Our audience will learn how to: (a) better recognize and acknowledge the emotional toll of running a business in these trying times, and (b) will learn business strategies for coping with the complex employment and labor laws, labor shortages, and economic pressures of a post-Covid world.
Much has been written about the pandemic’s emotional toll on employees, which is undoubtedly a reality. However, with the constantly evolving post-pandemic labor and employment laws, the labor shortages and decreases in available candidates to work for business owners, and the economic pressures of our world today, many businesses owners and employers are *feeling* the impact: stress, anxiety, frustration, and fear.
Tune in Tuesday, May 17th, from 5 pm to 6 pm (EST) on TalkRadio.NYC, when Colleen Ferrary and I discuss how business owners can take action to cope with these understandable emotions. Colleen offers business owners a unique blend of hearing and validating their emotions while suggesting strategies for running their business more smoothly.
LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/in/colleen-ferrary-980942a/
Company Website – https://SmallBusinessUS.com
Personal Website- https://ColleenFerrary.com
By Segment
SEGMENT 1
00:57-14:30 – Eric starts today’s show introducing Colleen Ferrary, his guest for today. Colleen is the CEO/founder of Small Business USA. Before this, she was director of a Fortune 500 company leading teams of over 3,000 employees. Colleen says that she grew up in a small business that was owned by her family. She never really wanted to be an entrepreneur. She describes growing up in this kind of environment saying that “you just never know what you’re going to get.” Making and balancing a budget was some of the struggles that her mother went through, but this is also why Colleen admires her mother because of the amount of work and dedication she had towards her business and taking care of her children. Colleen mentions climbing up the corporate ladder into different positions in her career. Though, she realized how much she wasn’t doing things like being around for her daughter more often, being a single mother. She realized that she was in a position where she could have retired at a young age. Small Business USA came about because she had many small business owners asking for her help due to her knowledge and experience running a billion dollar business. She explains what Small Business does and what her team is like.
SEGMENT 2
16:47-30:27 – Colleen discusses with Eric about her motivation to start Small Business USA. Her main motivation was about how she can help others. She wanted to bridge the gap between what small business owners have and need and being in a large business which she says is easier because you have access to many tools. Some post pandemic challenges that she is noticing is fear of speaking of what’s on your mind. Business owners may be afraid to do so because they value their team and want to make sure that they aren’t saying the wrong thing. There’s also the fear of doing business with others, being that we are in a very politically correct environment. Colleen mentions that she has had business owners call her and cry. Colleen says that she hears things about people fearing about whether we are having a recession, inflation and more. Colleen and Eric share similar stresses, fear and other emotions that they are seeing from their clients. Eric discusses more from his experience and knowledge and says that the laws he is seeing in N.Y are becoming more and more stringent and can be very difficult for small business owners. They also discuss the difficulties in finding the balance in being a better leader and employer.
SEGMENT 3
32:31-45:14 – Eric and Colleen continue their discussion on the issues and emotional toll of running a business in these trying times. Colleen goes back to her story earlier of how she had a business owner call her and was crying over the phone. Colleen said that she told them that they have to give themselves a moment and breath. She says that there are things you should be doing and things that you must be doing. First, she says to identify what those things are and take care of them today. She also says to be okay with 20 percent of what you want to do to fall off your plate. Colleen gives an example talking about a young worker she observed in a small business store working with boxes of inventory. All of sudden one day, instead of 20 boxes which is what he usually worked with, he had to process 40 boxes and got overwhelmed. He then got 8 boxes done and his performance dropped because he was overwhelmed and stressed. Colleen decided to observe him from the back room. She asked him what was going on and whether he can at least get the first 20 boxes done. His motivation changed because of that mindset. She discusses more about trust, appreciation, value, micromanaging, and stress and how these play a role in leading and how your team works.
SEGMENT 4
47:14-57:45 – In the final segment, Colleen mentions how proud she is of her team at Small Business USA and also mentions the mounting concern of the great resignation. She also discusses the difficulties or worries that come with terminating someone for business owners and those in HR. She says that before terminating anybody, you should try to help them succeed. It’s not about holding them accountable. Eric says that holding someone accountable is more like penalizing them. Eric talks about things to think about to reduce the risk of lawsuits in these matters. Eric and Colleen also mention in their final part of their conversation about the importance of having an employment attorney and people like Colleen early on to support your business and be of guidance throughout time. You can connect with Colleen and her work at smallbusinessus.com, her email is colleen@smallbusinessus.com, and also coach@employmenttutors.com, the email of her team at Employment Tutors!
About Employment Law Today
Helping Business With Employment Law Issues.
For many business owners, it can be overwhelming to keep up and comply with the federal and state labor and employment laws that govern how they run their business. With the COVID-19 pandemic, there are new laws and regulations regarding hiring, firing, and workplace practices and protocols — all of which can increase business owners’ anxieties about regaining traction or thriving again. On my weekly show, we will be discussing the most common employment law related questions and challenges that business owners have been facing in these uncertain times.
The show will have three main goals: (1) to inform businesses about employment law updates, (2) to inspire businesses by giving them the tools to move forward, and (3) to demonstrate how some business owners have overcome their employment law problems, walked through the challenges imposed by this pandemic, and have taken steps to regain traction during the reopening phases of this pandemic.
Our guests will include professionals who advise businesses from an H.R., legal, and financial perspective, along with thriving business owners who will share their experiences and insights into running a successful company while complying with labor and employment law mandates during COVID-19.