Jim Blasingame

Business futurist, award-winning author, speaker and columnist

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Coronavirus

11 Reasons To Never Be Too Cool For THE School

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There has never been a time in the history of the marketplace when tried and true best practices – oft mislabeled “Old School” – are being so indiscriminately brushed aside by digital leverage best practices we’ll call “New School.”

While sorting out what part of properly labeled Old School to shed (like running a business without a mobile strategy) and which New School practices to adopt (like a digital transformation strategy), we must remember that there’s a third category of best practices that often get lost in the generational translation.

Those best practices are what I call “THE School” – aka the fundamentals.

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Avoid Scurvy And The Kraken With Professional Vitamins

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For centuries, prolonged service at sea resulted in ancient mariners contracting a malady called scurvy. Those so afflicted bruised easily, had joint pain, gum disease, tooth loss – you get the picture.

By the 18th-century, researchers discovered that eating citrus fruit, like lemons and limes, would prevent scurvy. Of course, you already know the active ingredient in this “remedy” is vitamin C, found in the ascorbic acid delivered by eating those fruits. But I betcha didn’t know ascorbic is Latin for “no scurvy.”

An unfortunate reality that small business mariners experience on their marketplace voyage is a condition I’ve named professional scurvy. This malady doesn’t cause your teeth to fall out, but it does produce symptoms like high levels of negative energy, low levels of performance, and an easily bruised ego resulting in an unfortunately high rate of professional shipwrecks.

The good news is, similar to the clinical kind, professional scurvy can be cured with a supplement I call Professional Vitamin C. You shouldn’t be surprised to learn that I’ve identified four of these. And you should be pleased to learn that, like limes and lemons, these marketplace nutrients are low-hanging fruit. Here are the four Professional Vitamin Cs, followed by a bonus nutrient.

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The Best Of Times, The Worst Of Times

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“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of light, it was the season of darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair.”

In his preamble of A Tale of Two Cities, the immortal Charles Dickens delivered an appraisal of the disruptive state of affairs in 18th-century London and Paris. Today, seeking perspective for the past 12 months, Dickens’ perfectly paradoxical passage continues to serve – our heads nodding resolutely as his 19th-century words overlay our 21st-century reality.

Let’s employ Dickens’ literary device in pursuit of our own perspective on America’s currently disruptive state-of-affairs. 

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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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The New Regular: PPP Update #4 – New Money And Rules

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This is the 23rd edition of my New Regular series, which didn’t begin as a series because no one on the planet imagined Main Street would still be getting hammered by two very dangerous forces: a deadly virus and state/local politicians. So, welcome to 2021 when, apparently, Normal has checked-out for another year.

Since last February, your humble correspondent has been reporting on what I’ve named the “Three U’s of the Apocalypse”: an Unprecedented coronavirus pandemic, precipitating an Unprecedented economic shutdown, necessitating Unprecedented direct government assistance. Now, in my fourth report in this series to focus on that last “U,” let’s bring you up to date on the “Economic Aid to Hard-Hit Small Businesses, Nonprofits, and Venues Act’’, or PPP2, for short – which is at least five months late.

This is essentially the availability of another round of Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) funds, with new money and new rules that update the original CARES Act of March 27, 2020. The new law also delivers some excellent new provisions that you’re going to like.

Here’s the essence of this new PPP cupcake with new sprinkles.

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Inside the head of a small business owner – during a pandemic

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Here is a running conversation millions of Main Street business owners have every day – mostly with themselves – while operating on the edge of existence during a global pandemic.

Eep … Eep … Eep … Eep …

5:15am: A small business owner touches the snooze button on his phone alarm
“Man, I gotta change that obnoxious alarm tone. Big day – should hear from the bank about qualifying for the next round of PPP. We really need it – can’t cut any deeper and stay open.”

6:47am: Rolling. On a call (hands-free, of course) with his remote-working accountant
“Listen, if the PPP money doesn’t happen, and the bank won’t make a gap loan, how tight will cash get next month? Mmmm! Worse than I thought. Okay, we should get a decision on ACME today. If they accept our proposal, that should get us past next month, right? Well, get on those aging receivables. Lemme go. Gotta take this call from James (warehouse manager). It can’t be good at this hour.”

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