The Corporate Transparency Act (CTA) requires businesses to submit Beneficial Ownership Information (BOI) to FinCEN, aiming to increase transparency and prevent financial crimes.

As of today, November 27, 2024, Lake Forest, Illinois, business owners have 35 calendar days (or 25 business days) remaining to file their BOI report with FinCEN—act promptly to avoid fines of $500 per day!

What You Need to Do:

1. Determine if Your Business Must File.

Most LLCs, corporations, and small businesses qualify as "reporting companies." Exceptions include publicly traded and certain regulated entities.

2. Identify Your Beneficial Owners.

Beneficial owners are individuals who have substantial control or 25% or more ownership of your business. For example, a co-owner of a Lake Forest consulting firm with a 30% stake and decision-making power qualifies.

3. Gather the Required Information.

Prepare:

• Your business’s name, address, and EIN.

• Each beneficial owner’s name, address, DOB, and ID details.

4. File Your BOI Report.

Deadlines:

• Existing businesses: 01/01/2025.

• New companies (2024): File within 90 days of formation.

• New companies (2025+): File within 30 days of formation.

ZenBusiness can assist with filing and simplify the process for you.

Key BOI Filing Details:

Who Needs to File?

Most small LLCs, corporations, and similar entities in Lake Forest need to file. Exemptions apply to publicly traded companies and certain regulated businesses. For example, a family-owned Lake Forest bakery must file, but a national retail chain would not.

What Is a Beneficial Owner?

A beneficial owner is anyone who either:

1. Exercises substantial control over the business, OR

2. Owns 25% or more of it.

For example, the 40% stakeholder of a Lake Forest real estate firm actively involved in decision-making is a beneficial owner.

What Information Is Needed?

You’ll need details about your business and beneficial owners, including:

• Business name, address, EIN.

• Owners’ names, addresses, DOBs, and identification information.

How and When to File:

BOI reports must be submitted electronically to FinCEN. Deadlines are:

• Existing businesses: File by 01/01/2025.

• 2024 startups: File within 90 days of formation.

• 2025+ startups: File within 30 days of formation.

Learn how ZenBusiness can streamline your BOI filing today.

Penalties for Non-Compliance:

Failure to file may result in fines up to $500 per day or $10,000 in total, along with potential criminal charges. A 90-day safe harbor allows time to correct errors.

Additional Resources:

• FinCEN BOI FAQ

• ZenBusiness BOI Filing Services

• Corporate Transparency Act: Reporting Requirements for Small LLCs and Corporations

• State Requirements for BOI Filing

Your input makes a difference! Take a few minutes to complete our BOI survey by December 18, 2024, and for every 25 responses, our Chamber will receive a $100 donation. [Take the survey here!] Thank you for supporting our Chamber and sharing your feedback!

*As of December 3, 2024, a Texas federal district court has issued a preliminary injunction for all states to block the CTA and its relevant regulations. However, filing your BOI will help you avoid fines if this injunction is overruled.

Experiencing a surge in growth as a small business owner can feel like catching a wave of exhilaration and chaos all at once. Not only does it open a floodgate of opportunities, but it also brings a myriad of challenges that can test the very fabric of your business. From maintaining your unique company culture to managing increased financial demands, navigating this new terrain requires strategic foresight and adaptability. This article is your guide to transforming these challenges into pillars of strength that will sustain your success for the long haul.

Keeping Your Company Culture Intact 

When your small business experiences rapid growth, preserving your unique company culture becomes essential for maintaining employee morale and productivity. Start by implementing careful hiring practices to ensure new team members align with your core values. Additionally, regularly reiterate your mission to keep everyone focused on the company’s goals, and make training and development accessible to all employees. Encourage open communication channels, which is crucial for addressing concerns and fostering a collaborative environment. Finally, recognize and celebrate employee achievements to reinforce a sense of belonging and commitment. 

Building a Business Emergency Fund

Creating an emergency fund for your business is essential to navigate unexpected costs and revenue dips that come with rapid growth. An emergency fund can act as a financial safety net, ensuring that you can still pay your bills and maintain operations during turbulent times. Automating contributions directly from your business revenue into a separate high-yield savings account can enhance your efforts and prevent the temptation to use the funds for other purposes. 

Reassessing Your Business Structure

When experiencing rapid business growth, it’s crucial to reconsider your business structure. Forming a limited liability company (LLC) offers substantial benefits, such as shielding your personal assets from business liabilities, enjoying tax advantages, and benefiting from less paperwork and operational flexibility. You can save on high legal fees by handling the filing process yourself or through an affordable formation service like ZenBusiness. 

Embracing Flexibility for a Growing Team

Introducing flexible work arrangements, such as remote work or adjustable hours, can be a strategic way to manage the complexities of a rapidly expanding workforce. These arrangements provide employees with greater autonomy and enhance their work-life balance, which in turn can boost morale and productivity. Moreover, providing options like compressed work weeks or part-time hours helps accommodate diverse employee needs and schedules. 

Leveraging AI: Streamlining Operations for Smarter Growth

Utilizing AI and machine learning can be incredibly effective for small business owners aiming to handle rapid expansion. These technologies can automate mundane tasks like data entry and payroll processing, which can cut costs. Furthermore, AI tools can enhance decision-making by analyzing extensive data sets, thereby reducing errors and improving productivity. With the support of AI, you can focus more on strategic initiatives rather than getting bogged down by routine tasks. 

Captivating Your Audience with Engaging Content

To effectively maintain your customers’ interest and add significant value, concentrate on crafting engaging and informative content. This strategy hinges on understanding your audience deeply through detailed buyer personas, which help tailor your content to resonate with their needs and preferences. By emphasizing high-quality, value-driven material, you ensure your content stands out in an era where quality surpasses quantity. Additionally, incorporating interactive elements like polls, quizzes, and user-generated content campaigns can greatly enhance engagement and build a loyal community. 

Investing in Staff Training to Manage Supply Chains

Investing in staff training is crucial for equipping your employees with the necessary skills to manage increasingly intricate supply chains. As your business expands rapidly, comprehensive training ensures that your staff can handle complex processes, leading to efficient and proficient supply chain management. Training programs not only cover essential skills but also address potential issues such as variability and integration, thereby preventing disruptions. Additionally, innovative training solutions like on-the-job training can help employees stay current with technological advancements and best practices. 

In the whirlwind of rapid growth, small business owners have a unique opportunity to redefine their legacy. By approaching each challenge not as a stumbling block but as a stepping stone, you can build a foundation that not only supports your expanding venture but also propels it into a future of sustained success. Embrace the chaos, harness the opportunities, and watch as your small business transforms into an enduring powerhouse in the industry.

In a world where attention spans are measured in seconds, the way your video feels often matters more than what it says. Color is one of the first things your audience notices — before a word is spoken, before your logo appears, and long before they decide to stay or scroll. For businesses in Lake Forest, especially those in professional services like finance, wellness, and law, using color strategically in video content can be the difference between a viewer perceiving you as capable or questionable, credible or casual.

Let’s pull back the curtain on how subtle shifts in color can build stronger impressions, elevate your message, and give your brand an edge without needing a full video reshoot.

TL;DR: Why Color Strategy Matters in Business Videos

• Viewers unconsciously respond to color, tone, and light within the first few seconds of watching.
   

• Specific color choices can boost trust, urgency, calm, or authority, depending on your goal.
   

• Professional services and nonprofits in Lake Forest benefit especially from color-consistent branding.
   

• Tools like Adobe Premiere’s color correction features can help keep your message visually aligned. For an easy starting point, you may want to check this out.

First Impressions: Color Sets the Tone Before You Say a Word

Think about the last video you watched for a law firm or wellness coach. Was it crisp and cool-toned, evoking clarity and professionalism? Or did warm lighting create a sense of comfort and trust? Those first visual cues can make a massive impact, and the science backs it up.

Blue and gray tones often suggest trust, stability, and logic, which is perfect for financial and legal firms. Meanwhile, greens and warm neutrals speak to wellness and balance, making them ideal for holistic professionals and therapists. In Lake Forest, where clients expect a blend of expertise and authenticity, color cues can make your video feel locally grounded or nationally polished.

The Founder Factor: Crafting Connection Through Color

Many solo entrepreneurs in Lake Forest are turning to video to share their stories, values, and passion. But even the most heartfelt message can fall flat if the visual tone feels off. Overexposed or unevenly-lit shots can make a founder appear less confident or inconsistent, even when the message is strong.

Color correction can bring different clips into alignment and add emotional depth without needing to re-record. Tools like those in Adobe Premiere let you gently guide the viewer’s feelings using contrast, warmth, and tone. If you're ready to align your founder story with the right visual tone, this color correction tool is a great resource to explore.

For Nonprofits: Let Color Reflect Your Mission

Lake County nonprofits often have to say a lot with very little. In fundraising appeals, awareness campaigns, and community updates, every frame needs to count. Color can communicate warmth, clarity, or urgency in ways words simply cannot.

Want to highlight a hopeful success story? Soft light and gentle colors invite empathy. Need to show urgency around an issue? High contrast and bold tones signal action. Nonprofits that master this visual language can do more with every second of screen time.

Elevating Professional Services in Lake Forest

In a community like Lake Forest, where your brand reputation is everything, video tone can signal whether your firm is “homegrown” or truly professional. That doesn’t mean erasing your personality. It means presenting your message with the confidence and polish clients expect.

Visual consistency across your website, social platforms, and video content builds trust. If your latest explainer video feels out of place next to your homepage or LinkedIn profile, it might be time to align everything through a more thoughtful approach to color.

Even small businesses can use Adobe Premiere’s editing features to tweak hue, saturation, and exposure. For brand-focused video teams, these tools are a practical way to stay visually on-message.

Is Color Helping — or Hurting — Your Message on Video?

1. Do you want your videos to feel trustworthy, professional, or emotionally resonant?

2. Have you noticed that different clips from your videos don’t look like they “belong” together?

3. Would you benefit from having more control over your visual tone without re-recording?

4. Is your audience likely to make fast decisions based on appearance or vibe?

5. Are you trying to elevate your brand perception on platforms like YouTube, LinkedIn, or Instagram?

If you said “yes” more than a couple of times, you’re probably ready to tighten up your video brand tone. Strategic color correction can help build consistency, reinforce your brand message, and keep viewers engaged from the first frame to the last.

FAQ: Color in Business Videos

What’s the difference between color grading and color correction?
Color correction adjusts footage to look natural and balanced. Color grading adds a stylistic or emotional tone to match your brand’s vibe.

Can I edit video color without being a professional?
Yes! Platforms like Adobe Premiere offer user-friendly features so even beginners can make impactful changes. If you're curious about starting, check this out.

How do I choose the right colors for my business?
Start by identifying the emotion you want viewers to feel: trust, excitement, peace, urgency, etc. Then choose tones that align. Blues for trust, warm hues for comfort, and bold contrasts for energy are common choices.

What if I use different cameras or lighting setups?
Color correction can help unify the look, so your final video feels seamless even if clips came from different sources.

Should I hire someone or DIY this?
It depends on your time and budget. Many Lake Forest businesses start DIY and later bring in pros. If you’re just starting, editing tools like these give you a strong head start.

Make Your Message Land — and Last

The way your video looks can often speak louder than your actual script. In a visually-savvy community like Lake Forest, small businesses that take the time to refine their video tone will stand out in the right way.

In the competitive landscape of service-based industries, the client onboarding process is a pivotal moment that can define the trajectory of your business relationships. A well-structured onboarding experience not only sets the stage for client satisfaction but also establishes a foundation for enduring partnerships. By integrating innovative strategies and leveraging technology, businesses can transform onboarding from a mere formality into a strategic advantage. This approach not only enhances operational efficiency but also aligns client expectations with service delivery.

Improving Client Feedback for Enhanced Onboarding

Incorporating feedback loops into your client onboarding process is a strategic move that can significantly enhance the overall experience. By actively gathering input from clients during their initial interactions with your service, you can pinpoint areas that need improvement and make necessary adjustments. This continuous feedback mechanism not only empowers clients by valuing their opinions but also provides your organization with critical insights to refine and optimize the onboarding journey. As a result, businesses that prioritize client feedback are more likely to build stronger relationships and ensure long-term satisfaction. Implementing such a system can transform what might be a challenging transition into a seamless and engaging process.

Streamline Client Onboarding with Digital Tools

In today's fast-paced business environment, utilizing online tools to manage, organize, and store essential onboarding documents for clients is crucial for efficiency. By leveraging platforms that allow for easy access and secure storage, you can significantly reduce the time spent searching for information. These tools not only enhance productivity but also minimize the risk of errors and miscommunication, which are common pitfalls in client onboarding processes. Additionally, combining files using a PDF merging tool can consolidate multiple documents into a single file. Read here for more info. 

Mastering Client Success Through Effective Training Modules

Creating comprehensive training modules is essential for educating your clients about your services and ensuring they achieve optimal results. By designing these modules with the non-technical learner in mind, you can make complex information accessible and engaging, which is crucial for client satisfaction and retention. It's important to present the features and benefits of your services in multiple ways, allowing clients to understand and apply them effectively. Additionally, utilizing a learning management system (LMS) can help tailor the training experience to different client segments, providing real-time insights into their progress and challenges. This approach not only enhances client engagement but also transforms them into advocates for your brand.

Empower Your Team with Effective Onboarding Training

To ensure your team is well-prepared to meet client demands efficiently, it is crucial to provide comprehensive training on the best practices and tools for client onboarding. By equipping your staff with the necessary skills and knowledge, you enable them to handle client interactions smoothly, thereby enhancing the overall client experience. Implementing Standard Onboarding Procedures (SOPs) and utilizing tech such as project management and communication tools can significantly streamline the onboarding process. Training sessions and updates on the latest tools and techniques will keep your team agile and responsive to client needs. Investing in your team's onboarding capabilities not only boosts client satisfaction but also contributes to higher client retention rates.

Enhance Client Onboarding with Interactive Learning Systems

Incorporating a Learning Management System (LMS) into your client onboarding process can significantly enhance the delivery of training materials in an engaging and interactive manner. By utilizing an LMS, you can present information in various formats, such as videos, quizzes, and interactive modules, which cater to different learning styles and preferences. This approach not only makes the onboarding experience more enjoyable but also improves retention and understanding of crucial information. Furthermore, an LMS allows for the personalization of learning paths, ensuring that each client receives content tailored to their specific needs and pace.

Harnessing Feedback for Tailored Onboarding Experiences

To create onboarding journeys that truly resonate with each client, it's essential to gather and utilize feedback effectively. By understanding individual preferences and business needs, you can design personalized onboarding plans that cater to diverse client segments. This approach not only enhances client satisfaction but also boosts engagement and retention rates, as clients feel valued and understood. Implementing tools that automate the collection and analysis of feedback can streamline this process, allowing you to adapt onboarding strategies in real time. Ultimately, leveraging feedback to customize onboarding experiences ensures that your services align perfectly with client expectations, fostering long-term relationships and business growth.

Crafting a Tailored Roadmap for Client Success

Creating a personalized roadmap for your clients is essential in ensuring their journey aligns with their unique goals and objectives. By understanding the holistic business aims, even those not directly related to digital strategies, you can develop a roadmap that integrates seamlessly with their broader business needs. This approach not only helps in setting clear priorities but also in identifying potential areas of waste, which can be verified and adjusted in collaboration with the client. Such a roadmap serves as a strategic guide, allowing you to test new channels and refine strategies in an efficient way.

A refined client onboarding process is more than just a procedural necessity; it is a strategic asset that can drive business growth and client loyalty. By focusing on digital integration, feedback mechanisms, and personalized training, businesses can create an onboarding experience that not only meets but exceeds client expectations. This commitment to excellence in onboarding not only enhances client satisfaction but also strengthens the foundation for a successful and enduring partnership.

There’s never enough time, especially when you're the one signing checks, answering emails at midnight, and figuring out why the printer jammed again. For business owners juggling way too much, polishing marketing materials often slides down the priority list. But neglecting them leaves money on the table, and you can’t afford that. With the right approach, you can make your messaging crisp, trustworthy, and compelling—without pulling all-nighters or hiring a full-time agency.

Keep It Conversational—Not Robotic
You don’t have to sound like a TED Talk to sell what you do. In fact, the more your materials sound like you—your real voice, the one your clients hear on the phone—the better. People aren’t looking for perfection; they’re looking for connection, and copy that feels natural builds trust fast. That means ditching jargon, cutting filler, and talking like a human, not a brochure.

Prioritize Clarity Over Cleverness
You don’t have to be a poet or a branding genius. You just have to be clear. Busy readers skim, and if they can’t figure out what you’re offering in five seconds, they’re out. Your website, your flyers, your emails—they all need to say plainly: here’s what we do, here’s why it matters, and here’s how to take the next step.

Use Testimonials, Not Just Taglines
There’s power in someone else singing your praises. One well-placed quote from a real customer can do more than a dozen over-polished taglines. You can text a few of your favorite clients and ask, “Hey, mind if I quote you?” You’ll be surprised how fast they respond—and how those words, in their voice, make you more relatable than any ad copy ever could.

Audit Your Existing Materials Ruthlessly
Before you start creating new stuff, take a long hard look at what’s already out there. That PDF from 2018? The homepage you haven’t updated since your nephew set it up? If it doesn’t reflect your current tone, offerings, or quality, it’s hurting more than helping. Carve out one focused hour, make a list of every touchpoint a customer sees, and decide what gets to stay, what needs fixing, and what gets tossed for good.

Embrace White Space Like a Designer Would
You don’t need more words—you need better space around the ones you already have. Crowded layouts and text-dense brochures don’t impress anyone; they just overwhelm. Good design lets people breathe. If you're DIYing your own materials, use fewer fonts, larger margins, and short paragraphs—it’ll make everything feel more polished even if it was built in Canva at 2am.

Ditch the Dinosaur Fonts
Old fonts cling to your brand like cobwebs in a storefront window—easy to ignore, but instantly noticeable. When your brochure still rocks Papyrus or your signage screams early-2000s, it quietly tells people your business hasn’t kept up. That subtle mismatch between visual tone and brand message can dull even the best offering. To get started, try one of the many online font-matching tools that make it painless to identify outdated typefaces and swap them out for something cleaner, sharper, and more aligned with who you are now.

Lean Into Visuals That Actually Tell a Story
Stock photos can be fine, but they shouldn’t look like stock photos. People scroll past those smiling models shaking hands on white backgrounds. What they stop for are images that feel lived-in: your workspace, your team, your actual product in use. Even one candid iPhone shot with decent lighting can feel more honest and grounded than a high-budget image that screams “generic.”

Refresh Frequently, Not Perfectly
It doesn’t need to be flawless. It just needs to reflect who you are now, not who you were when you opened shop. Think of your marketing materials as a living, breathing part of the business—not a set-it-and-forget-it job. Set a reminder every quarter to glance through your website, flyers, or business cards and tweak as needed. These small updates keep things fresh without becoming a full-time job.

If you’re running your own business, chances are your calendar is a war zone of half-finished to-do lists and fires to put out. But marketing materials are how the world understands what you do—and why you’re the one to trust. You don’t need to be a copywriter or a designer to create something that resonates. You just need to be clear, human, and willing to update things before they go stale. The goal isn’t to impress; it’s to connect. Start there, and the rest tends to follow.

Change isn’t just inevitable in business—it’s the whole game. Markets shift, consumer behavior evolves, and what worked yesterday might be irrelevant tomorrow. If your market research strategy isn’t keeping up, you’re not just behind the curve; you’re operating on outdated intel. The challenge isn’t just collecting data—it’s scaling your research so that it adapts alongside your business. That means being nimble, expanding methods without bloating budgets, and making sure your insights are actually actionable. Market research should never be a static process; it should breathe and move with the rhythm of your industry.

Move Beyond the Survey Trap

Surveys are a staple of market research, but relying on them alone is like trying to understand a city by only visiting its main street. People answer surveys based on how they think they behave, not necessarily how they actually do. That’s why it’s critical to blend in behavioral data, social listening, and even observational research. Think about how consumers interact with your product in real-time—what do they do when they don’t know they’re being watched? Scaling your research means embracing a broader toolkit, one that balances traditional methods with real-world insights.

Leverage AI Without Letting It Drive

AI is revolutionizing market research, but it’s a tool, not a replacement for human intuition. Predictive analytics, sentiment analysis, and chatbot-driven surveys can scale your insights quickly, but they still need human oversight. Machines are great at spotting patterns but terrible at understanding nuance. If you’re expanding your research capabilities, use AI for the heavy lifting—processing big data, identifying trends—but keep real people in the loop for interpretation. The businesses that strike this balance will stay ahead of those that blindly trust algorithms to do all the thinking.

Turn Insights Into Action

Market research isn’t just about collecting data—it’s about making sure your team can actually use it. When you’re sharing insights, clarity and accessibility matter just as much as accuracy. Instead of cluttered Excel sheets that can be accidentally altered, converting reports into PDFs maintains formatting integrity and ensures consistency across devices. If you’re tabulating your market research results in Excel, you can use an online converter to seamlessly turn it into a PDF for easy distribution. The next time you’re circulating key findings, give this a look and make sure your insights are as actionable as they are informative.

Turn Customers Into Research Partners

The best insights don’t always come from third-party reports; sometimes, they come directly from the people using your product. Instead of treating customers as passive data points, engage them as active research partners. Beta testing communities, feedback loops, and even co-creation opportunities can give you richer insights than any generic survey. A business that scales its market research effectively knows that customers aren’t just numbers—they’re collaborators in shaping the next evolution of the brand.

Don’t Just Scale—Sharpen

Growing your market research efforts shouldn’t mean drowning in data. More information doesn’t automatically mean better decisions. Scaling isn’t just about adding more—it’s about refining how you interpret and apply insights. A lean but highly targeted research approach often outperforms a bloated one filled with redundant or irrelevant data. Businesses that win in the long run aren’t necessarily the ones with the most data, but the ones that know how to extract the right data and use it well.

Revisit, Revise, Repeat

Market research isn’t a one-and-done operation. If your research framework looks the same as it did a year ago, that’s a problem. Scaling effectively means building a dynamic system—one that evolves alongside your business, revisits its methodologies regularly, and isn’t afraid to pivot when needed. Keep questioning your assumptions, testing new approaches, and challenging the status quo. The businesses that treat market research as a living, breathing part of their strategy—rather than a periodic obligation—are the ones that stay ahead, no matter how fast the market moves.

Adapting your market research to the changing needs of your business isn’t just about keeping up—it’s about staying ahead. The companies that scale their insights intelligently will make sharper decisions, connect with their audience more authentically, and remain resilient in the face of disruption. In the end, market research isn’t just about understanding your industry—it’s about ensuring your business is always ready for what’s next.

It’s not hard to imagine the chaos—phones down, lights out, employees unsure whether to leave or stay, and a once-routine day flipped inside out. Emergencies, whether natural disasters or unexpected disruptions, don’t often knock politely before entering a small business. And while headlines usually focus on the big players bouncing back, it’s the smaller outfits that take the deepest hits when plans aren’t in place. The key to enduring these moments isn’t guesswork—it’s preparation that starts before the sky goes dark or the water starts rising.

Understand Your Local Risks Without Guessing

Every emergency plan starts with knowing what you're planning for. Too many business owners jump straight into generic templates that don’t reflect the actual threats in their area. A restaurant on a floodplain faces different risks than a graphic design firm in a wildfire-prone region. City planning departments, emergency management offices, and even insurance providers often offer detailed risk assessments specific to local geography and infrastructure. Instead of assuming, dig into these sources and build your emergency strategy around what’s likely, not what’s abstract.

People Come First—Have a Human-Focused Plan

Systems matter, but people are what make or break a small business’s survival. An emergency response plan isn’t much good if employees aren’t sure who to contact or what steps to take when things go sideways. It’s not enough to have a dusty binder in the back office; the plan should be clear, accessible, and practiced. Designate roles for communication, evacuation, and client outreach—and revisit them often. You’re not just protecting property; you’re safeguarding livelihoods, families, and peace of mind.

Paper Can’t Swim: Protecting Your Files Digitally

When physical documents are lost to fire, water, or theft, recovery becomes a nightmare of red tape and stalled operations. Scanning and digitizing essential records—licenses, contracts, insurance policies, employee files—ensures you’re not starting from scratch when paper copies are gone. Use a mobile scanning app to quickly and easily capture any document from your device’s camera so you can convert it into a PDF and store it securely in the cloud. If you’re not sure how to begin, learn the steps to scan a document properly so your digital versions are clean, legible, and ready when needed.

Talk to Your Neighbors Before You Need Them

One of the most underused resources in emergency planning? The businesses next door. Whether it’s sharing a generator, combining resources for a bulk emergency supply order, or checking in during a crisis, strong relationships with neighboring businesses can mean faster recovery and less downtime. Emergency planning doesn't have to be isolated—think of it as a network. Building a sense of local cooperation now can lead to shared resilience later, when everyone’s trying to figure out their next move.

Money Moves Need to Be Mapped Early

Cash flow gets tight fast in a crisis, and not every business has the padding to coast through weeks of closure. Before the worst happens, understand what’s covered by your insurance—and what’s not. Research relief programs, grants, and emergency funding options long before you need them, because navigating red tape mid-disaster is a recipe for missed deadlines and missed aid. Talk to your accountant about setting aside a reserve fund, however small, that’s meant solely for emergency use. The point isn’t just recovery—it’s continuity.

Run the Drills You Hope Never to Use

Nobody likes a fire drill. But emergency simulations reveal holes that written plans won’t. Running mock scenarios with your staff—even if they seem like overkill—helps cement procedures into memory and builds muscle memory that could make all the difference. Include real-world complications, like someone missing or the power going out mid-evacuation. These exercises also build employee trust in the plan itself; it’s easier to stay calm when everyone’s played through the script before. Practice doesn’t make perfect—but it does make better-prepared.

Disasters don’t always arrive with warning sirens or headlines. Sometimes they show up as a Monday morning power outage or a burst pipe that floods your entire inventory. In those moments, the clock starts ticking, and the businesses that survive tend to be the ones that made hard decisions in easier times. Emergency planning doesn’t just shield against loss—it creates a path back to business, even when the odds seem steep. And for small business owners, that’s not just about staying afloat. It’s about leading from the front, no matter what kind of storm rolls in.

Egg Harbor Café's Spring Specials are available from March 19th-May 20th!

Bacon Bibimbap

White rice surrounded with pickled onions, pickled cucumbers, and a medley of diced bacon, mushrooms, carrots, cabbage, and green onions sautéed in butter and gochujang sauce. Topped with one sunny side up egg, a drizzle of gochujang sauce, and garnished with fresh cilantro. Served with a side of fruit

Key West Crépes

Three Swedish style crépes loaded with house-made strawberry cream cheese, fresh kiwi, strawberries, and bananas, drizzled with raspberry sauce and topped with whipped cream

1985 Burger

Seasoned dry-aged burger, Jack cheese, garlic aioli, pickled onions, pickled cucumbers, and arugula stacked between a buttered brioche bun. Served with Harbor potatoes and a side salad *Available as a single or double.

Smoked Salmon Avocado Toast

Multigrain toast, lightly seasoned mashed avocado, cold smoked salmon, tomato, red onion, and dill. Served with two eggs, any style, and fruit