BOX ELDER COUNTY – By Cari Doutre – April 2, 2020
Jared Turner, Regional Director, for the Small Business Development Center of Box Elder County, lives, breathes and thinks business.
For the past two decades, Turner has worked with hundreds of startup businesses and international companies to help solve business issues and find solutions. A graduate of the University of Utah where he studied economics, he obtained an MBA from Purdue University.
Turner’s experience in supporting and developing small local businesses in Utah and in Box Elder County, has presented an opportunity to help the small business community during the COVID-19 shutdown.
The Small Business Development Center of Box Elder County, located at 195 W. 1100 S. (room 170), in Brigham City, offers a variety of programs and resources for small businesses, free of charge.
They are also adapting their services during the COVID-19 shutdown by offering free webinars for small business owners. And it’s all possible in a safe, socially distancing way – online.
“From Surviving to Thriving: How to Lead Your Business Through the Corona Crisis” is a series of webinars that started in March 2020.
The webinars are presented by Turner and are co-produced by Alex Hall, Kristen Whicker and Gaylyn Bradshaw, with the support of Box Elder County.
“Everything has changed. Nothing will be the same again,” Turner said in the first webinar on March 26.
Turner’s solution? Innovate, adapt and overcome.
The first step – cut costs.
Turner recommends several different options to go about this first step. Those include reducing employee work hours and renegotiating with banks and landlords.
Most importantly, he said – eliminate the amount of cash flow going out.
The second step is to find opportunities and learn from experiences during the COVID-19 shutdown. Do your research on business trends and be proactive, but also communicate with customers, Turner suggested during the webinar.
“This pandemic affects everyone. Recognize the shared burden,” Turner added.
Turner also added the importance of technology in small businesses to accommodate customers and your business.
The last step in Turner’s plan is to innovate your business and form new ideas. Modify business models to better serve customers.
“If customers can’t come to you, go to your customers,” Turner said.
Don’t brush off using other local small businesses, even competitors, Turner added. He suggests combining efforts with other local businesses to help in the recovery process.
Help is available for local small businesses in Box Elder County to recover from the COVID-19 crisis.
Turner offers detailed and organized charts for federal assistance programs and various other financing options.
One of the biggest topics hit upon during the webinar is to learn from this experience but keep developing and reeling new ideas for your small business.
“The path towards recovery is a journey. We do not just resume where we left off before COVID-19. We’ve been through an emotional experience together. We have grown and changed; our perspectives are altered,” Turner quoted.
The next webinar, “From Surviving to Thriving Part 2: Innovating Through the Crisis” will be held Friday, April 3, at 9 a.m.
To register, and to be a part of this online interactive resource, click HERE.
“For the webinar, we will be presenting ideas and experiences from small businesses all over the country, including China and Korea, on how they are continuing to function as a business despite the crisis. Also, in real time we will be soliciting comments from the various business owners watching the webinar what they are doing during this period and facilitating the exchange of ideas,” Turner said.
“Expect this to be an interactive experience,” he added.
Title: From Surviving to Thriving Part 2: Innovating Through the Crisis.
Date: Friday, April 3, 2020
Time: 9:00 am
Description: Join this webinar for ideas on how to thrive and learn from other small businesses that are struggling with the COVID-19 pandemic. Plus, a forward focus on the post recovery economy and the opportunities that await.
Registration Link: https://event.webinarjam.com/register/4/oykl7b9
For more information on the Box Elder Small Business Development Center, contact them at:
195 W. 1100 S. Room 170
Brigham City, UT 84302
(435) 919-1295
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