Small Business Resources During COVID-19

Small Business Resources During COVID-19

We know so many of you have been affected by this pandemic- that’s why we have been working to keep you educated and informed. You can follow Forge on Eventbrite to see future webinars and events. We will continually update this post with helpful links and recordings.

 

BhamStrong

BhamStrong is a coalition of public, private and civic leaders and organizations collaborating to serve as Birmingham’s COVID-19 Information and Resource Center. BhamStrong provides a single source of truth about how COVID-19 is affecting our community. And they collect real-time data from community members to ensure they design effective relief programs and recommend the right resources to support you.

 

 

Pandemic Survival Tips for Small Businesses & Entrepreneurs

 

 

Small businesses are working to adjust to quickly changing world. Watch the webinar recording and learn from Jacqui Jones, CEO of One Degree Marketing, as she shared some tips for surviving this time in business.

 

COVID-19 SBA Loans & Tax Relief 

 

 

Adam West of Warren Averett shared important information about the SBA Loans and how they will impact small business owners. There are several options right now for business owners, but figuring out which option is the best for your business can be tricky. The webinar is recorded for you!

 

Navigating the Next 3 Months of Business

 

 

“The world feels upside-down right now! What should we be doing right now to manage the next few months of uncertainty?” This is something we’ve heard from small business owners across the board over the last few weeks. For those struggling with how to manage the short term challenges, we talked tactics, strategy and decisive action. Huge thanks to Sean Eikerman of Cultivate Advisors for leading this webinar.

 

Legal Protections in a Pandemic

 

 

Gatehouse Law’s main goal has always been to tell you “Why” in an “It Depends” world. Right now, with all of the unrest and confusion facing us concerning COVID-19, Gatehouse is here to provide guidance to help you protect your business and make informed decisions as you work to respond in these uncertain times. Josh Andrews at Gatehouse Law has continually supported and educated the small business community in Birmingham. You can view the recorded webinar here.

 

 

 

Working From Home Without Losing Your Sanity

Working From Home Without Losing Your Sanity

 

At Forge, we know working from home is hard! At first, working from home may seem like a dream come true. But then the distractions of home bombard you- not to mention it’s lonely. That’s exactly why we’ve started Tuesday/Thursday Virtual Happy Hours for Forge members which you can see above! And it may start to feel like your work day never truly ends. With most Forge members now working from home during the pandemic, we asked for their advice on how to be most productive.

 

 

Matt’s Tip:

“Uhhh… DONT work from home. My productivity is near zero right now. So many distractions!”

 

We know a lot of you are forced to work at home right now because of COVID-19 – we just thought Matt’s immediate response was pretty funny! Now let’s get on to the real advice…

 

Donna’s Tips:

 

1) Security should be your first consideration. Make certain that you have secured your router with a password, keep your virus protect programs up-to-date. Do not work on an unsecure Wi-Fi network.

2) Carve out a dedicated workspace, preferably with a window and an ergonomic chair, at minimum.

3) Cloud storage for remotely accessing your files. Download the app versions of your productivity programs, which should include a document scanner.

4) Stay in face-to-face contact with customers using tools such as Zoom.

 

 

Alex’s Tips:

 

1. I’m sure this one has been said 100 times, but creating a routine is huge. My wife has created a daily schedule for the kids and I have my morning and evening routine too. Equally important to that routine is to be flexible if you have to stray from it. For example, I wake up with our toddler between 6:30-7 when he comes in our room, make him breakfast, get an Audible story going, eat my breakfast, shower, and get my day started by 9.
2. Determine the times you will be looking at your emails/computer and times you will not. After a certain time I will periodically see emails come across my phone, but I am not reading them or responding to them once I am spending 1-2 hours with the kids before they go to bed. Additionally, don’t let the chores that need to get done around the house distract you or cause you anxiety. When you get out of deep work to just quickly do some laundry you will find it hard to jump back into what you were working on.
3. Definitely have a separate “office” that is ideally not your couch and has most of the things you will need and is somewhat removed from kids/animals if they are going to be distracting.
4. Have your work playlist that works for you. Because I am a highly sensitive person, I find it very distracting to have background music where someone is singing/talking, so I generally have a jazz station as background music.

Autumn’s Tips:

 

Big things for me are to manage my expectations – this is not business as usual so have grace with myself and others. But also work can still get done – so do what works for you (setting goals, setting timers, keeping a to-do list)
  • I moved my to do list to my kitchen chalkboard so that it follows me when I’m tempted by other things.
  • Schedule more meetings and make more of an effort to call people because you can’t stumble upon anyone.

 

 

Jeff’s Tip:

 

The first thing that popped into my mind was having a headset for all the Zoom calls. On calls with people who aren’t used to doing videoconferences, I’m noticing that there’s a certain “etiquette” that “newbies” aren’t used to (muting when not talking being the main thing) and – using a headset (as opposed to computer’s built-in mic and speakers) helps with that.

 

 

Jami’s Tips:

 

  1. Try to give yourself specific ‘office hours’. It’s easy to keep the laptop open and find yourself working 18 hour days, putting you at risk for exhaustion and burnout. I like to use a pomodoro timer to help me focus on specific tasks and give myself enough brakes to remain mentally sharp
  2. Keep a sense of humor. Dogs are going to cry, kids are going to barge in, technology will be overwhelmed and break. Right now, we’re all in this together and laughing together is really critical to keeping us all sane
  3. Find ways to socialize and have fun with your teams. I’ve had a blast attending virtual happy hours where we play online games, I’ve hosted Netflix Parties where we all watch and chat through an episode of Tiger King (drinking is suggested!)–find ways to keep everyone connected and having fun. One of my favorite activities was asking everyone to go around and spend 20 seconds ‘selling’ everyone else on the call on why their drink was the best one.
  4. Set aside time each day to get away from technology. Whether you’re reading a book, taking a walk, journaling–screen fatigue is real

 

So what are your productivity recommendations when working from home? Comment and tell us!

Staying Loyal to Bham Small Businesses in Quarantine

Staying Loyal to Bham Small Businesses in Quarantine

At Forge we understand that now more than ever is a time when we need to lean on our Birmingham community for support and encouragement. How can we continue to support small businesses in Birmingham during this pandemic? Thankfully there are so many ways to show your love to a local business even when you’re quarantined. Please let us know how we can best support you by emailing us at info@workatforge.com.

 

Bham Now is offering FREE local business listings that include information on: how to order online (or via phone), virtual classes, curbside pickup, special offers. And we recently partnered with several local businesses for our International Women’s Day Celebration so we asked them how we can support them right now. Read on to see what you can do to help the small businesses around Birmingham.

 

Till

“The best way that people can support us is by shopping weekly to support our farmers during this time staying in. Our cart is open to shop Alabama proteins, produce, and pantry items Sunday-Wednesday and we deliver every Saturday! Our farmers are still growing nutritious foods and need the community’s support. Our simple and convenient solution is all at usetill.com.”

 

JuicedUp Essentials

“As the Pizitz Food Hall is closed, right now we are offering online gift cards that can be purchase now and used at a later time. Supporting us through purchasing gift cards would be awesome for us.”

 

Nourish

 

“We are in a great position as a meal delivery company to be able to serve so many that are home bound and not able to go to the grocery store and make food. We are continuing our subscription meal delivery on Sundays and have opened up a curbside pick up for 1 time orders at our facility as well (no contact) – email info@nourishmeals.com.”

 

Blueroot

 

“We’ve launched an option to order kitchen essentials – like proteins, grains, vegetables, dressings, and snacks – online for contact-free pick up. We’re partnering with Stone Hollow to provide access to fresh, local produce for those who want to purchase. We’ve teamed up with the Mayor’s office, Shipt, United Way, Pepper Place, PAC health, UAB, and so many others on Bham Strong >> through this public/private coalition, we’re preparing food to be delivered to our neighbors in need, identifying employment opportunities for those in our industry who are out of work, and providing tele-health support to communities in need (e.g. elderly).”

 

Botanica

 

“Help us get the word out that we launched our online site for people to buy plants and pots online would be super helpful! We’re also offering free curbside pick up and $5 local delivery in addition to USPS priority shipping.”

 

 

Ashley Macs

“We are open at Homewood, Cahaba Heights, Inverness and Riverchase from 10:30am-6:00pm. We have an abbreviated cafe menu   for take-out or curbside and ‘gourmet to go’ available for store or curbside pickup. Home delivery is also available! Follow us on Instagram for details and updates.”

 

 

True40

We started daily online (FREE) workouts today through our website: www.true40studio.com. There is an optional donation. We are also encouraging people to purchase a gift card or retail. To do so, they can reach out on Instagram (@true40downtownbham) OR they can email downtownbham@true40studio.com.

 

Susan Gordon Pottery

“This Friday, we will have a new kind of restock in addition to our usual restock: a ‘Ready to Ship’ section will be added to our website – this will feature items already created by my team and are ready to ship in a few business days! Most of these items can even still be personalized! A local pick up option is also available, just use code localpickup. We will have instructions sent to you via email on how to do our ‘curbside pottery pickup.'”

Cookie Fix

“It is our desire to accommodate our customers, and protect our team and others. The world needs a cookie and a hug right now, at least we can still provide a cookie! Open from 11 am- 4 pm daily. Baked and frozen dough to go is available! Online orders only at https://direct.chownow.com/order/13291/locations/18622  – Call us when you arrive to pick up your order, and we will meet you at the door. We will evaluate and make changes as this situation evolves. E-Gift cards can be purchased at https://cookiefix.instagift.com/

 

A Letter In Response to COVID-19 From Founder Kim Lee

A Letter In Response to COVID-19 From Founder Kim Lee

As the COVID-19 outbreak continues to spread and impact the lives of people here in Birmingham, we remain committed to serving our Forge members and their businesses.  In order to do so in the most responsible way, we have made some changes to ensure a safe environment for our members to conduct business.  

To minimize cross contamination, we are temporarily closing our kitchen and ask that all members refrain from using the kitchen, Forge mugs, dishes, silverware, serving utensils, refrigerator and microwave.  We suggest that Forge members bring their own water bottles or mugs. We are no longer serving coffee, using our normal water dispensers or providing communal snacks.  We ask that our members minimize the use of paper goods as they may be difficult to replace over the next few weeks.   

As a staff we will regularly clean work surfaces.  We will be following the CDC prescribed bleach cleaning solution on all work surfaces, chair backs, door handles and light switches.  The Forge staff will wear single use disposable gloves while cleaning.  

In order to promote social distancing, we are removing some of the chairs in our open work areas.  We also encourage all meeting room bookings to adhere to suggested room capacity.

We ask that anyone who has traveled to a highly infected area or is experiencing (or has come in contact with a person who is experiencing) possible symptoms of COVID-19 to follow the CDC suggested two week self-quarantine- the CDC’s Travel Guidelines.

As recommended by the CDC, please wash your hands regularly and avoid touching your face. Your personal hygiene and recognition and action regarding symptoms not only impacts you but also those around you.

Thank you for your patience and understanding during this time.  We know that small businesses will be impacted during this outbreak, but we are taking every measure to help our members conduct business as usual.

Sincerely,

Kim Lee

Founder and CEO

Celebrating Birmingham Women

Celebrating Birmingham Women

We’ve been daydreaming about all the fun we had at our International Women’s Day Celebration on March 6 at Forge. Mimosas, coffee, breakfast, door prizes, networking and goodie bags all made for a fun event! Forge member Kelsey Weeks documented the party- so all the photo credit goes to her.

 

 

 

 

 

Our panel consisted of:

Kitty Brown of White Arnold & Dowd, Dr. Adrienne Starks of STREAM Innovations and Kerry Schrader of Mixtroz.

Kitty is an attorney, mom of two and very involved in the Birmingham community through YWCA and Junior League.

Kerry is the CEO and Co-founder of Mixtroz, a business networking company that increases engagement and collects data. Kerry and her daughter closed a $1M round of funding, making them the 37th and 38th black females to ever close a $1M+ round of funding.

Adrienne is the Founder and CEO of STREAM Innovations who equips students from under-valued and under-served communities to explore and develop their passion for Science, Technology, Reading, Engineering, Arts, and Mathematics (STREAM).

 

 

 

Our panelists shared stories of their career journey and the surprising twists they encountered along the way. Kim Lee, our panel moderator, also asked what our panelists think about the culture of women in business in Birmingham. Ashlee of Mixtroz shared a story of meeting with an investor who disrespected her and dismissed her in their initial meeting. After Ashlee was able to have an honest conversation with him, they are actually friends now! The investor apologized for mistreating her and grew from the mistake.

 

The transition from employee to entrepreneur was also a topic of conversation- along with how to balance being a full time working mom with young kids. We hope our panel inspired and encouraged fellow women from Birmingham! We loved celebrating the many achievements of women in our city and learning how we can support one another.

 

 

The first 100 attendees received goodie bags filled with items and coupons from women owned businesses around Birmingham. A huge thank you to all of the businesses who donated goodies and coupons for the attendee bags! Check them out below!

 

 

We ended the IWD event with a Mixtroz mixer! Attendees downloaded the Mixtroz app and answered a short questionnaire then everyone was divided into groups and provided prompts to get to know each other. People loved this portion of the event and were able to make new connections and friends through Mixtroz.

 

We are so thankful for our sponsors who made this event possible: Ashley Mac’s, Hightower Somerset Advisory, Gatehouse Law, Chase and Nourish Foods.

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