What it takes to run a business

Podcast

As the numbers of new coronavirus cases explode across the country, Karen Clark Cole, Jay Goltz, and Laura Zander talk about how they are trying to make plans for their businesses. The conversation heats up a bit as it becomes clear that one of our owners (Hi, Jay!) isn’t quite ready to confront the possibility that he might have to deal with another shutdown. By contrast, Laura tells us, “We're operating as if there is a shutdown. So, yeah, we're operating the same way we were two months ago.”

Jay Goltz, William Vanderbloemen, and Dana White—all of whom took Paycheck Protection Program loans—respond to an opinion piece that says “competent” business owners shouldn’t have had to go begging “shamelessly” for a government bailout, which got a particularly strong response from Jay: “I'm thinking of all of those entrepreneurs who are trying to run a business, trying to make happy customers—restaurants, hair salons trying to survive this whole thing, trying to take care of the emotional, the financial, and the physical needs… They're fighting a good fight, trying to stay in business so they can continue paying taxes, and he comes along and has to call us ‘shameless’ for taking money from the government.... Oh, we’re incompetent, because these people didn't have six months of savings stowed away?"

Karen Clark Cole, Jay Goltz, and Dana White discuss their pricing strategies and why raising prices can be such a challenge: Dana tells us she has often wondered, “If I raise my prices, is this the decision that's going to make me close my doors?” And Jay recalls a customer who came into his picture framing shop and told a sales consultant, “Wow, that's a lot more than the other place I've gone to.” “Really, why don't you go there?” “Well, they're out of business.” And that, Jay tells us, helps explain why there are far fewer frame shops than there used to be.

In episode 20, Karen Clark Cole, William Vanderbloemen, and especially Dana White have a painful, impassioned, uncomfortable conversation about trying to position their businesses and lead people in the aftermath of George Floyd’s murder and the ensuring protests. What do we tell customers? What do we tell employees? What do we tell Black employees? Dana challenges us to take a stand—even if it’s uncomfortable—especially if it’s uncomfortable: “This is not about being comfortable. As business owners, you're either over there or you're over here.”

This week we focused on Laura’s struggle to get control of a Texas-based yarn supplier that she acquired late last year. She’s had issues with inventory, personnel, quality control, and then the general manager walked out, which has Laura feeling deflated knowing that some employees are talking about her and some just don’t like her: “I really struggle with that. Am I the only one who struggles with stuff like that?” Plus: Laura and Jay talk about seizing the opportunity when a competitor goes out of business.