Jim Blasingame

Business futurist, award-winning author, speaker and columnist

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Five Post-Pandemic Rules For Business And Life

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Almost a half-century ago, a list of rules really caught on. Without the benefit of the Internet, email, or social media, but with no less an endorsement than syndicated newspaper oracle, Ann Landers, “Ten Rules For Being Human” quickly circulated around the globe.

Initially, the author’s name didn’t make the trip, resulting in attribution to “Anonymous.” It remained that way even when Jack Canfield and Mark Victor Hansen included The Rules in their original Chicken Soup For The Soul book in 1993. Still attributing it to “Anonymous,” they somehow didn’t know that the wisdom of The Rules came from their long-time friend, Dr. Chérie Carter-Scott.

Chérie has been my friend since she first told that story to my radio audience over two decades ago, as she launched her first book based on The Rules, If Life is a Game, These are the Rules. Using Chérie’s numbering, here are five of the ten Rules that are handy for small business owners any time, but especially so just now. And, of course, each rule is followed by my thoughts.

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Ten Reasons The $15 Minimum Wage Is A Harmful Blunt Instrument

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Arguably our first primordial tool, humans owe a lot to blunt instruments. Indeed, the world could not have been built without hammers and such.

But thousands of years ago, even Og and Gog knew a boulder wasn’t an appropriate tool to stake a hide to dry. Alas, in the 21st century, that “appropriate” concept is still lost on the largest and most unwieldy blunt instrument in history: the U.S. government, which has a sad history of inappropriately hammering square policy pegs into round resolution holes. Remember these two legislative pile drivers?

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The Key To A Successful Post-pandemic Banking Relationship

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One of the most interesting relationships in the Main Street economy is the one between business owners and their banks. It is at once powerful and essential. Let me tell you a short story about where this dynamic has been in order to explain where it’s going.

Unlike our big business cousins, small firms have limited capital sources. Indeed, the lion’s share of our growth funds come from a bank loan, with almost 60% being made by a community bank (ICBA). Yet, since 2008, more than half of small business CEOs have consistently reported not needing to borrow money (NFIB).

A dozen years ago, a kind of perfect storm began for Main Street businesses: the 2007-09 recession was made “Great” by the Wall Street-induced financial collapse, which was followed by our economic lost decade during the Obama administration. In survival response, small businesses tightened their belts and deleveraged on a scale not seen in generations.

This deleveraging phenomenon resulted in small businesses retaining more earnings which, by definition, produces stronger balance sheets and reduces loan demand. And it produced a silver lining we didn’t know we had or needed – until last year.

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Will America And The World Survive The Climate Change Church?

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If a company quadrupled sales while simultaneously reducing all expenses to levels from 30 years ago, it would be celebrated from Main Street to Wall Street. Books would be written about such performance and that model would be taught in schools as a clinic on operating excellence.

Well, that story is the metaphor for how the U.S. has balanced economic production and carbon emissions. But instead of celebrating and building on that success story, the Biden administration has embarked on a quixotic agenda that in one policy motion will punish the U.S. economy for its unmatched performance, and in perverse irony, likely do harm to the climate.

And the lost opportunity and increased energy cost will disproportionately hurt America’s small businesses. Recently in an online poll, we asked small business owners, “How will the climate plans of the Biden administration impact your business?” Almost 80% rejected the new president’s energy agenda as damaging to their business.

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The CEO Paradox: Getting Out Of Your Own Way

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Paradox: when two associated things – words, traits, situations, etc. – seem illogical and/or contradictory, but may, in fact, be true, compatible, or justified. Examples: “You have to spend money to make money” or “less is more.” Here’s a digital transformation example: “Using artificial intelligence to get closer to customers.”

Contemplating the paradox is fascinating, but never more so than how paradoxical humans are. Consider these human paradoxes:

  • Your intense personality can seem aggressive, but the other side of your paradox is an outgoing nature with a handy sense of urgency.
  • You’ve been called a workaholic, but the rest of the story is that others benefit from the fruits of your labor.
  • You may seem unorganized, but your creative paradox sees order in clutter.

We humans are at once a sweet and sour but always spicy Brunswick stew of paradoxes. But most of us don’t spend a lot of time thinking about it because paradox sounds negative and we don’t like dwelling on our negatives – just the good stuff. And there’s the rub.

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The Small Business Mission Statement

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On August 8, 2020, the unprecedented Paycheck Protection Program closed, even though there was over $130 billion of unused funds.

This money was appropriated specifically to help small businesses that were struggling to survive through no fault of their own, but rather due to the one-two punch of an unprecedented pandemic and unprecedented political shutdowns. Since that date, the ugliest and most shameless display of partisan politics has been afoot, with Main Street operators being used as the football.

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