Worcester Business Journal

wbjournal.com | January 24, 2022 | Worcester Business Journal 19 F or small businesses across America, and around the world, the last two years have been, in a word, chaos. Shutdowns, mask mandates, reduced capacity limits, consumer anxiety, and of course an economic downturn have made the traditional way of doing business impossible, or at least unsustainable for millions of entrepreneurs. Now, uncertainty in the global supply chain is further complicating matters. Shortages of intermediate components are preventing leading global manufacturers from bringing products to market. e shortages are affecting everything from automobiles to consumer electronics. Even titans of industry such as Ford and Sony are not meeting the needs of their customers in the same prompt fashion they could before the coronavirus pandemic. (Ask anyone who was excited for the launch of the Ford Bronco or has nearly given up on getting a PlayStation 5, like this author). It's easy to see how marketplace trends like our shared supply chain woes could have far-reaching long-term negative impacts on the U.S. economy, especially for the smallest players. But is this moment truly as hopeless as it seems? Are we on the precipice of an economy poised to worsen? Or does the pain felt by manufacturers overseas represent the opportunity of a generation for small American manufacturers, aspiring entrepreneurs, and daring investors? In September, the port of Los Angeles/Long Beach announced a record-breaking backlog of 70 containerships waiting to be unloaded. e congestion made headlines across the country as delivery timelines for products ordered by both consumers and businesses grew ever longer. Massachusetts's own Merrow Manufacturing saw opportunity in those frustrating circumstances. at same month Merrow announced it would be producing level 1 and 2 isolation gowns – critical personal protective equipment for nurses and doctors fighting the coronavirus pandemic – domestically, with domestically sourced materials. Today, Merrow is the largest producer of USA- sourced PPE. A reader of this column may be asking themselves how they could identify such opportunities for their own small business. Most entrepreneurs do not have the same resources at their disposal as Merrow Manufacturing does, nor do they typically have the expertise. So how can a small business or aspiring entrepreneur identify these new opportunities and develop a plan to pursue them? One place they could turn is RCAP Solutions' Open for Business Program. Since 1969 RCAP Solutions has been proudly serving the families, communities, and small businesses of Massachusetts and throughout the northeast and Caribbean with a wide variety of services. e new Open for Business Program provides live, interactive webinars; self-guided, online workshops; and unlimited one-on-one consulting – all completely free to any small business owner or aspiring entrepreneur in New England, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. By AiVi Nguyen AiVI Nguyen is a partner at Worcester law firm Bowditch & Dewey. Reach her at anguyen@bowditch. com. According to Forbes, Millennials stay at a job on average for two years and nine months. Companies need to either work under a business model accounting for frequent turnover or they must offer benefits, tangible and intangible, enticing Millennials to stay significantly longer than this average. What are some of these benefits? 10) Flexible work schedule, including the ability to work from home, at least some of the time 9) A robust paid maternity and paternity leave policy. 8) Updated technology, so working remotely is seamless. 7) Compensation. Get creative. A low-interest loan from the company for a down payment on a house in Central Massachusetts or to pay off high- interest student debt are both attractive options. 6) Paid vacation time they are encouraged to use. 5) Collaboration and teambuilding. Millennials do not want to be silos carrying the weight of the world on their shoulders alone. 4) An open-door culture cultivating mentorship, both from peers and from leaders throughout the company, formal and informal. 3) A clear path to success, with measurable goals, and frequent communication about how the employee is progressing along the track. 2) A company culture of values, diversity, and inclusion. Young employees want to feel the work they are doing is meaningful to society as a whole. 1) The ability to engage in the community on company time, like sitting on nonprofit boards, for example, which can provide tangible benefits for the business as well. K N O W H O W Supply chain chaos A new year is a great time to sharpen your company's data expertise and widen opportunities to put it to use for your company. Is your organization doing all it can to succeed? Data can be used to find new clients, hike customer retention, improve service, laser-focus marketing efforts, predict trends, and more. Here are three ways you can enhance your company by leveraging data. Build a data-driven organization, says Emanuel Younanzadeh at Forbes. In other words, the real work can sometimes lie in forming the culture and mindsets around data. He suggests adding a chief digital officer to your team who sees things in a broader sense and understands diverse ways your company can leverage data. Empowering innovation must be put into play. "Employees should feel comfortable trying new things or sharing their opinions," he says. "is helps ensure that clever ideas surface and helps keep the organization competitive." Make data literacy a team sport, not a siloed talent pool. All departments should be energized when it comes to understanding how data is applied to the business and, yes, leadership, too. "Lack of involvement by leadership and the broader business users is one of the primary reasons data initiatives fail," say Charter Solutions Senior Analytics Consultants David Lindblom and Mike Richter, at InformationWeek.com. Take it further in 2022, such as exploring business intelligence software, for tasks like managing inventory, for example, says SmartDataCollective.com. Its supply- chain analysis shows you what stock is on hand, identifying overstock, and alerting you to the opposite scenario as well. "If historical data shows particular sales are increasing or a product has a long lead time from your supplier, you run the risk of understocking these items," site experts say. "is can lead to problems with fulfilling customer orders." 1 0 T H I NG S I know about... ... Providing better benefits for young employees BY SUSAN SHALHOUB Special to WBJ 101: L E V E R A G I N G D A T A BY MADISON WELLMAN Special to WBJ Madison Wellman is a business opportunity specialist for Worcester nonprofit RCAP Solutions, who provides free small business business assistance. Reach him at (774)239- 9783 or mwellman@rcapsolutions.org. W W W

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