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Jim Blasingame

Business futurist, award-winning author, speaker and columnist

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Archives for April 2020

It’s time for America’s Main Street to go back to work

April 23, 2020 by Jim Blasingame

America’s small business sector is currently on an emotional roller coaster. Let me tell you a story about how far back we have to go – over 240 years – to find comparable unprecedented circumstances imposing similar anxiety on Main Street. 

During the Revolutionary War (1775-1783), colonial business owners, who were also American Patriots, were up against that conflict’s ebb and flow as it overlaid their marketplace. In any given month, the Continental Army would be dominant in a region, allowing the Patriot’s business to operate with its owner’s politics on display. But when the British later occupied that region, patrolling Redcoats would create a different atmosphere, as the King claimed military and political dominance. 

During that unprecedented period, the life of any Patriot entrepreneur became extremely complicated. As they attempted to claim liberty, they simultaneously had to balance the risks of their business with a very real threat to their lives and beloved families. And as they contemplated these factors, surely they had to allow for the possibility that the revolution might fail. On the subject of risk management – more safety or more liberty – Franklin offered this immortal truth: “Those who trade liberty for safety deserve neither.”

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Filed Under: Coronavirus, Entrepreneurship, Ethics / Trust, Government / Politics, Leadership

The special sauce created by small business and community banks

April 17, 2020 by Jim Blasingame

America is fortunate to have two marketplace sectors that also happen to be unique in the world: 28 million small businesses and 5,000 community banks. Let me tell you a story about why we’re all even more fortunate – especially during a pandemic – that these two groups are next-door neighbors and close friends.

There are many differences between a small business and a big business. But the most dramatic is something you won’t find on Wall Street: small business special sauce. When this rich blend of ethics, values, and value is slathered over Main Street America, it manifests as one of the most powerful forces in nature: high-quality, enduring relationships built on a foundation of trust. 

And these aren’t like your affinity for a big business brand or product – they’re old-school relationships between human beings operating in a new-school marketplace. 

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Filed Under: Banking, Ethics / Trust, Investors, Leadership, National and Global Economy

Your 2020 Attitude: Surviving is Winning

April 9, 2020 by Jim Blasingame

In response to the coronavirus pandemic, I’ve written recently about Black Swans, maintaining perspective and anticipating government assistance.

Today, it’s all about attitude.

Not since the convergence of two deadly, cataclysmic events over a century ago – when a World War teamed-up with a Spanish Influenza pandemic – has there been a comparable time of pain, fear, and uncertainty as today. We’ve watched the novel coronavirus expand from a regional outbreak in China to a textbook pandemic, on its way to causing a global economic crisis.

When the Enter key was pushed to send my “Perspective” column exactly three weeks ago, less than 200 Americans had succumbed to COVID-19. In the blink of 21 days, that number is now over 16,000. No one was prepared for the sheer velocity of the human and financial toll as, incredibly, the coronavirus infected the planet. It’s now abundantly clear that this is one mean disease – tough and angry.

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Filed Under: Coronavirus, Entrepreneurship, Ethics / Trust, Leadership, Management Fundamentals

The Paycheck Protection Program and your small business

April 2, 2020 by Jim Blasingame

The coronavirus pandemic has thrust Main Street America into a very challenging and unprecedented economic period.

Most businesses have been negatively impacted and millions are in peril. Every owner is justified in their concern for the next few months.

But it’s important to remember that we’re dealing with a global pandemic like no living person has ever experienced, which has caused an economic crisis, the abruptness of which no living person has ever seen. As I said last week – this isn’t your fault. And once we “flatten the curve” of the coronavirus, there’s every reason to believe the economy will return to the growth footing we knew only a few weeks ago.

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Filed Under: Banking, Cash Flow, Coronavirus, Ethics / Trust, Investors, Leadership, Profitability

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