Category: covid19

COVID’s Effect On Real Estate – Prepare For A Price Drop

The normal commute to an office building for the typical 9-5 has been severely disrupted due to social distancing regulations and government-mandated capacity limits. As a result, office real estate space is gutted.

Single-family home values may see an uptick as families seek to get out of cities and move to the suburbs for more distancing in response to C-19 but office spaces, retail and hospitality are greatly under capacity.

Real estate values may fall as much as 10% next year, according to Emerging Trends in Real Estate® United States and Canada 2021.

The 42nd annual report makes points that even those without any interest in real estate trends can see:

Lockdowns, capacity limits and travel bans have pushed consumers away from retail establishments and presented a clear and present danger to long-term viability of the walk-and-shop model for customer traffic sources.

Amazon has replaced many stores the public used to use for even basic household supplies and according to 2/3rds of more than 1,600 real estate industry experts cited in the Emerging Trends report, business owners should sell their stakes in retail malls.

There's a high chance that many deserted real estate spaces in retail will be converted to health care facilities.

As a direct response of many retailers pulling out, the real estate spaces that are available are overpriced. It's a familiar phenomena - when there is less demand, jack up the prices to get more from every sale.

This is true for specialty diet foods as it is for niche sectors of any market struggling to exceed expenses with higher profit margins.

Another reason why home building is on the rise where hotels are barely managing to break even and retail is on a downturn is due to low mortgage rates.

Mortgage rates dipped this week, returning to record lows. The average 30-year fixed-rate loan now stands at 3.05 percent, according to Bankrate’s weekly survey of large lenders.

Low-income housing projects are stalled and despite the moratorium on evictions by tenants who can't pay rent due to job losses from COVID-related economic downturns - they'll still be responsible for back pay of the missed rent months.

Public housing has stagnated for decades after the Clinton administration without politicians promoting significant structural reform and providing adequate resources to help raise Americans from poverty.

That is mainly the result of adhering to the philosophy of Jack Kemp, the Housing and Urban Development Secretary during the George H.W. Bush presidency.

Under the guise of "empowerment" that Kemp co-opted,he advocated for cutting federal funding for public housing. Democrats and Republicans both ignored the necessity of adequate funding, and control over that funding, for achieving actual empowerment.

Congress and HUD cut the budget for public housing by a whopping $17 billion during the Clinton administration alone, and that trend has continued til today. Covid only being the latest reason why low-income housing won't be on the rise.

For more information on the history of the structural issues contributing to racial and economic inequality, the Washington Post covers that topic here.

Over more than 60% of survey respondents shared that businesses who use office space will redesign that space for social distance policies that create new forms of collaborative, IRL work.

It is uncertain on if this means companies will rent larger offices, more floors in a skyscraper or just shift how they organize their current office space.

One of the opinions of those interviewed in this survey is that many offices will remain the same, but there will be a split labor force between those working in redesigned spaces and others working remotely from home.

Another view from experts that were interviewed is that the demand for office space in a professional setting such as We-Work or the standard 9-5 office may plummet as much as 15% going forward.

It's likely that after extended periods of vacancy office real estate prices are going to have to lower their asking rates for fiscal survival, regardless of how full or empty a rented space is, as the current prices aren't sustainable.

Given stay-at-home orders and the massive amount of fear and uncertainty among consumers, online shopping has seen a large spike.

Ecommerce businesses are prospering as a result, and warehouse real estate isn't seeing the same down turn as retail.

The industrial sector has become the pearl of the commercial real estate market, and experts agree it’s going to continue that way into 2021.

A panel of real estate and third-party logistics (3PL) professionals talked about the resilience of the warehousing and logistics sector and the resulting demand for space in the months ahead at September’s Council of Supply Chain Management Professionals’ (CSCMP) EDGE conference.

What trends have you noticed in real estate for 2020? Before making a decision, make sure to cultivate a few opposing view points to balance your strategy as discuss in my last blog.

Do you think there will be a rise in a few months for mortgage rates? Comment below!

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Techno-Nationalism – The Story of China & US Decoupling Technology

Are we about to have a new Cold War with China and/or decouple shared technology? It's a pressing question on many businesses' minds as international relationships deteriorate and sanctions are put into place.

The partnership of think tanks and franchiser is well established between the two countries. Look on the back of any MacBook: designed in Silicon Valley, manufactured in China.

Never conflict-free Sino-U.S. relations took a more confrontational turn under Xi Jinping, the Chinese politician served as General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and Chairman of the Central Military Commission (CMC) since 2012, and President of the People's Republic of China (PRC) since 2013.

Yet, the US isn't the only one wanting to decouple this tech partnership; nations who are newly industrializing are a larger export market for China than America (source Gavekal Dragonomics).

Beijing’s Belt and Road Initiative in Africa and the Middle East, using trade-based diplomacy combined with the rise of the digital renminbi, are offering new markets for China to switch to if a trade-war gets to the point where China withholds exports to the US.

If we look into past actions China has taken, we can see a pattern of restricting foreign investment across the board.

Whether that's biological security, information security, food security or just blocking non-China websites like Facebook it's clear the Chinese government wants to control the flow of information to their citizens.

Massive protests in Hong Kong, started in June against plans to allow extradition to mainland China and to allow a full democracy.

The protests combined with antagonism at US and Chinese embassies and Trump banning Chinese-owned TikTok from the US unless purchased by a US company have created a fire storm whose final conclusions we await like an MJ popcorn meme.

With the many co-dependent economies the US has on foreign exports, maintaining diplomacy between companies would be to our mutual benefit.

Because unlike China, the US hasn't reduced their dependency on potentially hostile foreign actors who export many household items we view as a given.

Both countries seem to mirror each other in increasing national security scrutiny of data flows, expansion of export controls, and attempts to shore up supply chain security for information and communications technology products and services.

Continued tariff disputes beginning in 2018 resulted in supply chain decoupling from China already on many levels.

The 2020 coronavirus pandemic has only exacerbated this pattern and the tech sector is now ground zero for these patterns.

China has already dedicated an incredible $1.4 trillion dollars on a digital infrastructure public spending program meant to keep more of tech in house and increase their ability to compete with global markets on a new level.

At the same time, Japan has just set aside $2.2 billion to facilitate re-shoring from China.

Credit: Dilok Klaisataporn/Getty Images

Going forward, companies are going to have to accept an “in-China-for-China” business model in order to gain access the Chinese market.

Techno-nationalism when you break it down is, in essence, a mercantilist behavior which links a nation’s tech abilities and enterprise with issues regarding national security, economic profitability, and social stability.

According to The Diplomat, techno-nationalism will affect the academic and innovation landscape in three ways:

1.The impacted institutions are going to decouple from blacklisted Chinese universities and academic programs.

2. An spreading web of export controls and restrictions are going to put more pressure on institutions to fall in line with more exacting regulations.

3. New rule frameworks and good governance indicators are going to emerge throughout global academia and the innovation landscape.

This is a required response to the many decades of Beijing’s innovation-mercantilism, and the role that China’s state apparatus has played in the methodical targeting of strategic IP, technology, and human capital at the world’s top universities.

In June 2020, America blacklisted many of China’s top universities, including the Harbin Institute of Technology (HIT), which is often called the “MIT of China.”

Many U.S. businesses have put their hopes on a potential end of the Trump presidency following the November 2020 elections while big tech companies like Apple, Google, and Microsoft are moving their manufacturing plants to countries outside of China like Vietnam and Thailand.

However, even if Trump - who just got diagnosed with Covid and is in the hospital - loses and Joe Biden wins, that doesn't mean international relations will instantly ease up.

The Democratic National Committee (DNC) along with presidential candidate Biden's staff have been ordered to delete TikTok off their phones due to security risks of TikTok accessing their clipboard for saved passwords to many high level campaign websites.

What does this ultimately mean going forward?

It means globalization is going to get a little smaller, just like our social communities have after covid lockdowns in March 2020 this year.

Whether we like it nor, it appears many of the self-sufficient city planning ideas of Patrick Geddes may express themselves economically out of survival needs going forward.

Many companies will choose to create vertical integration systems like Elon Musk's rocket launch and production factories of SpaceX rather than jump through an addition 20 hoops to partner with China.
How do you see this playing out going forward? Comment below!

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Direct Mail Makes A Comeback in 2020

Direct Mail is making a comeback! When was the last time you got a hand written letter from a friend or family member? Probably a while. But you still get those oil change coupons right?

You don't need a mindset changing Haiku to see the facts told by data:

US Postal Service reports that around 77 billion pieces of mail are made and sent each year. The result? 28 percent higher sales for companies who send mailers like catalogs and offers.

Ever get an Ikea catalogue in the mail with colorful pictures and designs? Even I can't resist looking through it.

USPS held another study which surprisingly found that while mobile marketers are spending $247 billion by the end of 2020, direct mail marketing offers a higher return for a much much smaller investment.

What are the numbers?

Well, direct mail campaigns expect on average $2,095 in sales for every $167 spent. For those not great at math, that's a return of 1,300 %!!

That's a bit more than just, "Will this ad double my ROI?"

There are some important deets to consider here. One is that direct mail isn't just about emotions, although that’s an important element of branding.

It's about taking action, reaching your audience, directly in a way that convinces them to act. Really, when you consider the big picture, direct mail is just another aspect of content marketing.

Online ads often get skipped over, it's much harder to ignore physical mail.People open mail faster - as soon as they get it often - than other mediums so there's that benefit.

The Millennial factor - as a Millennial I can speak to this as well, we love the 90s, and much of that old school feel. There is something about direct mail that inspires nostalgia.

With COVID city wide shut downs globally, people are just at home more anyways. And they are looking for new things to do. Direct mail is making old new again.

These days there is a lot more customization so using cookie data and more, direct mail campaigns can be segmented just like you would an ad on Facebook, and offer a more personalized experience to convert even higher.

Also there are very few advertisers using this method to reach customers - it isn't at all saturated, so there's that as well.

For more tips read Neil Patel's blog post on direct mail here.

What was the last letter you remember receiving? Or mailed ad that you liked? How will you use this strategy for your business?

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Local Biz Spotlight: Genuine Joe Coffeehouse

Genuine Joe: Keep Austin Genuine

In a new series, the Jetski Shaman blog will talk with a local business about their super hero origin story to present day operations. We start this series with a spotlight on a beloved local coffee shop Called Genuine Joe Coffeehouse.

I’d worked next door to Genuine Joe when I was a job staffer and used to go in every day for a nice hot cup of coffee or latte. Later as a college student I spent countless hours studying there, going to Meetup groups there and open mics.

Genuine Joe Coffeehouse celebrates it’s 15th anniversary this week and is located at 2001 W. Anderson Ln, Austin, TX 78757.

Recommended song to play while reading blog 13th Floor.

I sat down with the owner, Josh Brown, who used to be a barista at Genuine Joe before purchasing the coffee shop from the previous owners.

Jetski Shaman: “Where are you from?”

Josh: “I’ve lived in Austin since 1994, and originally I’m from Alaska. My dad was a land surveyor who found work in Austin which is why we moved here. It’s also that’s why he was in Alaska. He was doing land surveying.”

Josh: “We lived in Colorado for a while and Sacramento in the middle of nowhere. New Mexico is where I spent a lot of my childhood until i was 10.”

Josh: “I went to Anderson high school in Austin. Studied history at Austin Community College.”

Jetski Shaman: “What got you into coffee or food service?”

Josh: “Bunch of different paths very serendipitous. It came down to me being interested in how a functioning community can exist in the modern era.”

Josh: “Especially when everything is so distant, when technological innovation replaces people’s hunger for that even tho they still need it. History made me think of the problems when people isolate themselves and lose their ties to feeling a part of something and how that’s really dangerous.”

Josh: “…and how a coffee shop is one of those places where at least theoretically a functioning community can actually exist.”

Josh: “At least to a greater extent than a lot of other settings and it’s also inclusive as opposed to something that is a community surrounding a work, or faith or something else. This is a place where people from a lot of different backgrounds can come together.”

Jetski Shaman: “How did you discover Genuine Joe Coffeeshop?”

Josh: “I came to it through music, I started playing open mics here before I was employed at Genuine Joes. I loved coffee all the way through.”

Josh: “The coffee was a means to an ends on providing a space for several generations and backgrounds to come together in a way that is meaningful.”

Jetski Shaman: “How long did you work at Genuine Joes before you bought it?”

“Almost 7 years.”

Credit: Genuine Joe Facebook Page here

Josh: “It was a surprise to me: I almost quit, went traveling, caught up with family. When I came back I’d resigned but someone needed a shift covered, and they didn’t even ask me I ended up working there. I managed for a few years.”

Josh: “Later that year I was informed there was an opportunity to own this place. We celebrate 15 years this week. I go back to intersecting with the place for 13 or 14 of those [years]. Either on the background or the forefront of my life in one way or the other.”

Josh: “You asked me why I got started in coffee, this was a motivating factor, that have been further explored through experience."

Josh: "It's one thing to do something everyday and have it become 2nd nature and someone who read a couple of books about something and suddenly has a whole lot of ideas about something as opposed to someone who spent years putting time into a craft.”

“It takes on a different tone when you’ve had your pretty ideas or prejudices fall flat on their face, you’re afforded the possibility to learn from these things and learn something new.”

Jetski Shaman: “Were you saving up money while working at Genuine Joe’s?”

Genuine Joe Coffeehouse Owner Josh: “Yes. I had some savings that was a windfall from family tragedy & enough money came into my hands to get my foot in the door as far as financing the place.”

Josh: “But I intended to make my own shop with that money. I didn’t find the right place for that, I know now how little I knew at the time.”

Josh: “By the time I bought the shop I knew how much I didn’t know about what I was getting into. I’m pretty fortunate this is the way it turned out.”

Jetski Shaman: “How long have you owned Genuine Joes?”

“3 years and change.”

“Any regrets?”

“On the whole not too many. A lot of things I wish I would have done a little differently. If anyone is in a similar position to where i was when I bought the place I could pass on a few things that would save them a hell of a lot of grief. Procedural things not the big picture all in all.”

Jetski Shaman: “What kind of things?”

Josh: “I wish i would have known from the beginning how to communicate effectively. Best hiring processes, best administrative processes.”

Josh: “There’s no way I would have known those in the first place so it’s foolish to regret any of those things that came out of this experience.”

Jetski Shaman: “What advice would you give someone who wants to buy an established coffee shop now?”

Josh: “Don’t do it now until covid has done its worst. We are able to hold on because we have a community that has been forged over 15 years in a lot of ways the community is stronger than ever.”

Jetski Shaman: “So say it’s after covid, and life is somewhat normal? What tips would you give?”

Josh: “#1 Check with the different resources in the city.”

Josh: “Make sure you’re familiar with whatever small business training is available form chamber of commerce you can get a lot of resources and grants and possibly apply for small biz dev initiatives.”

Josh: “Go to the permitting department for the health department where you live.When you change the ownership they’ll give you an inspection to make sure you’re up to spec when the ownership changes.”

Josh: “You can call in a mock inspection though, I wish I would have done that. I ended up owing thousands of dollars."

"If I’d known to call in that inspection before that would affected the sales price or there would have been a clause they would have had to get it up to code before the biz changed hands.”

Jetski Shaman: “Did you have a good relationships with the previous owners when you were working here?”

Josh: “Dave and Vic owned it before.There was ups and downs during 7 years in the food industry.We have a much better relationship now and understand each other better now that we’ve been in each other’s shoes.”

“I remember working here for a long time there was a lot of things that frustrated me which you get as an employee so when I took over it was interesting looking at what I would change and what I would revisit down the line.”

“My goal was to not make the changes too obvious so customers retained the feeling of continuity. Whereas behind the scenes I was trying to make it better and make the place live up to what I felt its promise was.”

“Soon enough I found myself in the same position of having the people who worked for me having thoughts on how they wish the biz could be worked better than I knew.”

Jetski Shaman: “I can relate to that because when I was homeless going to high school, I was a problem student causing trouble in class. Then less than a decade later I became a substitute teacher at Austin Independent School District while working on my degree at UT.”

Jetski Shaman: “And in more than one class I had to deal with a disruptive student. Except, I totally got that there were factors behind it, in their home life. It’s interesting how things come full circle when you step into other people’s shoes.”

Jetski Shaman: “What is your biggest achievement for the changes you’ve made with Genuine Joes?”

Josh: “The main thing is a project that’s on going. This place has always been known as an unpretentious comfortable place.”

Josh: “We focus on exclusively supporting local vendors, I got rid of a lot of the menu that I didn’t like. Almost all the furniture here is new since I took over."

Jetski Shaman: "I know I love the tacos and cinnamon rolls!"

Not a stock photo - actual cinnamon rolls from Genuine Joe

Josh: “There was an idea of the place but the reality is it was falling apart. Chairs were way past their prime, this place needed love and attention and a re-imagining."

Not to reinvent the place but to figure out what that potential was what the most important things int he shop was and how to articulate that.”

Josh: "People say this place is “homey.” One of the most important part of a home is that it’s loved and maintained.”

Jetski Shaman: “That’s great.”

[Editor’s note: Genuine Joe Coffeehouse is open, no dine in but they are open for curb side pick up & outdoor seating is available].

Josh: “One of the biggest improvements is what we’re doing while the doors are closed: we’re repainting place, redesigning the furnishing, the porch has been completely spruced up. There’s shade, fresh traffic, it’s open to foot traffic.”

Josh: “It looks 3 times better than before, because its the only seating I’m comfortable with due to COVID. The primer is going down on the murals in the bathroom.”

Jetski Shaman: “What’s your revenue percentage wise per month now versus before covid?”

Josh: “Less than a 3rd percent than what you made before.”

Jetski Shaman: “What are you doing right now to cope with covid?”

Josh: “We have a greater emphasis on the personal. I get to find out what the lived experience is of those coping with covid in different sectors.”

Josh: “Because what used to be routine stopping by a coffee shop that wasn’t a bigger deal is now a bigger deal due to the fact that customers can’t come inside.”

“I take the time to remember people and learn things about people and have convos that continue over weeks and months, that people really need in these really isolating and uncertain times.”

“There’s a lot of people that this the only place they go, because they trust how we operate and this is the only place they go outside their home.”

“My other customers are getting to know each other waiting for coffee. That Community that I dreamed of before I got started is starting to shine in ways that I never thought was possible.”

Josh: “At the end of last year before covid hit we got a surprise we won the Best of Austin Critics picks, from the Austin Chronicle which is is a big deal it’s very competitive.”

Josh: “We got the plaque that said Best Dispenser of Coffee and Comfort.”

Josh: “Everything we had been trying to do was paying off & we were really busy. March was going to be a record month for the entire time we’ve been in operation."

"Halfway through March the shelter in place happened and it wasn’t a record month anymore.”

Jetski Shaman: “What are your plans going forward?”

Josh: “We just have to hold on and adapt to the circumstances and if we do that we’ll come back twice as strong.”

Jetski Shaman: “Yeah I agree because due to the cabin fever people have, they will be super stoked to find places to go out to and there will be a significant overflow of business.”

Josh: “One of the best things is now that we’ve renovated our porch we’ll be in a better place to accommodate the overflow of extra business.”

Josh: ”We’re improving things now because we have to. But every covid adaption we’re placing is one I plan for us to have as part of the permanent infrastructure of the shop.”

Jetski Shaman: “That’s a great strategy.”

Josh: “I don’t want to expand locations.”
Jetski Shaman: “You dont’ want to become another Starbucks?”

Josh: “No i don’t want to lose the personality we have.”

Jetski Shaman: “What mistakes do you see other businesses making right now you’d wish they’d avoid?”

Josh: "The main mistake I’ve seen businesses make is rushing to open as soon as it was legally feasible. That opening contributed to additional cases in the community and those businesses then had to shutter or reduce capacity.”

Josh: “Everything about that is bad: it’s bad for the staff, bad for the community as a whole and it confuses people when things keep changes.”

Josh: “One of my rules here is I don’t want to make any changes that I don’t want to stick to.You don’t want to provide things that you’ll have to take back, it’s expensive to roll something out and then have to scrap it.”

Jetski Shaman: “That makes sense.”

Jetski Shaman: “What do your parents think of your business venture?”

Josh: “It’s been a very interesting transition in the past while. I receive a lot less unsolicited business advice these days.”

Jetski Shaman: “Were they proud of you?”

Josh: “Oh yeah quite.”

Jetski Shaman: “Do they come here?”

Josh: “Yes they’ve come by. I’m really blessed from support all around. It’s ridiculous. I can never begin to hope to ask for the level of support I’ve received. It keeps me honest, during the difficult times it gives me something I need to live up to.”

Jetski Shaman: “Were there any people that doubted you or discouraged you from owning a coffee shop?”

Josh: “Sometimes in that first period of time leading up to the purchase, it felt like there were 2 categories of people:

1. Those of who disapproved of me buying the shop in the first place and

2. Those who merely disapproved of how I was going about it. but that’s just how it felt, they talked less to me and more about me to other people."

Jetski Shaman: “At what point did you feel you had proved them wrong?”

Josh: “Still not sure I have, but one of the most valuable lessons was that…other people’s opinions about what I was doing didn’t matter.”

Jetski Shaman: “What matters?”

Josh: “Head down, try to do the right job in the right way. There are 2 elements: the principles of what I felt the business should mean and represent on the large scale. Then there are procedures of the nuts and bolts of the place how you administer and get from point A to B of the place.”

Josh: “I learned to work with other people’s input on the procedural side and weave the best of everyone’s ideas on how to make things better and that process is still ongoing.”

Josh: “One thing I didn’t put people in the driver’s seat for was the principles of the place and what Genuine Joe’s meant. Over time I learned how to articulate these principles better.”

Josh: “If people shared these principles this was a home for them.”

Credit: Genuine Joe FB Page

Jetski Shaman: “So was there ever a day when you felt like, I did it, I’ve made it?”

Josh: “Yes & no. I get some of that feeling every day. It’s complicated.”

Jetski Shaman: “Well are you proud of yourself for daring to start this adventure?”

Josh: “I don’t really think in those terms anymore.”

Jetski Shaman: “What terms do you think of?”

Josh: “I’m happy i’m part of this adventure. I’m happy i backed myself into a role that is valuable to myself and other people. It didn’t have to be that way and I’m very thrilled to be a part of that.”

Josh: “I’m happy to know I am stronger and more resilient than I thought I could be. That’s good.”

I encourage you to stop by Genuine Joe Coffeehouse, did I mention they serve breakfast tacos too?!

Genuine Joe Coffeehouse is open for business, curbside pick up, their phone number is: 512-220-1576. Address: 2001 W. Anderson Ln, Austin, TX 78757.

Scan this QR code to donate to Genuine Joe Coffeehouse & help Josh keep the doors open:

http://

Support your local businesses and the dream of building a meaningful community another way here:

Donate to Genuine Joe Coffeehouse

What do you love about coffee shops? Have a great memory about Genuine Joe's? Comment below!

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Customer Service with Gender and Racial equality

In my last blog we discussed the beautiful art of Guerrilla Marketing (really interesting read), but today let's shift to customer service. Specifically customer service with gender and racial equality in mind.

"Woah. Deep topic bro. You sure about that?"

2020 has seen a pandemic make businesses lose trillions of dollars, black lives matters protest take over cities across the nation and we have a presidential election while on lock down.

Yes, it matters right now, more than ever. Many businesses use outdated language and terms and conditions, not to mention how managers are trained as well as customer service reps.

Did you know in certain leases, it still says you can't sell a house to a black person or a Jewish person? True fact as CNN reports here.

But your business doesn't have to be real estate to lose business because you're using outdated terms that may be prejudiced. You could be in any industry that hasn't keep tabs on how society has changed.

It always starts with the top down - the CEO and/or founder of the company sets the rules and regs in place that has a trickle down effect for how company morale is shaped.

As discussed in the break down of management strategies blog management philosophy in business hasn't changed since the 1800s - yet the world has changed dramatically.

While affirmative action and diversity hires are huge topics deserving of their own articles, it is telling us that there were huge gaps in how business and education operated and how we really live today.

How important is having customer service that considers gender and racial equality to your business?

As entrepreneurs, our ability to pivot and adapt to changing situations is how we continue to not just survive, but thrive, even in uncertain times.

While doing market research for a new eCom business I'm launching, I came across Marshall's Facebook Page and it appears their customer service could use some tweaks.

I don't know how you can mess up more blatantly than this for customer service. By Americanizing an Arabic name into "Vicki" (when it was even spelled out right above Marshall's response) it was clear that customer service wasn't a priority.

Or even basic awareness. Most likely it was a response done by an underpaid employee who didn't have much motivation to even pay attention because he or she wasn't making enough money and didn't have training worth a salt.

As businesses move into digital and online storefronts only due to the pandemic, more sensitivity training is needed. Or just less bullshit. We have to realize just like texting, words don't convey tone.

This means for customer service, chatbots, live human chats, social media, websites, email outreach and more businesses will benefit from analyzing how their tone comes across to multiple perceptions.

Companies need to be aware if the public's perception of their business doesn't support racial and gender equality.

Regardless of your personal view points (which I hope allow everyone the same level of humanity), it is also about profit margins. Your business will lose money if you're still in the 1800s and the rest of the world has left you behind with 3D printers, air touch technology and social emotional awareness.

Are there any changes or focuses you are making with your business that are new in light of what's been happening in 2020? Comment below!

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5 Tips on Starting a New Business During Covid

Credit: Danielle MacInnes

Now is a great time to start a business. You're saying, "Hold up Trevor, we are all on lock down, are you kidding?" No joke - right now is a great time to start a business with a caveaut:

Design a company that is agile, not dependent on physical location, with a strong online presence.

Businesses succeed when they solve a problem. Right now, consumers have a whole set of new problems that your business can solve.

Whether you're launching a new clothing line for sweat pants and lounge gear or at-home fitness training, there are opportunities to grow and succeed in the new marketplace.

Create a Business Plan

Starting a new business is exciting, nerve wracking and you gotta think on your feet a lot. But, if you have a business plan mapped out ahead of time it gives you a great jump off point.

You may not even follow the plan. Or you may pick and choose parts to follow and adapt other parts as you go along - being agile is critical to your success. Pivoting as you see fit allows you to succeed.

Don't kill yourself writing it. Make it 5-7 pages max. Get your ideas out of your brain in a format for a business template.

Cover these Important Business Points

Write down your answers to these questions in one document:

How are you going to grow?
What are you trying to build?
How are you different from competitors?
How do you make customers wildly happy?
Ponder the chapters of your business

Think about the segments of growth for the chapters of your business. For instance, if you're starting a vegan delivery food truck that customers can order from via an app - 1st you'll have the food truck and app developed.

Then your vegan food delivery service can expand to a full restaurant. After that it'll become a catering business for a larger area. Perhaps this will then open up to franchising or being priced to sell.

The concept here is that when you're thinking on your feet, you can miss important details. When you're doing some deeper thinking on the bigger picture of your business ahead of time you can map out the smaller steps in between significant moves.

You won't have time to sit on your couch and just strategize once you've really got the ball rolling. You may not have all the answers but putting your thoughts down in a structured business plan gives you a resource to refer back to to connect the parts.

You'll have something to refer back to when you're on the move making things happen. It helps you gain perspective on how you connected ideas together that manifest as concrete action steps.

This is especially helpful when you've spent time ahead of time analyzing your competition so you know how you can stand out - or at least have a starting place.

Go Find Smart People to Criticize You

After creating your business plan, structured for stay-at-home, online-friendly covid reality, then find the three smartest people you know.

You know who these people are, they are the super smart folks around you in your friends circle or even co-workers from present or previous jobs.

It would be even better if they also run their own business. Either way, you want them to give you hard criticism on your ideas. Because this helps you increase your ability to make your business better.

Be prepared to hear some hard words. Go into it expecting they will tell you your ideas suck. Don't fish for compliments. Lean into their criticisms. Ask open ended follow up questions.

Remember - your goal is to get them to poke holes in your strategy and future visions so you know where you can improve.

It's highly likely if they see things you aren't seeing, and you want to get investors, those angel investors will see the same things or some of them as well.

Thinking up objections ahead of time and better yet solving them puts you ahead of the rest.

Get Yer Legals Set

Make sure you understand the basics on what you need to do for local taxes, which vary state to state. For example if you're starting an e-commerce store you need to buy at the least an LLC or sole proprietorship, and a sales tax license.

You'll want to get a business bank account to separate your taxable income from your business from your personal finances. It'll be set up with a business EIN number, which is like your social security number for businesses.

Invest in a good attorney and a good accountant. Prioritize the accountant first as you'll want to make sure you don't owe the IRS money. You can hire an attorney after you start making income. When you're ready to scale, you have to make sure your books are straight.

And of course, make sure you have a website for your business, and a business email that isn't just @gmail. Look up Gsuite and how to connect that to your domain for a business email.

Find People Like Me

Reach out to entrepreneurs like myself who already run their own business and ask them for two minutes of their time.

You'd be surprised but many people who are very successful love giving back and helping the newbs out with advice they wish they knew when starting out.

[Hint hint - the reason why I wrote this blog]

Having a solid convo with an established business leader, the higher up the better, will help you see the gaps that laterally moving won't catch.

It's also inspiring to talk to those who have tried what you're doing and succeeded.

What are your tips for those starting out with a new business? Or, what do you wish you had tips about for starting a business?
. . .

Available for freelance writing and guest posting on your blog: [email protected]

What the Workplace Looks Like – Post COVID19

Image by cromaconceptovisual from Pixabay

Many businesses have come to a full stop due to the Corona Virus, or rather the response to C-19 from governments across the world putting entire countries on lockdown.

What does a post Covid workplace look like?

According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor, 21.0 million are unemployed in America right now. The unemployment rate and the number of unemployed persons are up by 9.8 percentage points and 15.2 million, respectively, since February 2020.

Employers are taking a step back, scratching their heads and trying to figure out what hiring strategies look like, and how workplace organization will accommodate social distancing.

Remote Workflows Increase Employer Value

You may have noticed that businesses you work for or are a customer of have started partially staffing offices again. To the extent this will continue depends on the spread of the corona virus, death counts, and potential vaccines.

Many workplaces, especially in the tech sector, already offered remote work options. When I provided IT support for Facebook's servers, Facebook had us working partially remote.

This added many advantages being able to multitask household chores like doing laundry while still monitoring dips and spikes in the flux of Facebook's site stability.

Employers adapting to C-19 by offering remote work options will attract some of the best talent from literally anywhere in the world.

This increases job satisfaction as well if location is no longer the make or break factor in accepting a job. How many times have people moved away from friends and family just to land a 'good' job?
Countless.

What happens when your commute time is increased 5 times as much driving to and from work? Definitely doesn't make you appreciate working somewhere more.

I've known folks who commuted literally from other cities to work everyday. And not outlier suburbs but literal whole other cities hours away.

Working remote offers savings in gas money, babysitting money for parents, and expands the talent pool employers can select from.

Productivity Hacks & Employee Behavior Drives

If the new future post covid19 involves more remote work, employers will need to develop new productivity hacks. This includes the necessity of increasing engagement among employees.

When I worked remote for another IT company that offered tech support for colleges we had group chats where we could share comments together on more than just the job.

The social aspect helped relieve the monotony of working only by yourself at home without physical socialization.

Socializing is important. Research by Oxford University's Saïd Business School, in collaboration with British multinational telecoms firm BT, has found a conclusive link between happiness and productivity:

The happier employees are the more productive they are.

Autonomy and trust will need to be increased in order for even a partially remote workforce to be productive.This means, individually, employees have to find out their specific behavior drives.

This is likened to the aspiring college student - if you went to college one of the things you had to figure out, consciously or by habit, is how you learned the best.

Are you a visual learner? Audio learner? Did taking notes by computer lessen how much you retained versus shorthand notes that are hand written in a notebook?

One of my biggest challenges going to the University of Texas was discovering how I learned the best. It was a Rubik's cube.

Spanish grammar was a particular roadblock for me. Through trial and error I discovered that I learned best by immersing myself in Spanish Netflix shows, Spanish radio stations, and attending Spanish speaking meetup groups - in addition to the standard flipping of index cards for vocab and grammar memorization.

Employees will need to find new routines if working remote, that helps them stay focused and productive. Management can take the lead helping this process by increasing engagement and feedback activities.

The End of Chats by the Water Cooler Era?

Side chatter may be reduced if people aren’t physically at the job place. No more random stops by your friends desk on the way to your lunch or the bathroom.

No more chats by the water cooler

While to some this sounds like a good option it’s good only in the out dated IBM of the 60s work model of dress codes, strict workplace protocols that kill creativity and innovation.

This antiquated notion that the more alike and the same everyone was the easier it is to control them and increase their output has been proven wrong by numerous studies (read my blog on intrinsic motivation).

Some of the best ideas that created billions of dollars in revenue came from chats at the water cooler, as well as side projects that were left up to individual employees to develop to their own liking versus strict company standards.

Gmail itself was invented by an engineer during Google's famous 20% days.

"We encourage our employees, in addition to their regular projects, to spend 20% of their time working on what they think will most benefit Google,"

as Business Insider quoted Google saying.

Paul Buchheit, the creator of Gmail, created the first version of Gmail in one day, reusing the code from Google Groups. The project was known by the code name Caribou, a reference to a Dilbert comic strip about Project Caribou.

The point is, if remote work is going to become the norm, management will need to adopt more flexible strategies from leadership to keep folks motivated to not just do the minimal but to exceed expectations.

Companies will be at an advantage to be inclusive of free range creative brainstorming moments where staff can socialize, share experiences and create mini think tanks.

What other ways do you see the workplace changing due to COVID19? Comment your thoughts below!

. . .

Available for freelance writing and guest posting on your blog: [email protected]

The Power of Tribes

Credit: Joel Mott

We live in challenging times right now. Police brutality has led to business closures from storefronts near protest marches, COVID19 panic buying has led to food and toilet paper shortages and many college graduates, like myself, were stripped of the gift that walking across college stages in grad regalia gives our hearts and souls.

Would be memories never created due to the bizarre pausing of normal life, as we all wait, breathless, for the next thing to happen, hoping paradoxically for things to return to normal.

Business right now is also juxtaposed with innovation opportunities but strained to maintain existing product lines above margin.

Steve Jobs' iconic slogan for Apple, "Think Different," really applies to all verticals still attempting to run a company in these challenging times.

How to Challenge the Status Quo Correctly

Companies that defeat the status quo often succeed where many fail. Whenever the state of affairs is changing, it gives one a chance to be remarkable.

However, many grains of sand make up a beach. Microinfluencers are forgotten by heads of marketing as they push out more cold audience targeted ads.

When you challenge the status quo and can follow through with incredible products or services so unlike what's already out there you start to build a cult following & the story of your business changes.

This following is what makes the difference when you actually are

"Thinking Different."

Quality always beats out quantity. A highly engaged group of followers will recruit more people to join your tribe. They'll take the lead creating micro leaders to step up to the plate and push the envelope.

Nature Abhors A Vacuum

The problem is, there is such a large amount of people that have convinced themselves that it's best to do nothing. That's part of the reason why we see Black Lives Matter protests striking a chord globally. The sleeping masses have woken up and see doing nothing isn't enough now.

To build a business, you need to build a brand. To build a brand you need to build a following. To build a following you need to think differently than the other millions of brands out there saying,

"Buy my stuff, buy my stuff."

Nature abhors a vacuum. A vacuum exists when many who think alike, share pain points your product or service can solve but see no leadership to guide them forward.

Leaders find out how to enter these vacuums and generate momentum. They create the ripple effects the world feels later, after critical mass is reached.

This type of movement generates another type of momentum: the speed of shared trust, the pace of belonging, the transformation of individuals into a tribe.

Be Congruent Inside & Out

Distinguishing your customers from other brands and their clients takes some work. You need to develop your own rituals unique to your company's vision.

Don't be afraid to be a little eccentric. As long as it isn't forced. Jobs was probably very socially awkward but with a genius for aesthetic design.

The funkiness of having all MacBooks after a certain period, come with Garageband, a program to create music, really helped solidify Apple's tribe from competitors.

When you're feeling stuck, think about rituals you enjoy. Contemplate how to integrate these with your tribe. What are things you enjoy, hobbies-wise?

Take a moment to see if you can repurpose some of these activities into a ritual for your company. You may see there are areas you can still rise to challenge the status quo and become remarkable.

. . .

Available for freelance writing and guest posting on your blog: [email protected]

Twitter Censors Trump’s Attempt to Incite Violence

Credit: dole777

My last blog discussed how entrepreneurs to go from good to great and today we're going to dive into tech news as Trump faces off a battle with Twitter and free speech.

Twitter has started labeling questionable tweets the president has made with a little “i” and a warning.
Due to the shut downs implemented by national & local governments, responding to COVID19, many states are considering mail-in voting ballots as the most viable option to avoid long lines and crowds.

Trump tweeted that mail-in voting would lead to voting fraud and stated sensationally, that:

“Mail boxes will be robbed, ballots will be forged & even illegally printed out & fraudulently signed.”

Twitter responded with a warning that implied this was all fiction:

When interviewed by media sources like TechCrunch, Twitter stated Trumps tweets “contain potentially misleading information about voting processes and have been labeled to provide additional context around mail-in ballots.”

But the intrigue doesn’t stop there. A few days later after the fact-checking label Twitter labeled another one of Trump’s tweets with a “Public Interest Notice.” This label states that he broke Twitter’s rules about promoting violence on the platform.

Trump reposted this on Facebook and Instagram before Twitter came down on his post for glorifying violence.

CEO of Facebook, Mark Zuckerberg, while defending Facebook’s policy to not fact-check politicians has stated there are limitations to what is allowed on Facebook.

“Even for politicians we don't allow content that incites violence or risks imminent harm — and of course we don't allow voter suppression,”

- Mark Zuckerberg

Trump threatening to send in the national guard was in reference to the situation in Minneapolis where there are tons of riots in response to a white police officer killing a black man who posed no threat to the police.

The man’s name was George Floyd. A shop keeper had called the cops because he suspected Floyd was using counterfeit money.

Floyd was being led away, peacefully in hand cuffs, but moments later the police had him on the ground. George Floyd was filmed dying with a cop's knee on his neck as he begged for mercy saying,

"I can't breath!"
"I'm about to die."

Floyd died, without cause, or justifiable reason for being killed. It is thought to be a racially motivated killing by the police as there has been a history of police killing blacks without just cause in in Minneapolis and America as a whole (just like Eric Garner died in New York for selling loose cigarettes).

The public's response to the blatant killing, on camera, of Floyd, without cause, by the Minneapolis PD is rioting in multiple cities and states.

Trump said, in response to the protesters of Floyd's death:

“When the looting starts, the shooting starts,”

This statement being an outright threat of violence and murder against American citizens, unhappy with the way George Floyd was murdered by the Minneapolis police.

The policy that this tweet violates is listed in Twitter’s policies, visible to anyone in the public that takes the time to read them:

You may not threaten violence against an individual or a group of people.”

Twitter, Facebook and Instagram (owned by Facebook) are all private websites, and many forget that they agree to bide by the rules of the website by using it.

Trump has been at war with tech companies for years, and it looks like for the first time, we are seeing the policies being universally enforced even against the president.

I think what’s hard to define in an issue like this, is the fact that free speech is guaranteed as part of the first amendment in the constitution but not in every environment.

Free speech is limited if you’re trying to:

Incite violence
Falsify statements of fact
Promote harm to children
Violate intellectual property rights
Talk sh*% at work or school

Basically it’s like, you can have free speech in public but if you’re at school you have to follow their rules. If you’re at work your free speech rights don’t include jumping on a table and inciting a riot.

The same applies with personal property - if you’re trespassing your free speech rights don’t supersede other rights.

The gray area is while Twitter, IG, FB and other social media sites own the digital real estate of their private websites & make following their policies a requirement to use their websites - there are billions
of people on their websites.

You have in essence entire countries all on a single website, so the public’s perception of what they can or can’t say is like, “I have a RIGHT to say ANYTHING I want online,” without considering, this isn’t a school. It isn’t a plaza where peaceful assembly is allowed.

It’s (in the case of Facebook) one man’s website you are a guest on.

It’s a hard pill to swallow, and there are many upset and indignant Facebook users whose content violated the community standards or advertising policies but feel owed and entitled to be allowed to break the rules, as if a private website has to guarantee their rules of use, terms of service if you will, are broken at anyone’s random impulse.

Similar to being a guest at someone’s house, upsetting the home owner by being disrespectful, being asked to leave, but refusing to, stating, “I have a RIGHT to be here,” when, technically, you don’t unless you own the house.

When you are on IG, Twitter or Facebook you are a guest at their house, and to stay there, you need to follow the rules of the house or be kicked out.

However we are in new territory just due to the sheer massive amount of people on these platforms and the ability of social media sites to influence elections, get hacked by Russians and have bots on Twitter manipulate people into chaos and socially engineer political opinions.

These types of hacks and social manipulation affect the world at large. They can lead to real physical harm and changes in society that aren’t beneficial.

Would Trump have been elected if there was no Facebook?

How would life be different, politically? Would Bernie Sanders or Hilary be president instead?

We don't live in that reality so it's impossible to say. But it gives context as to why social media companies are under scrutiny for what they allow on their platforms and what they don't.

Trump’s response to being somewhat censored (Twitter left the tweet up just made people have to click through a warning to see it) is to try to use his executive powers to limit the legal protections social media companies have.

However, many legal experts have stated they doubt this executive order would have any real effect on the tech giants.

Trump’s vindictive executive order targets the Communications Decency Act. Section 230 of the legislation gives a wide range of immunity to websites who moderate their own platforms.

It’s been called "the 26 words that created the internet."

Facebook and Google replied to the executive order saying that if passed, it poses a real harm to the internet and digital economy.

"Undermining Section 230 in this way would hurt America's economy and its global leadership on internet freedom,”

said Google spokeswoman Riva Sciuto.

Facebook spokesman Andy Stone said that by putting the liability of what anyone says on their platform, back on Facebook and other social media companies, this would only lead to censoring billions of people. The idea is that it’s practically impossible to never offend anyone all the time.

Twitter responded to the proposed executive order by tweeting:

"#Section230 protects American innovation and freedom of expression, and it's underpinned by democratic values."

Twitter also tweeted:

"Attempts to unilaterally erode it threaten the future of online speech and Internet freedoms."

. . .
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COVID Economic Recovery Solutions – Treat Employees Right

Credit: Husna Miskandar

The economy's crashed, hundreds of thousands of jobs are lost and now as society begins to rebuild and open up again it's time to rethink how jobs are structured.

Recently, when moving 4 filing cabinets out of my living room, in order to build an at-home library I spoke with the manager at U-Haul. There were 7 people waiting, with an average wait time of 40 minutes just to check in a rented truck or U-Haul van.

When I asked the manager, a man named Christopher, if it was possible to hire one or two other employees to help manage the customer load he replied,

"I can't get people to work here. They all want to stay home and collect unemployment benefits due to COVID."

I was shocked that the economy is hurting not just because of COVID fear making local governments close down brick & mortar shops but also due to people not wanting to come to work to mooch off of unemployment.

Credit: https://writingboots.typepad.com/.a/6a00e55283a630883401bb0953519e970d-pi

This hurts retailers but also local cities and their economies because when and if local businesses reopen, if they are understaffed, with long lines, it's just going to push consumers to order on Amazon instead of shop there.

Obviously some businesses like U-Haul you can't order online..though drones are doing some amazing things these days.

Low Quality Jobs = Low Quality Work

Aside from the rather unique moocher situation with some staying home to college a paycheck and not working remote but living on tax-dollar funded government benefits...

- There is a lot to be said about flipping burgers or working a register or answering phones and being treated poorly by management.

The Trickle-Down Effect of Incompetence

When the number one concern of employers is not investing in employees to create a high quality work environment, but how can we cut costs, outsource labor to 3rd world countries, lower the hiring wage, reduce worker hours and spread them out over more employees and reduce benefits - well is that motivating people to do a good job?

The question answers itself. If an employee is given a half-ass training (because the manager is also underpaid and under trained), and they are disrespected and made to feel like:

"You are easily replaced so appreciate this shitty job,"

Then it's the trickle down effect of incompetence.

On the other hand, if employers approached training employees as an investment, with professional development included to help employees not only gain competence but additional skill sets to make them more of an asset to the company and their growth opportunities - this changes the ripple effect in workforce management.

Investing in both higher wages and professional training, with work culture more evolved than mashing buttons to get minimum wage then employees will find their own reasons for working harder to do better.

This creates a better quality product or service for the end user that the company serves, which then increases customer retention, loyalty and lifetime value.

Brand loyalty is something that shouldn't just be customer-centric. Brand loyalty cultivated in both the customers and the employees, when increased also increases profits and productivity.

Strikes at Whole Foods and Amazon

If decision makers at the CEO level can't read the room or doubt the logic in the above paragraphs just look at the strikes by Whole Foods workers and Amazon employees who continued to toil on in unsafe working conditions.

When you aren't given a lot benefits-wise, as a bargaining chip from your employer, you don't have a lot to lose if you get fired for striking.

This loses time, money, convenience, customer satisfaction scores drop and just as employees leave for a job that pays $1-3 dollars more an hour so will customers when there are delays due to poor work ethics and project management skills by hiring managers and those who structure employee business models.

Businesses Have to Adapt to Survive COVID19

Instead of making excuses about how an existing system can't change, employers should wake up and smell the Jamaican Blue Mountain Coffee: with the lack of foot traffic now is the perfect time to retool the business model

Sam's Club, Costco and HEB grocery store have all taken the lead here and raised wages for their employees as well as invested in their safety.

As mentioned in management philosophy blogs, research has proven beyond a shadow of a doubt that when intrinsically motivated individuals apply their efforts to a task they are 10 times more productive and successful than people who are only money-motivated.

This means it isn't just about the money - don't treat your employees like dirt anymore and they will reciprocate. So few jobs actually invest any sincere time in building new skill sets in their employees but every time a company does this, the employee becomes an unofficial brand ambassador.

Feeling respected and appreciated is the cornerstone for every social interaction that's successful, from family, to relationships, to friends to business both B2C and B2B.

Creating this feeling in employees with concrete specific investments in improving their abilities, you now have a spokesperson for how great your company is. Many of these employees are like micro influencers with their own social networks sometimes rather large.

More employee loyalty creates more profits because you get better work done, word of mouth organically spreads to their friends, families, and facebook and twitter accounts without a single ad dollar needing to be spent.

In a large company multiply this by 100 or 1000 - it's pretty damn clear it's stupid to treat employees as disposable to-go containers or warm bodies to fill a space when there is a much higher return from professional development in the workspace.

Where We Go from Here Matters

Ecommerce is booming, many jobs and even schools may utilize more remote work than in person attendance now. Businesses will have to adapt to a post-COVID world in order to survive. This means the old guard has to change.

Instead of hyper focusing on reducing labor cost - putting some real thinking and research behind it to create a 2020 strategy that involves treating and paying employees better, will only benefit everyone better and rebuild the economy. Mic drop.

Available for freelance writing and guest posting on your blog: [email protected]