YouSaid · the spoken record

Sahi Pompeii

lines on the record: 28
first: 2020-05-13
most recent: 2020-05-13
sittings or episodes: 1
sources: podcast

Every line below is reproduced as it was said and linked to the record it came from. Nothing here is summarised or generated. Directory · Search · Corrections

“On Monday morning, communication with our team and our team has pulled together in an incredible way, knowing that some people have been furloughed, you know, but they're aligned in terms of what Dana said, we're landing here together, and it's going to be a good place. And thirdly, we have shareholders in our company, you know, equity shareholders and communicating out to them that we're protecting the business and we're going to get somewhere, that we have a way to navigate through this and a plan. It's all about communication and about maintaining culture for us.”
2020-05-13 · Goldman Sachs Exchanges · How Are Small Businesses Surviving? · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Yeah, I mean, so for us, and I agree with everything that was said, but for us, it's sort of interesting because we're operating still, but kind of at half mast and I'm operating, as I said, kind of with limited time. So this has become almost like it's been incredibly important for me to understand my role as a leader almost more than any other role that I normally play in my company because normally I'm kind of a jack of all trades. I do a little bit of this, a little bit of that. But right now, what I need to be is a leader, and that's what I have time to be. And what that's kind of boiled down to us is three things. Team culture and communication. And so I'm right now prioritizing three things as leader within my company, communicating with my co-founder. We have co-founder Breakfast typically once a week every Monday, and we're keeping those. So every, I'm on a Zoom call with Maria every week.”
2020-05-13 · Goldman Sachs Exchanges · How Are Small Businesses Surviving? · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Leadership to Usakanis means that we're staying in touch with our team members. We're checking in. We're having Zoom calls. We're asking them how they're doing, not just on a professional level, but also on a personal level. The leadership also means to me personally, I'm not going to answer every single question they may have correctly, you know, but I'm going to give them the best answer I have at the time with the information that I'm currently working with. And our team members respect it. They know when they come to myself or my co-founder, my brother, they're going to get the best information we have at the time and we're going to help them through any situation they're with. So I would say just taking the leadership role and not feeling like we have to have the right answer, but making sure we're communicating any information we have to them in real time.”
2020-05-13 · Goldman Sachs Exchanges · How Are Small Businesses Surviving? · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Get to work and you lead your team by acknowledging what we've been through, where we are now, and you tell them this is where we're going. This is your captive speaking. We're going to land in that ridge over there. Everybody takes some deep breaths, right? That's it.”
2020-05-13 · Goldman Sachs Exchanges · How Are Small Businesses Surviving? · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“I've applied to over 14 grants and three loans and a partridge in a pear tree, right? And so I don't, you know, people, oh my God, I'm so bored and oh my goodness, I can't watch another movie. What movie as a leader of your team in crisis, you have work to do. You have to steady the ship. I mean, you know, we're with business owners, there's four tenants, right? It is what it is, right? With COVID-19, it is what it is, right? Second thing is we have to deal with it. Most of us business owners operate with a good and noble purpose. We're not trying to get over on people. We're not trying to take or hurt the community. We're trying to provide a service or a product that helps. And lastly, get out of my way, right? Like get out of my way. Put my S on my chest, put my cape on and.”
2020-05-13 · Goldman Sachs Exchanges · How Are Small Businesses Surviving? · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Yes, so what I've learned is, and I'll speak in an analogy, as a leader of a team, we don't have the luxury to panic. So if the plane is going down and the people are screaming in the background, oh my gosh, right, you have to guide the ship, the plane, to a safe place, right? And so for me, it's been a matter of remembering that I am an entrepreneur. And so I have to make sure that with all that's going on, yes, my team is afraid. Yes, I am afraid, but I don't have time to cry. I need to, but I don't have time. I need to get my people paid, get my people protected and get my guest safe. And so in order to do that, I need to work. And in order to work, I have to stay up. I have to be on webinars. I have to be on phone calls.”
2020-05-13 · Goldman Sachs Exchanges · How Are Small Businesses Surviving? · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Very similar to Jenny said. Our big thing is focusing on keeping our connection to the community. So far we've done things like every single package that we can we write on. We write little nice words or messages so that when our customer actually gets the box of food, it kind of brightens their day. It kind of keeps the community connection alive. Another thing we've done is we've given out free face masks to the community. No purchase necessary. Just come by and get a face mask. Just one of many ways we're trying to remain in touch with our community. This morning we're actually giving away donations to a local hospital to keep that community connection. And on the flip side, customers have really given us back that energy. They've gone online, as Jenny said, and left nice messages, sent us messages on Instagram. It's just been overwhelming.”
2020-05-13 · Goldman Sachs Exchanges · How Are Small Businesses Surviving? · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“The end of a tough day, tough moment, tough homeschooling, which is kind of what we're doing. And so what we've done is like through Instagram, we've said, hey, any essential workers, whether you're a doctor, nurse, CVS worker, Whole Foods checkout person, like reach out to us and let us know if we can send you a care package. And we have a whole department of nurses at Columbia Presbyterian in New York whose favorite flavor is our green flavor, which is like white tea watermelon. We've also been sending packages to people at CVS, RightAid, and it's like it's amazing for us. We get responses, which is which we're kind of like, this was like, this lit up my day. This made my team happy. And so, you know, we have very little to give monetarily, but sort of sending these happy making packages or moments has been really meaningful for us as a company. So that's what we're doing in terms of sort of giving back to our.”
2020-05-13 · Goldman Sachs Exchanges · How Are Small Businesses Surviving? · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“This country fed are the people in grocery stores and the people in CVS. I mean, that is literally, and that's actually one of the only functional parts of this economy right now, which is like incredible. My family is fed because the grocery store is open. I mean, since I'm not able to go to restaurants. And so, you know, we're a small business. We don't have gobs of money when we're preserving any money. We have right now. But one thing we've wanted to do to get back to our community is we've created and also by the way Americans are drinking a little bit more now.”
2020-05-13 · Goldman Sachs Exchanges · How Are Small Businesses Surviving? · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Kind of again, because our product is It's a consumer product. Our community is kind of Like the community of grocery, the community of conventional grocery or specialty grocery. And what's been talking about systemic issues as we've been talking about before, of course, like I applaud like the doctors and nurses that are out the front line, but the people that are keeping this”
2020-05-13 · Goldman Sachs Exchanges · How Are Small Businesses Surviving? · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Want me to tell you what my grandfather was doing when your grandfather had the opportunity to lay railroad to the west? And so that's why it's important for organizations like the 10KSB program at Goldman Sachs because it gives us the network. It gives us the opportunity to say, you know what, I may not have that relationship with Bank A that just gave out $100 million to 10 businesses. But I have a relationship with a bank that could partner with another smaller bank that can help me. So I think the issue. Is just systemic and has been, it's just a part of the long term issue that affects minority businesses, the access to the network and the access to resources, like Hari said.”
2020-05-13 · Goldman Sachs Exchanges · How Are Small Businesses Surviving? · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“What is that right? And so I think that is a part of the problem. I think my issue, again, is I was too small for my bank. My bank will court me, oh, minority women business. Come on. Come on. And you'll go, oh, yes, yes. And then when the rubber meets the road, I was too small for my bank. So that has me rethinking my business relationship with my bank and looking at banking institutions that can support me through this crisis or just in the operations of my business. I think the other thing that affects minority businesses are our network, right? Which is too our network is not as empowered as other people's network because systemic and generationally, you know, there's a billionaire I met and he, oh, I did it. I did it. No, you didn't. Your grandfather laid railroad to the west.”
2020-05-13 · Goldman Sachs Exchanges · How Are Small Businesses Surviving? · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Yeah, you know, I don't think that the SBA, you know, in their first round of funding went through and said, you know, hey, no black, this black owned, no, no black own. I think. The problem is systemic as are several other Problems that are facing the African American and minority community, right? And so I've spoken similarly to I've spoken to business owners 30 years in business and okay they need your profit.”
2020-05-13 · Goldman Sachs Exchanges · How Are Small Businesses Surviving? · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“So I'll tell you just in talk with peers throughout the industry, it seems to be black-owned businesses in general don't always have the resources that other businesses may have. Specifically, I was speaking with a food truck operator and he was telling me how he already has a problem finding adequate staff. So now when it comes time to apply for the PPP, he goes to his bank and now his bank is kind of in a situation where they're directing him to the website and he's not really getting the handheld interaction that he would like to have. And then he realizes that maybe he can't even apply for the PPP because it's only him and maybe one other team member and they're not necessarily on a structured payroll. So I think that within the black community, that's something that really has hurt us.”
2020-05-13 · Goldman Sachs Exchanges · How Are Small Businesses Surviving? · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Planned just like Jenny, you know, we had plans for this year. You know, specials we wanted to introduce, new products, new tools, new treatments. And that has been put on hold. Now the focus is hair care products and having an online presence. So the parley void experience can not only happen in parly void, but you can have a part of that in your home.”
2020-05-13 · Goldman Sachs Exchanges · How Are Small Businesses Surviving? · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Yeah, and so, you know, that has been outside of the word COVID or coronavirus, the next big word for me has been pivot, right? I think I've said that word like a million times since we've started going through this. And so for Parily Boyd, I had to grow up in order to pivot. Our only revenue stream was servicing guests, walking only seven days a week. But I had to grow up in the fact that I had to start looking at the different ways that I wasn't different things I wasn't utilizing in Parliament, the different revenue streams, such as retail products, such as online sales, YouTube tutorials about how to care for your hair at home, right? So this time has made us all You know, rethink how we're going to interact with our customers. And so for me, it's been a matter of the vision.”
2020-05-13 · Goldman Sachs Exchanges · How Are Small Businesses Surviving? · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Restaurants, it is partnering with delivery services like Drizzly and Minibar. It's figuring out of their direct-to-consumer opportunities that we can identify. And I think that's going to be going on for a long time is sort of the traditional beer spirits industry has been flipped on its head and we're just trying to be as effective as possible in navigating those waters.”
2020-05-13 · Goldman Sachs Exchanges · How Are Small Businesses Surviving? · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Yeah, so we've had to pivot an extraordinary amount and short term and also long term. I mean, so my product, we were just launching a product in Q1 Boozy T, which is a spiked, sparkling tea. Our entire strategy was traditional beverage, right? So field activities, working with restaurants on premise, we were doing 40 happy hours a month in New York City, which is not happening now. So, I mean, sort of both short term and long term, we've had to be like incredibly nimble. I have to say, you know, we've been lucky to have the ability to be nimble because our product is unlike the others on this call. Our product is sold in grocery stores, which is essential. We've been able to operate a kind of half mask. So we've been able to focus on grocery. We've been able to say, okay, it's no longer happy hours, parties, events.”
2020-05-13 · Goldman Sachs Exchanges · How Are Small Businesses Surviving? · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“I think the biggest question that we're wondering is customer demand because we focus on providing food experience. We feel that food service and business in general should not be transactional in a sense where we provide a service and folks provide money and that's it. We feel like we're a part of our community. Well, we know we are a part of our community so that connection means a lot. So our biggest concern is going forward how will the change of society affect our ability to provide our customers with an authentic and true food experience. So that's one thing that really we're really thinking about.”
2020-05-13 · Goldman Sachs Exchanges · How Are Small Businesses Surviving? · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“You're totally right. I'll tell you, I feel like we work 24 hours a day nowadays. The biggest thing I think is keeping us up at Connie's is our team members. And when I say that, I mean the health and safety of our team members because right now COVID is still kind of uncharted territory. I feel like at first, you know, we were wearing gloves, now we're wearing masks. And, you know, I think the transmission is kind of questionable. Some folks just don't know. So us being on the front line serving our customers. One thing that really keeps me up at night is the health and safety of myself and our team members. Are they properly social distancing? Do they have a likelihood of getting COVID themselves? And so our health and safety is probably one of the most paramount issues at this point.”
2020-05-13 · Goldman Sachs Exchanges · How Are Small Businesses Surviving? · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Just I've never felt so guilty about being a parent and being an entrepreneur before. I mean balancing, and I've had to take a hard look at myself as someone who I thought I was very type, you know, I'm type A. I thought I had a really good ability to prioritize in my business and my home life. And this is at a completely new level. And I just really had to learn how to adjust to, okay, I'm going to get three things done today. So what are those three things going to be? And are those the right things for the business and like for my family? So that's been, I don't know, my son got a tick bite in his neck though. A board meeting Keeping me up, I would say.”
2020-05-13 · Goldman Sachs Exchanges · How Are Small Businesses Surviving? · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“So, I mean, of course, business issues are keeping me up at night as well. I think every, I have an hour or two in the middle of the night where the next morning I have a new idea of something that we should do or something strategic. But it's also been, I think so many people who are parents have had just an extraordinarily hard time with this work-life balance thing. pre-COVID, I kind of felt like I had it I had a good handle on that balance and being here with homeschool, which I think everyone, every parent in the US is experiencing homeschool.”
2020-05-13 · Goldman Sachs Exchanges · How Are Small Businesses Surviving? · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Are my staff? Some of them are making more unemployment. So, my concern is, you know, who's coming back? Some of them are scared. I think a lot of us are questioning. I know I did in the beginning, what kept me up at night in the beginning is to open or not to open, to stay open or to close. So now that I'm through that, it's a matter of, well, how are my staff feeling? Are they coming back? Have they had a change of heart and want to pivot in their lives? you know, those are the two things that keep me up. Proper usage and how is my staff.”
2020-05-13 · Goldman Sachs Exchanges · How Are Small Businesses Surviving? · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“What now is keeping me up at night is appropriately using the PPP. The standards are changing hourly. What we're allowed to do, I mean, generally, you know, we can use it for employment. We can use it for utilities and rent. But you also want to make sure you're doing that right, right? And that you're having a financial plan that makes your loans forgivable. I don't think any business owner, when we were struck with COVID-19, this pandemic, that any of us wanted to go into debt or more debt. And so my fear is, you know, we'd be constantly evolving standards around loans that Parilly Boyd will be in more debt. And so I'm wondering, I just want to make sure that it goes towards employees since I can't bring my employees back within 48 or 72 hours of receiving funding. What do I do? The other thing that keeps me up at night are”
2020-05-13 · Goldman Sachs Exchanges · How Are Small Businesses Surviving? · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“So, Connie's chicken and waffles, when COVID 19 hit us, it hit us pretty hard. Of all of our locations, only one is still open at this point. It impacted us mainly because we have to be able to have a customer experience and work one-on-one with our customer. However, now we're in a situation where all of our like 90% of our services delivery, maybe 10% is takeout. So at this point, our biggest focus is on reopening our locations. And we're so thankful for the Goldman Sachs CDC helping us get in the PPP loan. That's going to enable to bring our team members back at the locations that are closed and give them salaries and get them back paid. And we're really excited for it.”
2020-05-13 · Goldman Sachs Exchanges · How Are Small Businesses Surviving? · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Yeah, so Para Lee Boyd is a walk in only hair salon for women with thick and curly hair. And because we're walking only, we've had to shutter our, not just because we're walking only, but because we are a hair salon, we had to shut our doors. So receiving the PPP thanks to Goldman Sachs and the CDC, we've had to shutter, but we can't use it because we have to be able to operate. And with the state guidelines and the executive order, we cannot not service our guests within six feet of each other. So what we're trying to do is just make sure that we'll try to bring some people back for some administrative stuff, but we're really hoping that once the executive order is lifted, we'll be able to service our guests and use that PPP to help get us through that initial couple of pay cycles while we're ramping up business.”
2020-05-13 · Goldman Sachs Exchanges · How Are Small Businesses Surviving? · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“And so Goldman Sachs helping us get PPP funding was like, especially at this moment where we had to furlough people and didn't know what was going to happen like in March was the single best thing that could have happened in terms of being able to maintain employees going forward. We got our PPP funding at the end of April. We're planning on bringing team members back and it just gave us a huge, huge sense of security and has been one of the single most important things that has happened since this scary thing happened to everyone.”
2020-05-13 · Goldman Sachs Exchanges · How Are Small Businesses Surviving? · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“COVID 19 occurred. It sort of Critical moment for us as a business in a negative way. We were actually launching a new product Boozy T in Q1 and had had very successful launches in January and February. And all of a sudden, in the middle of March, as we were planning on launching a few markets, COVID hit. No one could gather. And we just things ended up getting pushed until May, June. Who knows? And what we had to do, we had been beefing up the company for all of this additional distribution was we had to make some really tough choices in terms of furloughing employees. I 100% know that we never would have gotten PPP funding through our bank. I just know based on the”
2020-05-13 · Goldman Sachs Exchanges · How Are Small Businesses Surviving? · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT