BUSINESS COMMENT
Coast River Business Journal
grow, and thrive... and when we were hit with
the economic fallout from covid-19, the Clatsop
SBDC stepped up as the regional leader for our
local business community. Through webinars and
online interaction, they helped many businesses
(including my own) take a critical look at our
operations. This allowed small business owners
to make informed and effective decisions in
response to the rapidly shifting marketplace. They
are a tremendous asset to our region, and one that
I will proudly partner with for years to come. The
Clatsop SBDC was impressively dedicated to
not only educating small businesses about SBA
lending options, but also educating businesses in
using those funds to the best of their ability and
setting up our operations for long-term success.
Much like the proverb “You can give a person a
fish and they will eat for a day, or you can teach a
person to fish and they will never go hungry,”
the staff and advisors at the Clatsop SBDC are
dedicated to teaching local businesses how to
succeed. With their continued dedication and
investment in our community I truly believe that
North Coast small businesses will never have to
“go hungry” again.”
To contact the Clatsop SBDC for a free and
confidential appointment (currently through
ZOOM) email sbdc@clatsopcc.edu, call 503-338-
2402, or check out the SBDC website at bizcenter.
org /Clatsop to request a meeting or sign up for
the upcoming Business Boot camp series kicking
off in mid-July: FREE!
• Business News Updates • e-edition
CoastRiverBusinessJournal.com
July 2020 • 13
If you can measure it, you can change it
bookkeeper or an advisor at the Clatsop SBDC.
This will be hands down the most pivotal step
you can take to ensure your business will be
around for the future.
By Jessica Newhall
Clatsop Community College
Small Business Development Center
Business, by design, is full of uncertainty.
Markets are unpredictable, consumer tastes are
ever evolving, and new competition is always
on the horizon. Reflecting recently upon the
challenges business owners are facing as they
ride the waves of this pandemic, the concept of
using data to build confidence came to mind and
I was taken back to a mantra I learned from my
grandfather many years ago.
Grandfather Timmer was a pragmatic, practical
man born in Chicago to first-generation Dutch
and Scottish immigrants. His formative years
were during the heart of the Great Depression,
where every household penny was accounted for.
Following his time in the Army during World
War II, he had a successful career as an engineer
and rose to be president of an industrial parts
company. In retirement he was always creating
new things including designing and installing his
own solar powered pool heater (in the 70s!) and
programming computers. He was an avid golfer,
relished playing cards and actively traded in the
stock market. When I once asked my grandfather
what he attributed his life’s success to, he shared
his mantra with me: “if you can measure it, you
can change it.”
Peter Drucker, the renowned business
management expert with 39 books under his pen,
said something similar: “If you can’t measure it,
you can’t improve it.”
When looked at through the lens of small
business, what both my grandfather and Mr.
Drucker were suggesting was that by constantly
monitoring key performance metrics, you can gain
control of the uncertain and more adeptly design
and implement plans to improve your chance at
achieving your goals, whether they be long term
or short.
For small business owners, luckily there are
some well-established, straightforward methods
for evaluating business performance, starting with
2. Get personally invested.
Make performance measurement meaningful
to you. Ask yourself what you want: More take-
home income? Fewer hours devoted working
in the business? A vacation? Want to grow the
value of your business for retirement? Of course,
in times of extreme challenge, you may be just
looking for confidence you can make it through
the next 30-60-90 days.
Jessica Newhall
understanding your company’s financial position.
It is not always an easy process to gather
and assemble the information or comfortable
experience to do the initial analysis (kind of like
stepping on the scale after the holidays!). Yet, once
you have it together and can gain some confidence
in the process (and let go of the self-judgment!)
there can be a “light-bulb” moment of clarity
where you can see where you are and can begin
to develop plans of action with more confidence.
Whether you are a business owner new to this
process, or simply need a refresher, here are three
steps you can take to gain a bit more control and
confidence in your decision-making right now:
1. Get your financial statements together.
Ideally, you will have a profit & loss, balance
sheet, and cash-flow statement — but if your
books are not up to date you may want to start
with a simple 12-month cash-flow forecast. Do
not know how to read your financials or build
a forecast? Ask for help from a knowledgeable
3. Identify what you need to do to get there.
Are you charging enough for your products?
Can you trim the costs to produce your products?
Are your gross profits high enough to support
an employee to help you? Do you need to trim
expenses to take more income home? Do you
need to do more marketing to sell more products
or services? Do you need to launch a new product
or service to generate new streams of income?
Once you understand where you are, where
you want to be and how you will get there — all
with a solid foundation of data behind you, you
will be able to more confidently move forward.
As Eleanor Roosevelt once said, “It takes as much
energy to wish as it does to plan.” Grandfather
Timmer would have certainly agreed, with an
added emphasis to measure your progress along
the way!
If you want to learn more about how to read your
small business financials, consider registering for
the Clatsop SBDC’s free Virtual Summer Small
Business Bootcamp, offered live and on-demand.
For more information visit www.bizcenter.org/
Clatsop.
Jessica Newhall is the associate director and
Small Business Management program manager
for the Clatsop Community College Small
Business Development Center. She can be reached
at jnewhall@clatsopcc.edu.
CONSULT A PROFESSIONAL
Q: My young apple tree is really loaded with
fruit this year. Will they all mature?
A: A very timely question! If the entire crop
is allowed to mature, the apples will all be
small. The solution is to thin the group to
the biggest apple. Timing is important to
get the remaining apples to a good eating
size. Generally, mid to late July is when
thinning will do the most good. If you
don’t get to it they will still taste good; it
just takes a few of them to make a decent
snack! To protect your harvest from birds,
we offer netting and flash tape.
34963 Hwy 101 Bus. • Astoria
503-325-1562
Brim’s Farm & Garden
www.brimsfarmngarden.com
Call me for your Bookkeeping, Organizing,
Event Planning, and Management needs!
Luey Anderson
360-777-0074
Practical Accounting and Creative Business Solutions
Serving Pacific County, Washington State