![\"\"](\"https:\/\/biznews.fiu.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/fiu-mbaf-panel.jpg\")
<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Survival: will I make it? A new venture: should I go for it?<\/p>\n
The answers are still unknown for many business owners and entrepreneurs impacted by the economic crisis and the continued uncertainty brought on by the COVID-19 outbreak. A group of South Florida women business leaders examined these challenges during a panel presented by accounting firm Morrison, Brown, Argiz & Farra (MBAF) July 23.<\/p>\n
The panelists, whose expertise includes academia, public relations, publishing and restaurant ownership, discussed how entrepreneurs can develop the skill sets necessary to move forward, survive and, ultimately, thrive.<\/p>\n
\u201cMost important is the skill to succeed with unknowns and to accept a high level of uncertainty,\u201d said Joanne Li, dean of the College of Business at Florida International University (FIU Business). \u201cIt\u2019s up to the candidate to determine if they have the responsibility \u2013 to ask themselves, \u2018If I have to wear multiple hats, do I have the will to do that?\u2019 \u2013 and the resilience to succeed.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cConversations with Leaders Changing the Face of Business\u201d was part of an annual event hosted by MBAF\u2019s Women\u2019s Network, which provides professional development and mentorship opportunities to the firm\u2019s female employees. The presentation\u2019s other participants were:<\/p>\n
South Florida startups and established businesses alike have been forced to terminate or furlough staff, close their doors for extended periods and reinvent their formats to cut expenses and raise revenue.<\/p>\n
\u201cAt this time when we\u2019re struggling to survive, hoping to come out on the other side, you\u2019re trying to please customers,\u201d said Adrianne Calvo, chef and owner of three restaurants in South Florida. \u201cYou have to find the pride and motivation within you to keep going, to continue to put out the best of you, to stay in business.\u201d<\/p>\n
The plan: scrutinize, communicate, and act. <\/em><\/p>\n \u201cNow is the time to put the house in order, examine your working capital, and put a microscope on your finances,\u201d said Li. \u201cYou have to have an acute sense of allocating resources in the most efficient and practical way, to be more disciplined in scrutinizing every single dollar you\u2019re going to spend.\u201d<\/p>\n Barney noted that taking action, increasing communication and hunting for business are imperative. \u201cYou can\u2019t sit waiting for this to end to take your next proactive step.\u201d<\/p>\n Despite the economic crisis brought on by COVID-19, the experts believe some entrepreneurs will see opportunities, and those thinking of changing paths will act.<\/p>\n \u201cIt will further put the winds beneath the wings of creativity,\u201d said Johanna Mikkola, CEO of Wyncode Academy, a web development training firm. \u201cRaising capital may be a little more challenging and they will face financial difficulties, but we\u2019ll see some great things emerge from this situation.\u201d<\/p>\n The panelists agreed that the COVID-19 pandemic will produce opportunities for growth, but business owners and entrepreneurs will have to seize them.<\/p>\n \u201cYou have to be resilient and fight for what you want,\u201d said Melanie Dickinson, publisher of the South Florida Business Journal<\/em>. \u201cThis is going to be a while, so it\u2019s really important to have a can-do attitude and maintain the ability to adapt and to innovate.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Survival: will I make it? A new venture: should I go for it? The answers are still unknown for many business owners and entrepreneurs impacted by the economic crisis and the continued uncertainty brought on by the COVID-19 outbreak. A group of South Florida women business leaders examined these challenges during a panel presented by […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":67,"featured_media":34645,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[3,4611],"tags":[4147,4641,4639],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/biznews.fiu.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34637"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/biznews.fiu.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/biznews.fiu.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/biznews.fiu.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/67"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/biznews.fiu.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=34637"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/biznews.fiu.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34637\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":34641,"href":"https:\/\/biznews.fiu.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34637\/revisions\/34641"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/biznews.fiu.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/34645"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/biznews.fiu.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=34637"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/biznews.fiu.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=34637"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/biznews.fiu.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=34637"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}