We have a saying at our office, “keep the monkey.” Yeah, it’s weird, but here is the point. You’ve heard people say, “I have a monkey on my back.” They’re referring to a problem or issue they can’t resolve that is hanging over their head. Human nature is to pass the monkey off to someone else so you get it off your back and move on. The issue is, the monkey is now the next person’s problem.

It’s also really f*cking lazy and kind of a dick move to just “pass the buck” or monkey, if you will. Basically you didn’t feel like solving it so you made it someone else’s problem. It drives me INSANE. For example, you ask, “hey so and so, where is the file for this?” Instead of looking where you know the file is, you are asking someone else to do it for you, cause it was easier to make them do it then to find the answer yourself. Stop it.

I was actually just chatting with some of my staff today about this! Someone reached out to us with a question, something they could’ve easily resolved themselves. In fact, they asked the exact same question the month before…let me repeat…exact same question. What do we do? We drop everything to respond and find the answer for them. Here’s the issue with that.

• Productivity for the day was thrown off to be reactive to another person’s “question.”
• Multiple team members also jumped into assist…cause that’s how we do at 8THIRTYFOUR. Now several people are working on this person’s issue ahem question.
• Now we’re all frustrated and venting to each other, so there’s that.
• And now I’m writing this blog cause I’m annoyed.

This is not an uncommon occurrence within companies, in fact, we’ve addressed it multiple times as a team. You might be asking yourself, “what’s the big deal, just find the answer and move on.” Sure, sure – fair enough. What if you receive 15 emails, chats, or calls like this every day? Suddenly you’re spending half your day “putting out fires.” Other people’s fires.

Here’s what you do.

• Don’t respond immediately.
• Set aside time in your schedule/calendar to dig into the issue.
• Respond to said lazy person with “I’ll check into this sometime this week and circle back (throw some passive-aggressiveness in there) once I’ve had a chance to look into.”
• Then wait…9 times out of 10, the person will solve their issue before you even have to do anything.
• If that doesn’t work, push back. Do it respectfully (that’s where don’t respond immediately comes in), give it a breather, and then deal with it.

The best thing you can do is to not respond right away, you have to set boundaries or you’ll continue to be derailed by these damn monkeys and before you know it, you’re running a f*cking zoo (and writing blogs about it).

So, 2020 has been a bit of a challenge. I believe the word tossed around frequently is “unprecedented.”

I’ve been talking to my small biz friends and we are all feeling a bit overwhelmed, now this isn’t a new feeling for any of us, but we are in uncharted waters and making decisions we thought we would never be presented with.

I talked about how I pivoted the business to ensure there was a business, but no one could have anticipated that 6 months later we would still be dealing with this and the mental health toll it is taking on all of us.

I’ve all but given up on sleeping since all I do is dream (more like a nightmare) about everything we’re dealing with. Here is just a sampling of what small business owners are dealing with.

• Work from home fatigue
• Going back to work safely
• Understanding liability around COVID-19
• Keeping employees protected
• Ensuring employees are happy
• Ensuring employees have all the resources to do their job whether remote or in the office
• Maintaining positivity at all times (until you can finish off a bottle or two of wine on the weekend)
• Supporting and listening
• Financial woes
• Unreliability of the USPS
• Business development
• Talent attraction and retention

That is by no means a complete list, but it’s what I could name off the top of my head.

The amount of crushing pressure business owners are under right now is ridiculous. We have had to become master EO interpreters, therapists, cleaning supply procurement specialists, negotiators, hypemen, half glass full people, mindreaders, master problem solvers, solution providers, Zoom prodigies…and the list goes on.

I guess what I want you to take away from this blog, we’re feeling really f*cking alone right now and quite frankly we feel singlehandedly responsible for keeping our doors open and our employees happy and it’s really, really exhausting.

Reach out to a business owner, or if you are employed by a business owner – maybe tell them you appreciate them because they’re doing the best they can.

I was privy to an email the other day that referred to another female professional as “sweet and young,” and it wasn’t meant as a compliment. It irked me, like a lot. Maybe cause it hit close to home and reminded me when I was early on in my career and was often dismissed due to my age, experience, or Forever 21 wardrobe. Listen, I still have a Forever 21 jacket, that shit holds up surprisingly well.

I was told I was “rough around the edges.” Another female professional I know was told she was a “diamond in the rough.” All of us have much to learn early on in our careers, but I can’t recall a time a male professional was critiqued in the same way as many of my female colleagues.

West Michigan is where I built my business, career, and family (dogs lots of dogs). It’s also where I’ve dealt with sexism and ageism for much of my professional life. We all have hurdles to overcome and sadly this is what a lot of young female professionals face, I can’t even imagine what it is like for a woman of color. Why does age or gender even play into the equation? It isn’t news to anyone that females are not on equal footing when it comes to our health care choices (what choice?), salaries, or job perks.

If we want change, we need to call out the behavior when we see it. It isn’t comfortable to do so, but easy isn’t where progress is made. If you’re reading this blog and are what might be considered a “young professional,” speak up. Have a respectful dialogue if you feel you are being treated differently due to your age, experience, or gender. Come to the table with examples and also a solution – not that ageism has a solution, but if you show you are willing to work together, perhaps progress can actually be made.

I do think things are slowly getting better, or perhaps I’m just getting older so no one cares anymore.

If someone refers to you as “rough around the edges,” say thank you because it’s what makes you who you are and you should never apologize for how God made you. And you know what, “rough” is what makes me a good business owner and communicator, it’s why I  always strive to find comfort in the uncomfortable and not back down when something is worth fighting for. I’ll take my rough over your condescension any day.

Now a personal story….

When Josh and I bought our first house, it was done only in my name and I solely financed it. The title company told me he needed to be there when I signed, I didn’t really think anything of it until we got to the signing and they asked him to sign. I politely (I really did) asked why when he wasn’t on the mortgage, the guy looked at me surprised and said “oh, well I can redo all the paperwork and we can reschedule.” Now, who in the right f**king mind is going to reschedule a closing on a house when it is always a clusterf*ck to even get to that point? I didn’t feel like I had the right to be enraged about it, because I didn’t want to cause a scene or make Josh feel less than. What a typical female response, am I right? We are slighted or wronged and we are the ones that feel bad.

If I had to do it all over again, I would ask him why he assumed when he had no right to do so. I’d then ask him to redo the paperwork while I sat and waited because I had every right to do so.

Moral of this story, don’t be afraid to make “good trouble,” as the great John Lewis would say.

I know we’re all sick of the word pivot, but I gotta finish the blog series so just hold on through this last part. If you’re new to this riveting blog series, read Part 1 here and Part 2 here.

Let’s wrap this sucker up and discuss the painful steps I had to take as a business owner to ensure my company survived and continues to survive this damn pandemic.

Step 3: Planning

Our office manager and I spent a lot of time on this phase, we sat through countless calls and webinars with the Grand Rapids Chamber and the Small Business Association of Michigan determining how to implement what we had learned in the education phase.

The key to our success, thus far, is absolutely the people and companies we surrounded ourselves with. Always hire people smarter than you and retain companies that possess the expertise you don’t.

The first thing we did was map out our priorities and the steps we needed to take:

• Finances: We knew we had to layoff staff immediately, apply for funds available through grants and the federal government, and cut expenses. We determined what grants we would go after, identified the information we would need to apply, and then reached out to our accountants at Hungerford Nichols to pick their brains on other options.
• Layoff: I pride myself on being very transparent and honest with my staff. Once we made the difficult decision to layoff two staff members, we set a date and asked other staff to work from home that morning to respect the privacy of our two employees. Our office manager sat down with each of them and assisted them in applying for unemployment as well as providing them the information they needed from 8THIRTYFOUR. We also checked in with them weekly to see if we could offer any other assistance.
• Staff conversation: We spoke with staff immediately and let them know the tough decision we made. We answered any questions they had and talked about next steps. I honestly thought they would think I failed them, I certainly felt like I did. They were amazing, I honestly could not ask for a better team, they were understanding, complimentary, and appreciative. It was an incredible relief the way they handled it.
• Work from home: I know of multiple companies that struggled with their employees working from home. It was definitely a transition for us. We wrote up a policy, purchased Zoom to stay connected, and adhered to our same hours…although I had to step in when staff was working too much. It’s one of the reasons we wrote the blog on working from home guilt. I was concerned they would become burned out.
• Staff morale: Our team thrives on togetherness, we all really like each other, and being a small team we are pretty tightknit, not to mention very social. To keep spirits up, I sent packages bi-weekly to their homes. I sent a journal with notecards, an inspirational book, and a coloring book and markers. It was as much for me as for them, I wanted them to know how much I appreciated them.
• Worst case scenario: My leadership team and I mapped out our worst-case scenarios to help us plan our steps to recover. We outlined milestones that if we hit we would take the next step in the plan. For example, if we lost another client, we would cut staff salaries or we would negotiate our office rent.

Step 4: Action

I’m not going to map out every action we took, but below is what we were absolutely consistent on which I truly believe set us up for success.

• Daily internal check-ins
• SBAM daily briefings, including the weekend
• Calls and emails with our banker, accountant, and lawyer
• Research, research, and more research. We read every piece of information out there – PPP, EOs, and every other acronym.

We also worked around the clock, we had calls on the weekend and were in constant contact. Well, things have started to settle down, we know returning to work is our next big priority.

We lost revenue, employees, and a lot of peace of mind…but we survived. Years from now I will reread these blogs to give myself some much-needed perspective when things seem dire for a completely different reason.

Let’s get back to where we left off in Part 1: Pivot!, I wanted to go into more detail about the steps we took, the organizations that stepped up in a big way and how we set 8THIRTYFOUR up to move forward.

To say life changed overnight for us would be an understatement, it was like all that we knew was turned on its head and we had to start rebuilding immediately. What I’m going to share with you below, we outlined in less than 24 hours and implemented in less than 48 hours. There are 4 phases – assess, educate, plan and action; we’ll cover the first two in this blog. We are still in the action phase, which we anticipate will last us for a while.

The reason we were successful, was because we acted quickly, we had tough, honest discussions as a leadership team, we each had a role and we took ownership and because our culture was built on honesty, transparency, and empathy. If we were not an EOS company and we didn’t have the existing culture we had, I can honestly say we would be one of the businesses that closed our doors forever.

Step 1: Assess:

As soon as we lost business, we took a hard look at our finances, current workload, and asked ourselves the following:

1. What $$ was anticipated within the next 30 days? What did we actually expect to receive?
2. With that revenue number in hand, we then took a look at expenses – utilities, rent, salaries, technology, and more. What could we cut? Where could we negotiate? What could we delay?

We had our numbers, we had our projections and now we needed to anticipate next steps:

1. If we cut staff, would the workload be manageable for the remaining staff? What slack would leadership need to pick up?
2. If cutting staff isn’t enough, how much could we scale back salaries temporarily and still retain employees?
3. What other clients would we lose? How would this impact us on a monthly basis?
4. What options are out there for us for financial support?

We imagined the worst-case scenario and then we planned back from there.

Step 2: Educate

I honestly believe this is an area where a lot of businesses dropped the ball, and it caused a lot of anger and ultimately some pretty disgusting protests at the capital. At the end of the day, you can only control what you can control and you gotta suck it up and move forward. This shit is hard on everyone, I have zero tolerance for whining and anger. It is your job as a business owner to educate yourself and explore every possible resource out there, instead of sitting around bitching about how unfair life is. Do that by yourself with a bottle of wine, your employees deserve better.

In the beginning, no one had any idea on how long this would last, how our businesses would be affected, or what we could even do to offset the inevitable hurt coming our way.

The following organizations, associations, and companies were our lifeline.

1. Small Business Association of Michigan: Each day at 3:00 p.m., SBAM held briefings to share the latest news, resources, and what small businesses could expect moving forward. Every single day, including weekends. It was invaluable, they pivoted their entire operation and all staff was focused on COVID-19 and helping small businesses navigate the new normal. This was how we got the much-needed clarification on the PPP (paycheck protection program).
2. Grand Rapids Chamber: I wasn’t personally on these calls, but our office manager was. The topics ranged from laying off employees, PPP, financial assistance, insurance and safely reopening. I have never been more grateful for my membership.
3. Hungerford Nichols: Our accounting firm is a bunch of badasses. They checked in, just to see how we were and answered the countless questions we had around taxes and PPP. Heather, their marketing person sent me messages each week with words of encouragement. I love this company.
4. West Michigan Law: Our lawyer Adam is funny, sarcastic and blunt – it’s everything you could ever want for legal representation. I had the most random questions for him and texted him at all hours. In response, I got sound advice and some pretty great memes.

Let’s be honest, anything the government put out was unclear and difficult to navigate, these organizations stepped up in a big big way, working around the clock to help us. It wasn’t just companies, it was the countless people that reached out to me and the list is long. I had the support of other business owners, friends, colleagues, and family. I wrote a note for these peeps, I’ll share access to soon.

In part 3 of this riveting blog series, I’ll tackle the planning and action phase.

It’s been a while since I’ve posted, been a little busy ensuring we survive this damn pandemic. Priorities, I suppose.

The first week, we lost over $15,000 in revenue a month, which does not include the clients who simply couldn’t pay but would when able. This happened on a Tuesday, by Thursday I made the difficult decision to lay off 2 employees. This was all within 3 days. As a small business owner, you don’t get the luxury to debate a decision for weeks or months, you have to make the shittiest decisions in days, if not 24 hours.

I’ve always been the individual that identifies the worst-case scenario and then plans for it. Quite frankly, it’s why 8THIRTYFOUR has been around for 13 years. It isn’t exactly the most pleasant way to live your life, but it has made me a survivor in both my personal and professional life.

After employees were laid off, I sat down (when you could still do so in person) with my leadership team and we took a hard look at finances. What was our projected revenue, actual revenue and revenue lost and what did we anticipate losing in the future. Once we had the worst-case scenario mapped out, we came up with a plan to retain existing employees ideally at their current rate of pay – we had another plan if that wasn’t possible. We then strategized on how to communicate the need for marketing at a time when everyone was hurting financially, and then we put some money behind it and then launched the campaign.

So, we took action, made a plan, and then starting implementing. In other words, we pivoted…we hella pivoted. I saw a lot of business owners being hit hard, I knew some had to shut their doors indefinitely. There were two groups with two very different mindsets: 1. This f*cking sucks, but it is what it is and I gotta pivot; 2. We will never recover, how could the ____ (insert name) do this to us, it is everyone’s fault. I will now rant and rave on social media. The one thing they agreed on, it sucks, what set them apart was how they chose to respond.

I’ll map out the steps we took as a company in the next blog, but simply put it was assessment, education, planning and action.

If I hear the word “unprecedented” one more time, I’m going to scream. We are being bombarded by news by the time we wake up to the time we finally put our phones down and go to bed…then we dream about it. Everyone keeps giving advice on how to weather this storm, what to spend your time doing or how you should be acting during this time…well screw that.

Here is my non-advice, take it or leave it…because no one gets to decide how you deal with this shitstorm, but you.

Eat whatever you want

Stop showing me healthy recipes and workouts I can do from home. If I feel like moving, I’ll move. This may be considered terrible advice, but eat what you want, drink what you want and shower if you feel like it. We may all come out of this a few pounds heavier, so embrace it and eat your feelings. If you want that extra glass of wine (or bottle), no one is stopping you. The best part about this situation is the only one judging you is your dog and they’re just happy you’re around them 24/7.

Write about it

I sent my team journals to document this “unprecedented” time in our history. Write those feelings down, whether it is how you hid in a closet all day to escape your children or watched The Tiger King for the 14th time. In a year or two when you are dealing with what feels like an insurmountable situation, look back on this time and it will give you a much-needed perspective.

Adopt a friend

Seems like every time something crazy happens in the world, people dump their pets. By the way, if this is you, you’re an asshole. Help out a local animal shelter by fostering, it will keep you from going insane and you’ll save a life. That’s a win-win if you ask me.

Bring back letter writing

I’ve been mailing notes and cards out at a record pace. You wouldn’t believe the joy people experience when they get words of encouragement in the mail. My buddy Ashley and I have done this for years, neither one of us enjoys talking on the phone so we write to each other. Write notes to local nursing home residents, they are stuck in quarantine and can’t have visitors.  Think about that the next time you are feeling bored or lonely, their life depends on self-isolation…so suck it up buttercup and do something nice for someone else.

Zoom a virtual happy hour

I just did this with my team on Friday, I even put make-up on and showered. It was a big day for me. Check-in on those friends,  preferably with a glass of wine in your hand. It’s kind of funny to watch people get drunk virtually. I’m particularly hilarious.

We don’t know when this will end, for all the small businesses out there and those currently unemployed I pray it is soon. In the meantime, surround yourself with the people and things that make you happy and don’t let anyone tell you the right way to “cope” or “isolate.” You wear those pajamas for the 14th day in the row and have that dance party in your living room with no one judging you (your dog is totally judging you).

You do you and fuck COVID-19.

As if running a small business wasn’t hard enough, now we’re dealing with a pandemic. At this point, no one has any idea what that will mean for second-stage companies (between 10 to 99 employees), so we sit and wait. Waiting is not something we do well as business owners.

Here is what we know:

• The financial market is taking a hit
• Events are being canceled
• Large companies are asking employees to work from home
• Our health care system is overwhelmed

Here is what we don’t know:

• When will the spread slow?
• How long will this go on?
• Will the market stabilize?
• What will the effect be on our businesses?

There are a few options for moving forward.

Curl Up in the Fetal Position Option

While a popular choice, it will more than likely cause an adverse effect on your business. While it is nice to bury your head in the sand or hide under your covers with your 200 rolls of toilet paper, it won’t solve anything and you’re contributing to the panic.

Educate and Respond Option

Personally, I suggest this option. I met with my leadership team today and we talked about the coronavirus. It was not something we wanted to address but for the business and employees, it was a necessity. We broke it down by what we knew, 1). We are a small company and for now, are as safe as we can be working at our office; 2). If you sniffle, you stay home; 3). We must conduct business as usual and continue to serve our clients; 4). It is important for us to continue to educate ourselves and make informed decisions and finally 5.) Don’t panic, it is not going to help anyone. Stay calm, informed and for the love of all that is holy; wash your hands.

There is so much we don’t know and human nature seems to be “fill in the blanks,” which only makes it worse.

We are all going to be ok.

Is there a better title for a blog? I might get it as a tattoo, it’s kind of my life motto.

I love books, I’ve had a love affair with them as far back as I can remember. I used to go into my parent’s bedroom and pull Clive Cussler, Robert Ludlum, W.E.B. Griffin books off the top shelf of my dad’s closet. I’m pretty sure at 10 it wasn’t appropriate reading but to this day, I still love these authors. I used to imagine I was Dirk Pitt, with his sidekick Al Giordino, swigging tequila and exploring the world.

There is just something magical about immersing yourself in a different time period and world. Now that I’m not 10 anymore and of the legal age to drink, I love pouring myself a glass of wine and curling up with a stack of books.

Sidenote: Am I the only one that takes a book wherever I go? I was told one time it’s super rude for me to do that, to which I say – don’t be boring and I won’t need to bring reading material.

Enough reminiscing, here are some of my favorite books paired with the appropriate books. These are not listed in any order…

Raise the Titanic, Clive Cussler

This was one of the first books I stole from my dad’s closet. It is an epic adventure with Dirk Pitt and the team at NUMA. The title pretty much sums it up but throw in some Russian spies, marine biology and of course a girl – Dirk always gets his girl.

Drink of choice: Tequila on the rocks, the Dirk Pitt way

Little Women, Louisa May Alcott

With the Greta Gerwig movie remake just hitting theaters, this classic has made a resurgence. I often think of Louisa May Alcott writing this book in an age when women’s paths were decided for them and pouring her heart in soul into the characters. I adored Jo, her temper, imagination, courage, stubbornness, and her refusion to be what society deemed for her. I cried when we lost sweet Beth, I sighed when Jo turned down Laurie and I was angry when Amy returned Laurie’s affections. I imagined myself curled up by Marmee’s feet while she read father’s letters by the fireplace hearth. This book gave me so much and showed me that no matter what, your destiny is your own.

Drink of choice: Hot toddy on a cold winter’s evening sitting by the fire

L

It has been a while since I read D-Day, some books just stick with you. Ambrose has a way of weaving together multiple narratives of soldiers serving during WWII, all leading to the day that changed the tide of the war. We will never know the pain, suffering and bravery of that day…but we owe it to the men who made the ultimate sacrifice to try. It is a hard read, uplifting at times, graphic at others but throughout – honest and raw. I really encourage you to read it.

Drink of choice: A nip of brandy

Louis L’Amour

I can’t choose just one, I have read them all. I loved following the story of the Sackett family and their hardships on the frontier. There is not a single author that has captured the old west, like L’Amour. The man is a legend. His real-life is just as fascinating as the 105 books he wrote. His books inspired my brother and I to build forts and explore the cornfields and woods around our house, we “lived off the land” and fought Indians. I used to wish I could go back in time and explore the wild west and meet all the fascinating characters he wrote about.

Drink of choice: Whiskey neat, obviously

Books give us so much. What are your favorite books? I have a million more I could write about, but I’ll save it for the Books and Booze sequel.

Today I cried in front of my staff. Me, Kim Bode…queen of abrasive, broke down.

Be vulnerable.

The reason why isn’t important, most of you will put the pieces together soon enough. What is important is the hard time my little furry family is going through and the despair, grief and sadness I am experiencing. Pretending to be a hardass will only get you so far, not showing weakness as a business owner in certain situations is a good thing. Never opening yourself up to feel soul-crushing pain is a bad thing.

Be vulnerable.

Opening yourself to others, telling them you are not ok or are dealing with something truly awful…will give you the support and in turn the strength you need to survive whatever it is you are experiencing. We are told from a young age, especially men to never show weakness, keep your chin up, soldier on, suck it up…all this does is push down the feelings we need to feel. You will never move past it if you don’t feel.

Over 10 years ago, my first marriage fell apart. I was broke, soon to be homeless and I was doing my damndest to keep it together. I will never forget what the counselor said to me, “get a bottle of wine, sit in the corner, turn off the lights and fucking cry.”

He said, “feel it, feel all of it. Scream, cry, swear and allow yourself to hurt.”

Be vulnerable.

If you don’t feel it, you will never move past it. You will only bury those feelings to have them reemerge with a vengeance months or years later.

Just know I understand. It hurts. That pain means you are alive and that is a glorious thing. Allow yourself to feel and be supported.

It’s ok to be vulnerable.

Sidenote: I took this blog picture to remember this feeling. It sucked.