Own Your Future

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Small businesses, hit by the economic impact of the coronavirus, have had to pivot, pivot, pivot to survive.  I call that resilience.

But their goal is the same: to continue their dream, to do what they had been doing on their own terms before the world changed abruptly. They want to own their future as they had owned their past.

These entrepreneurs share their story and it's all about the power to pivot.

Today in Global Small Business: 'Black is King' by Beyonce

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What's affecting me, my clients, my colleagues and other global small business owners:

• Basey banig weavers build a name for Filipino export products.
• LIVE updates from The New York Times on COVID-19 
• Quote of the week:  "It is easy to hate and it is difficult to love. This is how the whole scheme of things works. All good things are difficult to achieve; and bad things are very easy to get." – Confucius
• The upside to embracing your own madness.
• 'Black Is King,' a new album by Beyonce, will celebrate Black resilience and culture, and premiere globally on Disney+ on July 31, according to a press release. 
• Whoa, look out, Starbucks says it will pause advertising on social media platforms including Facebook.  They are not the only one starting to take this path.  Could be impactful.

I Just Stuck With It

©2013 Laurel J. Delaney.  All rights reserved.

"My father left his piano at the house when he left, and I wasn't allowed to play it when he was there because I wasn't as good as him. So when he left, I was determined to get as good as him, and I taught myself how to play music, and I just stuck with it, and I did it all the time." – Prince

Worldometer

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World population?  Government and economics?  Society and media?  Environment?  Food?  Water? Health?

Say you want to know how many births we had this year, how much public military expenditure, number of television sets sold worldwide today and the number of tons of toxic chemicals released in the environment.

We've got you covered.  Enlighten yourself.  Worldometers.info – it's a reference website that provides counters and real-time statistics for diverse topics.

Chill with Alecia Keys (Music Video)

Lessons from the Great Recession in 2008

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"Flexibility — both in product lines and operational structure — will help vulnerable businesses survive," says Michael Chow, lead data analyst and economist at the National Federation of Independent Business (N.F.I.B.). The key is listening to customers and anticipating their needs, both today and after the pandemic.

Now is the time to scale up in the spirit of collaboration.

Read more about how small businesses today must focus on adaptability and prepare for timid consumers going forward.

Which Global Small Businesses Are Most Vulnerable Right Now Due to COVID-19?

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According to McKinsey & Company, before the crisis, small businesses accounted for nearly half of all private-sector jobs. Widespread business exits wreak longer-lasting unemployment and economic damage than temporary shutdowns do, so it’s important to understand which small businesses may remain shuttered permanently.

McKinsey & Company goes on to say that that knowledge can help business leaders and policy makers develop interventions to protect small businesses in the short term, ensure that they can participate in the recovery, and put more of them on a more resilient footing in the years to come.

Discover which sectors are most at risk, and which global small businesses might close permanently.

Today in Global Small Business: Cross-Cultural Marketing in a Pandemic

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What's affecting me, my clients, my colleagues and other global small business owners:

• COVID-19 has destroyed 41% of Black small businesses. 
• SMEs remain the backbone of our economy.
• Quote of the week:  “Together with a culture of work, there must be a culture of leisure as gratification. To put it another way: people who work must take the time to relax, to be with their families, to enjoy themselves, read, listen to music, play a sport." – Pope Francis
• COVID-19 metrics matter.  Check some robust ones out here and provided by Bloomberg Philanthropies.
• Building resilience in a world disrupted.
• Cross-cultural marketing in a pandemic:  key tents for business leaders.

The Abstract Wrong of Slavery

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"You know I dislike slavery; and you fully admit the abstract wrong of it." – August 24, 1855 Letter to Joshua Speed by Abraham Lincoln

Juneteenth

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Join the worldwide celebration of Juneteenth – a time to appreciate and celebrate Black history and together, take one giant step toward greater racial equality.

Update Your Cyber-Security Risk Assessment

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The coronavirus pandemic has accelerated a remote working culture that started when high-speed internet became available at home and in coffee shops.

It’s now obvious that many more jobs can be done remotely than previously thought. COVID-19 also accelerated distance learning and telehealth services. Compliance policies written for the workplace, the classroom, and the doctor’s office will need to be rewritten to reflect this new remote reality. 

Here are five ways any organization can improve its cyber-security compliance.

The Wayfair Decision and What It Means for Small Businesses

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The rise of e-commerce platforms and online marketplaces has radically changed the expectations that buyers have when it comes to shopping, leading to a steady decline in traditional retail shopping, and an uptick in online commerce. As a result of these shifts, we all now live and operate in an increasingly digital economy.

Now, bring in the Wayfair decision that has changed the landscape of state sales tax and made compliance much more difficult for all sizes of businesses.  Not familiar with the June 21, 2018 U.S. Supreme Court ruling in South Dakota v. Wayfair?  Get background info here.
 
Learn how the case compelled businesses to adopt digital solutions to address not only their sales tax needs but other tax reporting obligations as well.

How Female Founders Can Innovate and Disrupt the World of Business (SCORE webinar TODAY]

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The world of business is wide open to everyone who has an internet connection and the bravado to take it on.

In this SCORE webinar this morning, four exceptional women entrepreneurs Laurel Delaney (wegg®), Betsy Mikesell (Beddy's), Angie White (Beddy's) and Dr. Sonat Birnecker Hart (KOVAL Distillery) will provide insights for women who want to innovate and disrupt the world of business – to grow faster, stronger, and soar globally for a better tomorrow.

Join this webinar to learn:

• How to pivot a business in a crisis
• Why women rule in the global marketplace
• How to follow your passion and turn a family business into a global powerhouse
• What a Kickstarter campaign can do and why is it important to consider
• Who might be your next best partner in business
• How setting up an ecommerce platform can take a business global
• Why good design makes a strong first impression and establishing patents safeguards your invention

To learn more and to register TODAY, 6/16/20, at 11AM EDT (free of charge), visit:
https://www.score.org/event/how-female-founders-can-innovate-and-disrupt-world-business

Today in Global Small Business: You Gotta Start Collaborating

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What's affecting me, my clients, my colleagues and other global small business owners:

• Guys and gals – you gotta start collaborating, if you haven't already! 
• The US and China must learn to balance competition and collaboration in the coming era.
• Quote of the week:  “I always talk to all the crew. I always make it pleasant. I always nurture a relationship that makes people feel like they're important, like they're a part of the collaboration. I feel that way about the young actors on set. I don't talk to them like I'm the mentor; I talk to them like they're my peers. And I learned that from Meryl Streep.” – Viola Davis
• Looking to boost innovation?  Want to identify a problem to solve?  Partner or collaborate with a startup.
• This article is brought to you thanks to the collaboration of The European Sting with the World Economic Forum: The Great Reset needs great leaders to help the most vulnerable.
• Oh, just some fun and nothing to do with collaboration: Kris and Kate's ice cream.

Skate Your Troubles Away (Video)

Being Closed Is Overwhelming: You Just Don't Know When This Is Going To End

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A small business owner in Leslieville, a neighborhood in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, released a video to social media pleading to reopen her shop, and it has since gained a lot of traction online. As Caryn Lieberman of GlobalNews reports, her message is resonating with others in a similar situation.  After all, Yael Malkin, the owner, is losing $15,000 a month while closed.

“I just had a full on breakdown because I heard we’re not allowed to reopen in Ontario. Every single person that I talk to feels the same way,” said Yael Malkin [owner of Brows by Yael Shop] in the video, tears streaming down her face.

Read more.

Diversification Is Key: China or Mexico?

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Global small business owners get it.

If there is one thing the pandemic taught the world, it was that we are over-reliant on China for everything from the key ingredients used to make cleaning agents to pharmaceuticals, surgical masks to personal protection equipment. That’s not diversification of risks. 

So where are people turning to?  Mexico.  And according to Foley & Lardner, many U.S. executives are pretty enthusiastic about it.

Push to Reset the World

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Is it time for a great reset?  According to the World Economic Forum COVID Action Platform:

To achieve a better outcome, the world must act jointly and swiftly to revamp all aspects of our societies and economies, from education to social contracts and working conditions. Every country, from the United States to China, must participate, and every industry, from oil and gas to tech, must be transformed. In short, we need a “Great Reset” of capitalism.

Read more ... and visit the Great Reset microsite.  Working together, we can emerge from this crisis to create a better world.

The Belt and Road Initiative (BRI)

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According to the global law firm Baker McKenzie:

"The Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) is a historic marshalling of capital and a remarkable geopolitical foray into establishing and strengthening multinational trade corridors. With over US $440 billion of funding provided by Chinese financial institutions for BRI projects so far, it's an enterprise unlike anything seen on this scale for decades and holds tremendous opportunities for business. The BRI continues to evolve and expand with more than 130 countries now reported to have signed BRI agreements, far beyond the traditional Silk Road routes."

Learn more and develop an understanding of how COVID-19 alters BRI.

Today in Global Small Business: Black Lives Matter

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What's affecting me, my clients, my colleagues and other global small business owners:

• Think white privilege doesn't exist?  Wakeup.  Basic analysis here (from 2001). 
• The official #BlackLivesMatter Global Network builds power to bring justice, healing, and freedom to Black people across the globe.
• Quote of the week:  “Freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed.” – Martin Luther King, Jr.
• Peaceful protests and demonstrations about the death of George Floyd go global.
• The enormous scale of this important movement.
• Are Americans letting their guard down to protest the killing of George Floyd by police?

Your World for a Moment

©2020 Laurel J. Delaney.  All rights reserved.

"When you take a flower in your hand and really look at it, it's your world for the moment. I want to give that world to someone else. Most people in the city rush around so, they have no time to look at a flower. I want them to see it whether they want to or not." – Georgia O'Keeffe

Speak Out

Empower Global Small Businesses' Presence Online

With support of global commerce company Shopify and the Louisiana Economic Development, Louisiana business owners will become more competitive during the pandemic.

The COVID-19 pandemic has challenged businesses across the nation to find new ways to connect with customers. Louisiana Economic Development (LED) partnered with e-commerce platforms to provide Louisiana small business owners with enhanced customer service and special resources to make setting up or expanding your e-commerce capabilities as easy as possible.

What's in store?  Plenty.  With the website noted below, Louisiana business owners gain access to a 14-day free trial with Shopify and enhanced one-on-one support.

More details can be found online by visiting the website: https://www.lasmallbizonline.com/

Will this opportunity be available to everyone at some point?  Sure looks like it already exists on Shopify's website (perhaps sans the enhanced one-on-one support).  Click on upper right hand corner – Start Free Trial.

SME10X and UPS Unveil Highlights from Joint SME E-commerce Survey

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UPS intended to evaluate the current shipping behaviors among Small and Medium Enterprises (SME) businesses in the UAE and to gain perspective on their shipping and logistics needs in the near future.

SME10X covered a large sample of over 5,000 SMEs across identified sectors such as Manufacturing, Services and Trading, and has completed 1,153 surveys at the time of this report.

Read the report to gain useful insights for your business.

SEE SURVEY HIGHLIGHTS ->

Note:  Study conducted August – December, 2019 (pre-global pandemic)

Are You Ready to Risk Your Life to Go Back to Business as Usual?

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Paul Krugman, a Distinguished Professor at the City University of New York Graduate Center and 2008 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences winner says that America is now engaged in a vast, dangerous experiment. "Although social distancing has limited the spread of the coronavirus, it is far from contained. Yet despite warnings from epidemiologists, much of the country is moving to open up for business as usual."

What, after all, is the economy’s purpose? If your answer is something like, “To generate incomes that let people buy things,” you’re getting it wrong — money isn’t the ultimate goal; it’s just a means to an end, namely, improving the quality of life.

Now, as Krugman puts it, to money matters.  Read the entire Opinion column here.

Today in Global Small Business: Unrest in America

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What's affecting me, my clients, my colleagues and other global small business owners:

• Tens of thousands of people took to the streets for a fifth night on Saturday to protest the death of George Floyd and other African Americans at the hands of the police, resulting in violent clashes between law enforcement and demonstrators while fires raged across the country. Tragic.  Heartbreaking.  Unnecessary. 
• George Floyd protests spread nationwide.
• Quote of the week:  “A riot is the language of the unheard.” – Martin Luther King, Jr.
• George Floyd protests timeline (might require registration).
• George Floyd couldn't breathe.  Now all black America can't either.
• What George Floyd deserves.