Solutions to Common Challenges for Small and Medium Businesses

Many small and medium sized businesses tend to report that they have some of the same problems in their businesses. It does not seem to matter what type of business it is, manufacturing or service type businesses. All these business issues require some creativity to solve these days. Here are a few of the most common concerns I have come across recently:

1. I can’t find people to work for my company! This has been a common theme for all businesses. Many restaurants have failed in part due to the lack of demand during the pandemic, but also because they cannot find wait staff. Service businesses other than restaurants and bars have the same problem. In the past, they may have numerous applicants for the jobs that they posted and now have very few. Manufacturing companies have trouble finding people to work in the plant. That is the issue. It turns into more of a problem when the business burns out its best employees to work a lot of overtime to make up for the lack of a team.

What is the solution? Stay in the hiring mode all the time. Ask your best team members what they like about working for you and what they don’t like. Ask your management team to work with you to determine what is important to their best reports. The CEO may think that everything is all about money. To some extent, that is true, if the company has competitive wages and benefits. Beyond that, it comes down to what would make that team member want to work at your company over other choices that they have? Is it giving them responsibility? Is it listening to their opinions and making them part of solutions to issues? At the plant level, is it listening to people in the plant to know a better way for products to be produced or what customers have said that they would like, and then rewarding them for doing so? If the business does not know why their best people are working at their business, it is likely that they may lose those prize people going forward to competitors.

2. I am a service business – do I need all this space now that people are continuing to work remotely? This is a tricky one, as it requires the CEO to evaluate whether the existing team works well separately and works well together on a remote basis. Do you have the right team to work remotely? It has been said that good team members work well either remotely or in person, but bad team members do not do well either way. Many times, good team members want to work in person, as they miss the camaraderie of the team working in person. Some businesses are offering a hybrid, so that team members work a couple of days a week at home and the balance at the office. Is this as trend in how work gets done that will stay, or is this something that is a fluke? The answers to these questions are unique to each company and there is no one template for all businesses.
3. I am having trouble getting parts, lumber, and other supplies that are needed in my business. Currently, there are shortages on a lot of the things that businesses need in their manufacturing processes. This is a worldwide issue at this point and not caused directly by anything a business has done. This requires creativity to keep your manufacturing lines moving. For instance, there are businesses just like yours who may have some of those items you need sitting on their shelves, because their blend of business is different than yours, and would love to “turn this inventory” and make a little cash. In addition, it is good to have alternate suppliers that you buy from that may be able to supply your company with its needs in the event this is an issue again. Another thing to help your customer’s manufacturing from going down is to have your customers buy a larger order and store some items for later release to keep their manufacturing going.
4. I have heard stories of companies that are hit with ransomware attacks. I am concerned that it could happen to my company. There are a lot of stories where utility companies and other companies have been virtually shut down due to ransomware attacks. There are several things that you can do to protect your company:
   • Insurance. It is a good idea to visit with your insurance broker to make sure that you have the right type of insurance and that it will cover business interruption, and cyber insurance that covers a specialist who can negotiate to get the key back and the ransom itself. Make sure that the amount of the coverages is adequate based upon the ransomware demands that are going on.
   • Redundancy. Make sure that you have redundancy in your records. Most companies have thought that if their records are stored in the cloud as a backup, that is adequate. Recently, there was a story of a manufacturing company that had a ransomware attack, and that attack locked all their computer records going into their cloud storage. It is a good idea to go “old school” and save backups offsite, just in case.
   • Education. Ask your insurance broker to conduct training of your team, so that they know how to avoid the online emails that may spark the ransomware attack. They are normally happy to do so, as it saves the insurance company claims dollars and saves you headaches and shutdowns.

These are just a few examples. Working with a qualified business attorney can help you navigate these types of concerns, and much more, by being proactive and properly planning in a changing constantly changing business environment.

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Denice Gierach

Gierach Law Firm

Denice Gierach is an attorney, CPA, Northwestern University business master's graduate, and has owned several businesses from real estate to manufacturing. She is the lead attorney at Gierach Law Firm in the Chicago area. With more than 30 years of experience, she has been a respected and sought-after resource for businesses looking to grow, sell, solve problems, and succeed long term. Her insights across business areas gives a fuller lens to business issues and solutions, and helps businesses grow and succeed with less time spent on legal issues and other time-consuming problems.

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