COMMUNICATE CUSTOMERS them. In the last month, the number of times I have called a customer to

schedule an install that is three or four weeks overdue is, frankly, unimaginable. It is difficult, it is stressful and it can make your stomach turn. My best tips for the hard conversations are these:

• Be the one to call. • Be calm, kind and patient. • Be empathetic. They have spent hard-earned money with you.

Respect that. • Be truthful regarding expectations. • Be prepared to be yelled at. • Be mindful of your reputation. Conduct yourself as if every word you say will be splattered on a billboard in your town.

The truth is, with social media, it just might. • Be optimistic. This will pass.

DO SOMETHING NICE FOR YOUR TEAM Like you, they have gone from scared as heck to working nights, weekends and all the hours in between. So, do plenty of nice things to thank them for sticking with you. Stock the fridge with 4 water and Gatorade. Bring bagels and fruit in the morning. Thank them as a group. Acknowledge their work ethic and their commitment to the company and to your customers, then take time to look each individual in their eyes and ask them how they are doing. Tell them you see them and you appreciate them. Treat them with gift cards for takeout or something else to show appreciation. TAKE A BREATH AND DON’T ABANDON SOUND BUSINESS PRACTICES It can be hard to keep your head on straight during crazy times 5TAKE BUSINESS like these. But that’s what you have to do as a business owner and leader. As you can, take a pause, take a breath and take stock of what you can do to improve your personal performance as well as the performance of your team.

Revise your financial projections, creating various revenue scenarios. Keep your eye on your cash flow. Now and over the next few months, replenish that three-month expense cushion if you dipped into it. Be diligent with operating expenses. Hire or fire if you need to.

And keep marketing. This is constant in good times, bad times, all the times.

Here’s to 2021, which can’t come soon enough. V

LuAnn Nigara is an award-winning window treatment specialist, a board member of WCAA and co-owner of Window Works in Livingston, NJ. Her highly successful podcast “A Well-Designed Business” debuted in February 2016. She has since recorded more than 600 episodes.

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