How Small Businesses Can Navigate the Pandemic

NW Indiana Business Owner Says Having the Right Team in Place is Key to Survival

 

With a resurgence of Covid-19 cases and state shutdowns, small businesses can navigate the pandemic by having a strong team in place and a long-term focus.

Business owners like Northwest Indiana chiropractic owner Dr. Nancy Trimboli, have been able to cope thanks to her strong staff, processes, procedures and planning. Dr. Trimboli who owns Trimboli Chiropractic in Cedar Lake, Indiana adds that her ability to adapt to a decline in cash flow has been critical to the survival of her business.

“I’ve been in business for more than 20 years and one of my biggest challenges was the cost of reopening in April,” said Dr. Trimboli. “We had to close during the stay-at-home orders and then for reopening, I had to reduce our number of patients and office hours, while increasing our time dedicated to following Covid-19 safety measures and cleaning. Thanks to working with national Business Psychologist Dr. Starling, I learned to be strategic, empower my staff, and focus on Profit First, which enabled me to come into this pandemic with a financial cushion.”

“Hiring the best and delegating are critical if small business owners want to elevate their business and survive during uncertain times like the coronavirus pandemic,” said Dr. Starling. Dr. Trimboli has a cohesive staff and efficient procedures in place that certainly help her navigate during this time. She is also in a good cash position due to Profit First coaching. “Most small businesses typically have small to little savings.”

Dr. Starling, author of the Hire the Best series and founder of Tap the Potential, specializes in transforming small businesses to have a “Work supports life, not the other way around™” mentality. She coaches small business owners to bolster leadership, trust, and innovation with strategies from her How to Hire the Best books. Small business owners work with Dr. Starling to learn Profit First, where a business owner literally takes profit first and spends only what remains on expenses. 

Before Dr. Trimboli came to work with Dr. Starling, her business had experienced a 25 percent decrease in income, and Dr. Trimboli had not paid herself in six months. After initially reaching out to Tap the Potential, Dr. Trimboli actually chose to work with a different coach. When that did not work out, she got back in contact with Dr. Starling. In just a few short months of working with Dr. Starling, Dr. Trimboli and her business went on a completely different trajectory.

“Getting ahold of my practice—delegating to and creating the right team to make decisions without me—enabled us to have a smooth reopening and clear my mind and space to write my book Stealth Health. Dr. Starling provided me encouragement and ability to strategize, which enabled my practice to be stable during this difficult time.”

According to Dr. Starling, it has been a great challenge for small business owners to stabilize their business during the coronavirus event with an eye to creating safety and support for themselves, their teams, and their customers.  

“Starting a small business requires taking a financial risk and running a business brings increased responsibilities and demands,” said Dr. Starling. “The pandemic and uncertainly have added even more enormous stress for entrepreneurs. Entrepreneurs have an innate talent and vision that drive them. They need to not let go of that. Sure, they will have to adjust during this time.”

Dr. Starling stresses it is critical for entrepreneurs to protect their mental health. She recommends the following tips for self-care during the coronavirus event:

1) Avoid Entrepreneurial Burnout – She's also offering a FREE self-assessment for all entrepreneurs to take, in order to gauge their risk of entrepreneurial burnout.

Entrepreneurs can take this free assessment at tapthepotential.com/assessment 

2) Acknowledge the future is yours to create, even as you have experienced loss. What do you want the next two years to be like? How do you want to experience life? If you could start your business over from scratch, and have it be how you would like it to be, what does that look like?

3) Identify your top customers/clients. Talk to them. What do they need? What opportunities exist for you to serve them from your strengths and your resources? This will be key to rebuilding and creating a more sustainable business going forward. 

4) Veggies First – Self-care for Leaders. Business owners need to remember to put their oxygen masks on first. Paying yourself last, not making time for your health (eating well, sleeping, and generally decompressing—especially now), and not staying focused on your personal vision for yourself and the business are all critical mistakes for the longevity of you! And your family, your business, community need you!

5) Be A Gift of Your Gifts – If we approach this situation by being of service while using our talents and passions that fuel us, we will be astounded by the innovation, sense of community, and fulfillment in serving others. This is a time to come together.

 

For tips on how to work through these problems and coach your team more effectively, please be sure to check out How To Hire the Best:The Entrepreneur’s Ultimate Guide to Attracting Top Performing Team Members, releasing September 15, 2020.

About The Author

Dr. Sabrina Starling, The Business Psychologist and international best-selling author of the How to Hire the Best series and The 4 Week Vacation™, is the founder of Tap the Potential and host of the Profit by Design podcast. At Tap the Potential, we work to free business owners from the constant demands of a growing business.

We believe work supports life, not the other way around. Clients in our Better Business, Better Life coaching program have more time for what matters most and more money in their bank account than they’ve ever had. Next, we send them off on a 4 Week Vacation™ to celebrate their hard-earned journey to take their life back!

Dr. Sabrina and her team at Tap the Potential are on a mission to change the story of entrepreneurship from one of long hours, grinding it out, to one of sustainably profitable businesses that support and enhance life. The Tap the Potential Solution™ and our Tap the Potential Family of Business Owners are disrupting small business as usual. We are on our way to making the Tap the Potential Solution™ the mainstream model for growing business.

By 2023, 150 Tap the Potential clients will have taken 4 Week Vacations. These are the trailblazers, role modeling what’s possible for entrepreneurs. In many entrepreneurial circles, it is becoming more and more common for one entrepreneur to ask another, “Have you taken a 4 Week Vacation™?” (as opposed to asking “How many employees do you have?” or “What is your annual revenue?”). Taking a fully unplugged 4 Week Vacation is rapidly becoming the recognized symbol of entrepreneurial success.

Never one to accept the status quo or back down from a challenge, Dr. Sabrina’s How to Hire the Best series grew from her desire to solve the toughest hiring challenges interfering with her clients’ growth and profitability. What sprang from her experience working with entrepreneurs in rural areas catapulted her into becoming the world’s leading expert in attracting top talent in small businesses—no matter what hiring challenges those businesses are facing—and earned Tap the Potential’s reputation as the go-to resource for entrepreneurs committed to creating Great Places to Work with thriving coaching cultures and highly engaged team members working from strengths.

As The Business Psychologist, and with her years of driving profit in small businesses, Dr. Sabrina knows what it takes to find, keep, and motivate exceptional performance out of your biggest investment—team members.