Scientific Dictatorship

[thefooloftheyear]

Just now, Ellener said:

Is your business struggling/badly affected?

 

I'm off like a lot of others, but I can survive this because a segment of my business is pretty specialized and I had a waiting list of clients that haven't canceled any jobs...One good thing is that it will give me a chance to get caught up...I am happy for that, the only problem I have is some of the support/subs are experiencing slowdowns and shutdowns so I have a hard time making hay......One break I got was my highest paid guy decided to take some time off until this gets somewhat under control...He has some risk issues..Plus I have a relatively small nut. both personally and professionally..

But if this drags on to the point where the backlog gets caught up, then I will be faced with the tough decision, on what to do....I cant help but think a lot of businesses without the luxury of a backlog, happen to be in that position right now...Tough deal for sure..and nothing any of us have any past experience with to use as a comparison...

TFY

[Ellener]

1 hour ago, thefooloftheyear said:

I'm off like a lot of others, but I can survive this because a segment of my business is pretty specialized and I had a waiting list of clients that haven't canceled any jobs...One good thing is that it will give me a chance to get caught up...I am happy for that, the only problem I have is some of the support/subs are experiencing slowdowns and shutdowns so I have a hard time making hay......One break I got was my highest paid guy decided to take some time off until this gets somewhat under control...He has some risk issues..Plus I have a relatively small nut. both personally and professionally..

But if this drags on to the point where the backlog gets caught up, then I will be faced with the tough decision, on what to do....I cant help but think a lot of businesses without the luxury of a backlog, happen to be in that position right now...Tough deal for sure..and nothing any of us have any past experience with to use as a comparison...

TFY

Good.

What does that mean 'I have a relatively small nut. both personally and professionally..'?

I'm a contractor so zero work/income for me right now, but it will go crazy busy once the nursing homes re-open and people are asking for me. My side-gig boss also called and offered me work there when she re-opens. I haven't even claimed benefits yet, was hoping to go online with some of my work.

I'm still technically homeless so the timing is a pain, and renting from friends has been an eye-opener to say the least, but I'm pretty resilient. 

Houston is too, no one's ever been through a global disaster on this scale but we are pretty robust here at coping with disasters locally.

 

[carhill]

Nut = debt

Imagine being a non-essential business with typical payroll, payables and receivables and all of a sudden everything stops. One good reason to stay on top of receivables, that 60+ day stuff will turn into uncollectable for sure at times like this. Back when I was playing the game it was typical to run 50-75% of gross out 30 and half that out 60, wasn't a problem as long as things kept going. Typical doors open was 30-35% of monthly gross. One regulatory inspection (the science thing) could destroy that. When doors open exceeds the difference between net 30 receivables and gross sales and everything stops, life gets hard fast. Then the owner decides do they want to leverage doors open with capital or borrowing, further reducing the margins. That presumes they've capitalized the business with a liquid reserve and/or have an established credit line. It's easy to bankrupt oneself if nothing is coming in and one floats the necessary means to pay creditors and employees. It happens fast. Some businesses insure for such interruptions due to force majuere events. Then they need to use their attorney retainer to fight with the insurance company over the fine print. Bla, bla.