Whether it’s supply chain shortage, employee retention or planning for the unexpected, the disruptions first seen during the COVID-19 pandemic haven’t quite subsided in the small business community.
Few are more acutely aware of this than Anna Plut.
A business advisor with BlueShore Financial, Plut is always tapped into market trends, with a constant focus on economic shifts and a keen foresight that helps her clients plan for what’s coming in the months ahead.
“My bread and butter is being able to find outside-the-box solutions for my clients,” Plut says.
Plut is part of a BlueShore team that offers tailored and personalized financial advice to its clients, working alongside advisory teams that work collaboratively to put together the best plan for the individual or business.
Plut works to mitigate the risks and pain points small businesses have experienced during the economic fluctuations since COVID-19 and into the remainder of 2024.
Here’s how she does it.
Innovate, imagine, inquire
Business owners need to be creative, flexible and solution-oriented to deal with cash flow management in today’s economic conditions, particularly with the challenges of supply chain shortages and employee hiring and retention.
“With respect to supply shortages, I always say that my clients need to be their supplier’s best client – they need to pay on time, or even pay early,” Plut says.
Plut helps bring a client’s top attributes to the fore – to emphasize what that business does naturally and how to best differentiate it from the competition.
And through her ties with post-secondary institutions and local boards of trade, Plut can recommend grants and government programs designed to link businesses with new graduates, new Canadians or those new to the workforce entirely.
“A good salary alone is not enough to retain staff anymore,” Plut adds. “You have to offer perks – subsidize an employee’s gas or offer more vacation time – and really listen to your staff.”
Eyes on tomorrow
Retirement, succession planning, downsizing, or even gradually leaving the workforce – all of it requires meticulous planning that Plut specializes in.
Perhaps a business owner is deeply attached to her firm and is wrestling with handing it to someone else. In that case, Plut examines fragmentation – perhaps only the service, or the product facet of the business, gets sold.
Plut's foresight helps clients forecast and plan for potential future market conditions. She assists business owners with everything from valuations and transition plans for a business owner passing away, to monitoring zoning and land use decisions and advising on real estate investment portfolios.
Protect what’s yours
In an age where forests burn, rivers flood, and huge chunks of cities are re-developed, the need to constantly re-evaluate insurance options is ever present.
Plut goes over historic trends and future projections when advising clients: are you moving to a floodplain or near a wildfire hotspot? Or let’s say you’re three years away from retirement, though your business is seeing disruptions now due to infrastructure projects – in this case, perhaps retiring today is ideal.
“I always have a lot of discussions with my clients, not only about what’s happening in the present, but also what may be ahead, so we can really focus on what the vision for that future is,” Plut says.
To learn more about how BlueShore Financial can help set up your business for success, visit BlueShoreFinancial.com.
