By Gina Mintzer
The Lake George area’s tourism industry is responsible for an estimated 9,100 jobs and an annual economic impact of $629 million. Visitor spending in the region produces millions of dollars in sales tax revenue that offsets local property taxes and supports essential public services.
When the COVID-19 lockdown began, the Lake George Regional Chamber of Commerce continued to operate remotely, recognizing the need for strong communication between staff, board of directors, members, partners, and clients.
We quickly reacted, doing our best to monitor rapidly changing information and share that with our community to help them navigate this unprecedented time. During the lockdown we surveyed the business community in an effort to get information on their needs and then advocate on their behalf.
Realizing the potentially devastating effect of COVID-19 to our tourism economy, businesses and government embraced a collaborative spirit.
Business Report: COVID-19 Changes
By Michael Cruz
Your employees are working under new circumstances and new expectations. In fact, we all are, you included.
After years of working to ensure good culture, we now see each other less often. How are you ensuring that remote working and less meetings do not negatively affect your company culture? Locally, we have been able to pass through the crisis mode.
Yet, every time we watch the news, we are treated to doom scenarios. And as employees and coworkers hear those stories, it creates anxiety. We’re bombarded with messages like “new normal,” “social distancing” and, of course, “lockdown.”
In the face of that, it is hard to do back to (old?) normal.
Therefore, some of the changes are for a while. You can focus on that in your business. What makes sense for one business will not make sense for another. You will find ways to make your teams physically safe. Yet, what all businesses face is the need to keep everyone engaged. As leaders, we need to focus on keeping our people psychologically safe. There is a lot to react to right now.
Business Report: Post-COVID-19 Return To Work Plan
By Dorothy Rogers-Bullis
As New York state begins to look toward a post-COVID-19 reopening strategy, many businesses, organizations, and schools are trying to reinvent or re-imagine how they will safely operate. And it won’t be business as usual for most.
Each individual organization will need a thoughtful and highly customized approach, taking into account their business objectives, their space, and their employees’ work styles, while also creating appropriate social distance.
Here are some of our top tips for organizations as they explore their reopening options.
Create a committee. It’s going to take buy-in from numerous people in order to approve and implement a workable reopening plan. Your return-to-work steering committee should include leaders from HR, communications, and facilities, plus employee representatives. You’ll need their help with brainstorming ideas and managing expectations, as well as modeling positive behaviors.
Communicate. Input from employees is important, but it’s also crucial to keep people informed about what you are doing to ensure their safety. Keeping the lines of communication open is so important. If you are honest and upfront with staff and customers, encouraging people to ask questions and share their concerns, you will be able to gain their trust much faster.
Business Report: Got Value?
By Michael Cruz
As we get ready to re-emerge, it is important for you to re-assess your business. The entrepreneur’s mindset is to set to succeed. As the world throws you obstacles, you always find ways to overcome them.
Well, we have been thrown a big obstacle. What will you do? If you have not already, reach out to your best customers. Check in. See how they are doing. Even if they are shut down, this will be appreciated.
This will also help with your relationship when everyone is ready to fully engage. It is important to re-examine all aspects of your business. What you were doing before COVID-19 is not necessarily what you should do next. Examine your business plan. I often say that a plan is like a road map.
The only time you don’t need a map is when you are going where you have already been. Or – when you don’t care where you are going. Things are not going to be the same for quite a while. Your customers are having the same challenges you are. Everyone will be a little more cautious as to where they spend their money.
Business Report: Save The World!
That is the mantra by which we find ourselves involved with the nonprofit community. Whether you are working at one or on the board for one, it was a heart tug that got you there. Nonprofits get special IRS treatment because they perform a public good. They need a clear purpose focused on why the community is better because of their work.
Yet, they are still businesses. And they have to behave as one. That means having a sense of purpose. It means knowing that the model needs revenue to allow for the expenses of delivering the service. And, most important, they need more revenue than they spend. As simple and obvious as that sounds, passion will often overrule common sense. It’s where Boards come in.
As part of the legal structure they are the governing body. Boards act as stewards of the public trust. They ensure that these organizations are operating legally and ethically. They also provide the direction to make sure the nonprofit is answering community need. And that they are changing to meet new needs as they change. In addition to providing that direction, the Board is charged with providing the resources to help meet the mission.
Business Report: Gold Watch, Pension, Health Care For Life
By David Kopyc
The days of working for a company for 30 to 40 years and leaving with retirement security for life are over with. For most of us the future of retirement will not be the same as the one our parents had and personal responsibility is your path to retirement security.
The Pepsi Company originated the gold watch back in the 1940s. The concept “you gave us your time, now we are giving you ours,” made sense when people worked with a company for several decades.
Business Report: Is Your Diet Decreasing Productivity?
By Maria Savino
Do you ever feel tired, sluggish, unproductive, and like you are struggling to get through your day? I’m sure all of us have experience this at one time or another, but the reason for it may not be what you think.
Your lack of motivation or energy is not always due to lack of sleep or your mindset. Often, low energy and decreased productivity are the results of a poor diet.
Food is fuel and the different nutrients that you receive from food are essential for your body to perform certain tasks.
For example, carbohydrates are needed for energy, protein is needed for growth, development, and tissue repair, and fats are essential for cushioning our organs and insulating the body.
When your body lacks a certain nutrient it will let you know, often through unpleasant physical symptoms such as fatigue, headaches, or irritability.
Business Report: Now Hear This!
By michael cruz
Sam Walton (Walmart founder) famously said “If you don’t listen to your customers, someone else will.” Too often we speak with customers without the intent to hear. We want to ‘tell’. The best sales people ask questions and then shut up. It is not by accident that listen and silent have the same letters.
Often business owners ask me what I think of an idea for a new product. My advice is always the same. ASK your customers. They can validate your idea. Or not. We don’t often ask questions that we do not want to hear the answer to. Or more accurately, hear what we consider to be the wrong answer. Listening is the core or learning. We never learn when we are talking.
Business Report: Sustainable Energy Saving Options
By Lee Evans
Running a household or a small business can be expensive. However, many people don’t consider the choice and control they have over their energy expenses.
Now the emerging green economy combined with high connectivity has given birth to a bold new era of energy saving options for everyone. What follows is a list of essential, straightforward items that both homeowners and businesses can check off to trigger the type of cost reduction they’ve always wanted in terms of energy efficiency and renewable energy.
In general, the three main steps you can use to unlock the maximum amount of energy savings for your home or small business: Reduce, electrify and replace.
Reduce. This means that you should first take steps to audit and then lower your energy consumption by completing individualized identified Energy Conservation Measures (ECMs). For example, switch to automated thermostats, LED lighting and controls, increase air sealing and insulation, reduce electricity or fuel use especially for heating and cooling requirements. A review of third-party fuel supply options for potential cost reduction is available at merited.www9.nationalgridus.com
Business Report: Homebuyers Should Get Chimney Inspection
By Jamie Wallace
People considering buying a home should not neglect getting a chimney inspection.
Here are five reasons why.
1) Chimneys are one of the most neglected structures in a home
Did you know that very few chimneys that vent a furnace or fireplace have ever been professionally inspected? The National Fire Protection Association (NFPA 211) is the national standard for chimneys and vents and states that a chimney shall be inspected annually. A chimney is always under attack by corrosive flue gasses which wreak havoc on its flue liner.
The average gas furnace is pushing out about one gallon of water vapor through your chimney every hour during freezing temperatures. A chimney also rises above the roof line, making it the most exposed part of a structure to the elements. Yet, it is estimated that less than 10 percent of all chimneys have been professionally inspected. That’s a staggering number of potential carbon monoxide and fire hazards virtually unseen to the homeowner.
Don’t inherit someone else’s damaged chimney. This is preventable through a Level 2 chimney inspection by a certified chimney company.