By this point in the COVID-19 timeline, I think we’re all very familiar with being alone. It’s necessary at the moment – physically speaking, of course. But this crisis won’t last forever. So where will you and your business be in the recovery process when it’s over?

Fortunately, even though none of us can control our current circumstances, we can control plenty of factors within our businesses to prepare them for the economic surge that will follow this pandemic. I like to call these factors “levers.”

You know, like Willy Wonka pulling a lever somewhere in his factory to make a fabulous piece of candy pop out of a machine. You can do the same thing! Well, almost. Here’s what I mean by that:

Start looking through your business’ finances for your levers: spending and expenses that you can stand to cut, extra sources of funding you can apply for or bring on board like some of the loans currently available to small and medium-sized businesses.

The bottom line is you want to be doing what I refer to as the BAM – that’s the bare-ass minimum. If you can shave down anything extra that you might be spending or putting money, time or energy towards, it will free up all those precious resources for a more important moment or pursuit.

And speaking of important pursuits, I realize that all of this sounds like a good, but pretty ambiguous philosophy. But it doesn’t have to be. We’re now entering what I call “The Construction Zone” for your business. It’s a great time to buckle down, turn your focus inward and start applying some foresight to your finances.

The best way to do this is by coming up with some useful “what-if” scenarios for planning. Excel is great for this, by the way. You can put in the numbers you currently have in each part of your business, and then create projections based on potential scenarios: for instance, what would X section of your business look like if you received some federal aid? And so on, until there’s very little you could end up being less-than-prepared for. After all, you’ve probably got the time and the space to do this work at the moment.

When it comes down to it, what we’re working towards is what we have always kept at our core. We are about building better systems, more profits, higher accountability, a more perfect client or customer experience. The virus hasn’t changed that. And a big part of building all these wonderful, healthy things is figuring out what’s missing in your business – and your business recovery plan.

Maybe it’s really strong problem-solving skills or an analytical lens. Or maybe it’s solid financial leadership, people around you who care about your business and recognize the ways that good finances support your organization and its goals. After all, the best cornerstone for any company is a focus on data-driven decision-making. And if your current structure doesn’t support that approach, well, garbage in, garbage out.

If you consistently have hazy or inaccurate financial reports coming in, a lack of transparency or just bad communication, you won’t be able to produce the results that you and your business are capable of producing. For that, you’re going to need a teammate.

I mentioned that we’re all isolated right now. However, that does not mean that you can’t get the help you need to make sure you’re primed and ready to seize whatever aspect of the upcoming economic surge that you need to, whether that’s buying out your competitors or some other goal.

The fact is you just can’t see absolutely everything in your business. You’re on the inside, and because you have a few areas you’re well-versed in, it’s incredibly easy to miss your own blind spots. You need an outside perspective with plenty of financial management expertise to share. And that’s why TurboExecs exists. A great CFO can be a lifesaver for your company, and we bring years of knowledge, experience and insight to the table that you normally wouldn’t be able to access if you hired one full-time person.

Our goal is to put you back in control of both your present and your future so that you can move forward and grow with confidence, executing your business recovery plan well knowing that you understand the story behind your numbers and are armed with a strategic plan and an arsenal of tools.

So, after the pandemic has passed, who’s going to help you write your comeback story? Let’s talk.