“Uh… Your mic is muted.” I could hear my guest, but they couldn’t hear me. I was struggling with technology like most everyone else in March 2020. Hard to believe that just 2 years ago the business world, actually the entire world, changed almost completely overnight. This was my thirteen zoom meeting in a week and I was already having technology fatigue. I was used to conducting maybe three to five meetings a week. In person meetings. Meetings I had to drive to. Meetings I prepared an agenda for. Meetings where everyone was off their devices and paying attention to one another. Times were different. Decisions were made slower. Business Owners were more thoughtful. 

I held up one finger to symbolize that I could hear them but I needed a minute to figure out my technology.

Fast forward to today. Today. It seems, some business owners are holding on to their new found technological quickness; back to back to back zoom meetings, expecting people to be able to navigate lots of technology, or be just as productive working remotely as they are in person.

But. This leads to a logical question. How do we all recover from the pandemic? How are business owners supposed to bounce back as it seems “business as usual” doesn’t mean the same thing today as it did just a few years ago. 

I was meeting with a colleague of mine for breakfast recently. We were discussing this topic. He leaned in as if to tell me a secret. He said, “Matt. How is Strategic Voyages recovering from the pandemic?” He used his fork to cut another bite of his pancakes and slowly played with the stack on his plate. 

I wasn’t surprised that we were finally getting to the heart of the conversation. You know how some conversations go… There’s a little bit of a check in, a little bit of small talk, a question about the Bears, the weather, the kids, and then right down to business. This colleague of mine didn’t like wasting time and dove right in.

I sat back from the empty plate that, just moments before, held my favorite skillet. I thought about his question. It’s one that I hadn’t quite articulated a response to but knew it was time to address. I let it rattle around in the air a little longer. Lingering. Unsettling. Permeating through the smell of breakfast. 

“Well. The pandemic caused lots of business owners to face decisions they perhaps hadn’t considered and there wasn’t a lot of time to for messing around. It was like doing battle and some business leaders hadn’t trained for war. Strategic Voyages faced it’s own set of decisions and battles. In fact, we’re still recovering from the pandemic. Prior to the pandemic, we had a great business model. We had a dedicated team. We had a purpose. A direction. We were making wins every month. We had a stable of dozens of high-quality, growth-oriented clients who needed a solid CFO Team. The pandemic very much changed our business landscape as clients began to make irrational decisions, quick decisions, and some tough decisions. Personnel moves. Financial plays. Strategic redirection. Etc. It was hard.”

I paused. I was reminiscing a little. Strategic Voyages shifted through the pandemic. We haven’t fully recovered. When you break a vase, you have to use the pieces to create something new and beautiful while accepting that it will never look like it did before. That’s where many business owners are today.

I found a napkin free from syrup stains and wrote down 5 things. This is how my brain works. I make myself an outline of the main points and then fill in the gaps with conversation.

Here’s what I wrote down:

Steps for Recovering from the pandemic

1. Taking Inventory of Assets
2. Identifying Gaps in the Team
3. Realigning to core values
4. Revisiting the budget
5. Contact your banker

As I began to explain each step, my colleague found some paper and took notes. Here’s what we came up with:

Taking inventory of assets isn’t exactly as financial as it may seem. Assets might be things you’ve learned, might be people that have stuck through the pandemic with you, might be new technology you’ve embraced, it might be an offering you’ve figured out how to monetize, it might be new relationships, and it might be a list of things you don’t want. No matter what your business has gone through, you have to take inventory. Count the pieces. Look inward to see what’s there before building. 

Identifying gaps in the team isn’t so much about saying, “we need to hire,” as much as it’s about taking the time to thoroughly evaluate each person on your staff and answering tough questions. Questions like, “Do we have the right people on the bus?” and, “Is each person in the right seat?” and, “Are we moving in the right direction as a team?” These are tough questions to answer as they tend to fall on the shoulders of the leader of the business.

Realigning to core values happens post war. Sometimes in battle, good generals have had to make tough decisions in the name of survival. Good soldiers have had to make life and death decisions without much time to deal with the fall out. If your business doesn’t have core values, I suggest getting a copy of Traction and going through the exercises the author lays out to develop them for your business. If you already have core values, does your team know what they are? Are your company’s core values a part of your performance reviews with the team? You have to realign to core values when recovering from the pandemic.

Revising the budget happens when you’ve realized you have to operate within a construct of approved expenses that fit into your growth plan. You can’t operate a successful business forever without a budget. Sure, you might be able to get away with it for a while. But a budget helps guide the business leaders’ decisions around expenditures. Many business owners I’ve talked to recently have confided in me that they have been “too busy to worry about the budget,” and quickly follow that sentiment up with, “and I know I need to get back to the basics.” This is why a lot of clients end of hiring Strategic Voyages as the CFO Team for their business. They know we can do the messy, intricate, pain-stakingly menial task of reconciling the books so financial, strategic conversations have data to support them.

Contact your banker should be on everyone’s list. A future blog I’m working on outlines the value of having a close relationship with your banker. Many conversations I’ve had with clients during the pandemic left me wondering where all the bankers were. They were busy, busy, busy. However, I can assure you that the best bankers want that relationship with their clients. Our clients need that relationship. Helps with accountability. Aids in growth. Gives inspiration. And adds a level of realness to taking on risk.

When I finished my impromptu presentation, my colleague looked up with his notepad filled with notes and smiled. He said, “Matt. I think Strategic Voyages needs to help business owners in recovering from the pandemic. There’s a lot of work to do and we’re ready.”

Contact my team today if you’d like to see how having Strategic Voyages Business Consultants would fit into your business model as the outsourced CFO Team for your business.