Lately, I've been having A LOT of conversations with pet business owners about whether or not they should close their businesses during the COVID-19 pandemic. I want to be clear - I am NOT advocating that you should close your business temporarily or permanently one way or the other. My purpose here to provide all of the different angles you should consider in order to make the best choice for you, your business, your staff, and your clients.

At the end of the day, every business is different. We all have unique situations, circumstances, and experiences that make us all different in our own ways. It is not our place to judge someone else's business and tell them they need to close or not close. We are all in this together, and we need to support each other now more than ever.

Show Highlights

[2:25] - Consider your area. Different parts of the country (and the world) are undergoing different levels of isolation and social distancing. Check with your local governments for guidance as to how your business operations fit into the current climate. Pay extra special attention if your local area has a "shelter-in-place" directive.

[5:00] - Consider the effect on your staff. There are a few different options businesses have in regards to dealing with staff. You can furlough them, lay them off, or continue business as usual. As with everything, there are pros and cons to each route.

[6:45] - Consider the type of messaging coming from your business. Internal and external messaging is critical. The worst thing you can do as a business right now is not to stand up as a thought leader. Keep your audience informed and keep it honest. And please, do not say you are closing up shop without making it clear that it's a temporary closure.

[10:00] - If you have to close your business during COVID... do not give up. This is the time to feed your mind so that when the world goes back to normal, we can come back bigger and better than ever.

Links

Pet Industry COVID-19 Survival Group: jumpconsulting.net/survival

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Transcript:

This is episode 188 of Bella in Your Business. Hi there, I'm Bella Vasta from Jump Consulting. You might know me from CBS, NBC, Fox, Huffington Post, Entrepreneur, or maybe you've seen me speak on stage or read my book, The Four Dogs That Every Business Owner Needs. In any case, get ready because you're about to get your hashtag Bella Butt Kickin' in this next episode of Bella in Your Business.

So what do you say? Let's get ready and jump. I want to talk to you about some things that I think you should consider before temporarily closing your business. Now, I want to be really clear here. I am not encouraging you to close your business. I'm not encouraging you not to close your business. I've just been having so many conversations with people all this week, both on the phone and in Messenger, and I really want to share some really good information.

Stay tuned, because I’ll be giving you a link to a group—it’s jumpconsulting.net/survival—where you can get more information like this from financial experts, lawyers, HR consultants, systems people, and more. If you haven’t joined that group already, please do. You can help me share this too—it’s going to be a very important one. I really want to make sure everybody can see this, hear this, and tune in.