Aug 19, 2020 3 min read

One week into the fall semester, the University of North Carolina announced it is canceling in-person instruction and moving undergraduate programs to online. UNC has reported four COVID-19 clusters across residence halls and a fraternity house, with at least 130 students testing positive over the past week.

To some, this may seem to be a dramatic decision. But taking no action would have had potentially devastating consequences. In Southwestern Pennsylvania, where COVID-19 cases are still trending in the wrong direction, school is starting. Businesses are paying attention beyond the usual “Back to School’ sales incentives.

Our first and most pressing priority is the safety of our children. But we must ask ourselves, how will a potential spike in new cases impact our already staggering business community?

Questions such as these are part our current normal. To survive, our small businesses need people. They need us, and to be honest, we need each other.

I have come to appreciate, in ways I did not previously understand, the importance of meaningful interaction with our fellow humans. In these chaotic times, that importance has taken a critical turn as it pertains to our business community.

Now is not the time to roll up our tents and hide. Now is the time to really look at opportunities in the market and pivot on our approach to new business development. Gone are the days of just showing up and networking your way to success.

Will Rogers said it best: “You never get a second chance to make a first impression.”

In this current business reality, those first impressions are more important than ever. Because industry events are going virtual, businesses must adjust their strategies to attract prospects and develop client relationships. And that likely will continue through at least the next year.

Sadly, many small businesses in America are not going to make it that far. They do not have the resources to pivot and adjust to the new business reality. With new rules for safe operation, mounting debts, uncertainty of workforce, productivity with social distancing and a disrupted supply chain, their runway is getting shorter and shorter. When your runway gets too short, you simply cannot take off.

As small businesses plan strategies for recovery, the new business landscape offers little more than painful choices. New restrictions and a competitive landscape in constant flux make long-term survival questionable.

Part of the answer lies in collaboration. The poet Khalil Gibran wrote: “In friendship or in love, the two side by side raise hands together to find what one cannot reach alone.” I would add business to that equation.

Thanks to an impromptu brainstorming session, a newly formed collaboration with long-time partners with a wide diversity of skills and experience has opened doors to new opportunities. The path forward will require all of us to come together in ways we had not considered before. Competitors will become partners, and partners will become innovative collaborators.

If we cannot expand our thinking outside the box, the lid is going to close on us.

Jamie Protin is founder and principal of The Protin Group in Belle Vernon.

To submit business-related columns, email Rick Shrum at rshrum@observer-reporter.com.