Industry veteran and business coach Joe Kujawa, during a recent episode of The Snow Magazine Podcast, advised snowfighters to approach 2021 like a start-up, and this concept really got me thinking.

I believe Joe’s message really hits the nail on the head for the professional snow and ice management industry, especially after 2020’s challenging business climate. When Joe says “think like a start-up” he means to re-emphasize the importance of solid planning, the virtues of running lean, and to be quick on your feet to better deal with the curve balls 2021 might through at us over the next 12 months. And in adopting the start-up mindset, Joe stresses the importance of teamwork in achieving success, especially in carrying out your business plan and in maintaining sight of your short- and long-term goals.

Joe’s episode of the podcast got me thinking about some of the other areas where entrepreneurial ingenuity would strengthen your business. Here are a few additional essential start-up steps to key in on.

Identify Business Opportunities. Examine where and how you’re doing business and determine if these approaches are sustainable. In addition, see where future clients may come from as you expand and grow your snow and ice management ops. Likewise, identify those clients who are no longer an operational fit, or are more trouble than they’re worth.

Branding. Take a hard look not only at your corporate logo, but also your corporate name. As you grow, evolve and experience successes, often the moniker you start with no longer fully encompasses your service offerings or your corporate philosophy. Likewise, updating your logo and brand can serve as a fresh coat of paint for your company’s culture.

Location. Determine whether your existing headquarters still serves your business needs, as well as affords you room to grow over the next three to five years. You may learn that it’s time to move. If so, consult with a commercial real estate professional and begin to learn what your options are and where they exist in relations to your market.

Continued Development. Education is critical to long-term success. Therefore, I suggest adopting the Industry Standards and enroll your key personnel in ASCA-C training and certification. Likewise, convene with your top lieutenants and have a hard discussion about ISO certification. There’s a very good chance you’re already 75% of the way there just by operating a successful snow and ice management operation. An investment in ISO certification can pay dramatic, long-term dividends for your business.

We’re all looking at 2021 as a fresh start. Therefore, as an owner or top manager it’s important to remain agile and keep your company or snow operation lean, adapting, and moving forward. Good luck and stay safe.

Kevin Gilbride serves as the Executive Director of the Accredited Snow Contractors Association. You can reach him at kgilbride@ascaonline.com

Winter 2020-21 is underway and snow professionals in some markets are sounding the alarm bell that salt supplies are becoming strained.

For example, snow pros out of the Quad Cities -- a region of five cities including Davenport and Bettendorf in southeastern Iowa, and Rock Island, Moline, and East Moline in northwestern Illinois – recently reported to their local media that their salt bins were becoming bare.

So, is this the beginning of a salt shortage?

Heading into Winter 2020-21 most contractors were sitting pretty on salt stockpiles leftover from the previous lackluster winter. In some instances, this may have included remnants of salt purchased as far back as Winter 2018-19. According to data compiled in Snow Magazine's 2020 State of the Industry, most snow professionals (39 percent) categorized salt supply and availability as a non-issue this fall. Likewise, 41 percent ranked cost per ton as a low-priority business issue heading into the 2020-21 season.

 

I checked in with Rob English, Snow Magazine's resident salt industry insider who frequently contributes articles addressing the status of deicing materials, their availability and the impact trends may have for professional snow and ice management contractors.

In the Northeast, where Rob is based and serves as president of Chemical Solutions Inc., despite recording 14 inches of snow in December, recent weather trends have called for rain. He hasn’t heard any indicators of salt supply strain in that market.

However, Rob says regional supply problems do result from heavy and frequent snow and ice events. So, for a market like the Quad Cities region, which has been the frequent recipient of lake-effect weather this winter, supplies can become strained because it’s difficult to get enough replacement product into those areas.

“The shortage is regional and illustrates the need for the end user to take more risk and carry heavier inventory to avoid being caught like this,” he says. “Again, the problem is not having salt, rather It’s getting it to the areas in need and that’s a storage and transportation problem driven by a market that thinks just-in-time inventory is bottomless.”

The farther the region is located from a major source of resupply -- such as a salt mine or stockpile -- the more likely the problem will persist until either the weather abates or resupplies arrive. Waterborne and rail deliveries are usually impeded by the same ice and winter conditions further delaying relief.  

Further exasperating supply shortages for commercial snow contractors, local governments have the ability to commandeer available supplier stockpiles in the interest of public safety.   

Rob suggests snow pros take a page out of the municipal government supply playbook, maintaining a minimum of five to seven “storms” (treatments) of inventory at all times. This helps alleviate any potential supply threat.   

"If the snow management contractor is unable to store those kinds of quantities, then they will be at the highest risk in shortages," he says.

When winter gets really bad supply issues can quickly get a lot worse for snow professionals, forcing them to seek salt from a supplier in an unaffected region that has ample inventory to help out – but at a cost.   

“In 2015, we were shipping bulk salt trucks many hundreds of miles which is normally not economically feasible,” he says.

Rob’s sentiments were echoed in his recent appearance on The Snow Magazine Podcast when he discussed factors could impact salt and deicing supply to North America’s professional snow and ice management market. CLICK HERE to listen to that episode of the podcast.

Mike Zawacki is editor of Snow Magazine.

On Dec. 21, the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives overwhelmingly passed a $900 billion COVID-19 relief bill. On Dec. 27, President Trump signed it and it is now law.

I reached out to CPA Dan Gordon, the owner and managing director at PCO Bookkeepers, Turf Books & PCO M&A Specialists, to provide some key insights.

For the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP), this measure overturns the IRS position that makes PPP proceeds taxable. Thus, the income derived as a result of PPP forgiveness will not be taxable.

The law contains the following PPP provisions:

• It repeals the requirement that PPP borrowers must deduct the amount of any Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL) advance from their PPP forgiveness amount. At this point it is not clear how those who have already applied and have been approved for forgiveness will go back and have the EIDL advance forgiven.
• In addition, there will be a new round of PPP loans. To be eligible for a second PPP loan, the following must apply: Firms must have 300 or fewer employees; firms who have an existing PPP loan must have used or must use the full amount of their first PPP loan; and firms must show a 25 percent gross revenue decline in any 2020 quarter compared with the same quarter in 2019.
  

The COVID-19 relief bill clarifies that “no deduction shall be denied, no tax attribute shall be reduced, and no basis increase shall be denied, by reason of the exclusion from gross income.”

While the CARES Act excluded PPP loan forgiveness from gross income, it did not specifically address whether the expenses used to achieve that loan forgiveness would continue to be deductible. In April, the IRS issued Notice 2020-32, which stated that no deduction would be allowed under the Internal Revenue Code for an expense that is otherwise deductible if the payment of the expense results in forgiveness of a PPP loan.

In November, the IRS then expanded on this position by issuing Rev. Rul. 2020-27, which held that a taxpayer computing taxable income on the basis of a calendar year could not deduct eligible expenses in its 2020 tax year if at the end of the tax year the taxpayer had a reasonable expectation of reimbursement in the form of loan forgiveness on the basis of eligible expenses paid or incurred during the covered period.

Several business trade organizations disputed this interpretation of the CARES Act loan forgiveness rules, arguing that it was not Congress’s intent to disallow the deduction of otherwise deductible expenses.

Congress has now agreed with that position and the law has been changed.

As always, review this information with your tax and accounting advisor.

As Head Harvester, with the Harvest Landscape Consulting Group, Fred Haskett coaches green and white industry owners. He is also a frequent Snow Magazine contributor.

At the end of a career, military members like to remember their skill, tactical acumen, deployments, and the great military members that they led.  As a retired Army officer, I was once a Second Lieutenant, the lowest grade of officer, in the Infantry, the skilled, on-the-ground warfighters of the US Army.  As a 2nd Lieutenant, I led my soldiers, but I also led them in laughing at my mistakes and misadventures.

Military life is filled with incredible humor.  99.999% of military humor is inspired either directly or indirectly by junior military officers, specifically Ensigns (Navy and Coast Guard) and Lieutenants (Army, Marines and Air Force).  The misadventures of these junior officers as they simultaneously learn to lead, learn the military, and learn what their jobs truly are serve as an amazing resource for timeless humor.  They also serve as an amazing training ground for life lessons.

My military career began in the Republic of Korea (ROK) as a US Army 2nd Lieutenant in the early 1990’s.  I did my part as a young 2nd Lieutenant and provided my platoon a lifetime of mistakes, screw ups, and misadventures to fuel their stories for a lifetime.  On one of my first field training exercises with my 4.2-inch Mortar Platoon, I asked several of my soldiers to take my camera and photograph their jobs from their perspective. The fact that I handed a $100 camera with extra film to several smiling enlisted soldiers proved for the last time that I was a terribly, terribly naïve young officer. A week later, they handed me the camera back, a bill for some extra film (I was overcharged of course), and I received a great life lesson.

Help with the Worst Jobs
On the camera were all the jobs in the field that the soldiers hated the most.  Digging fighting positions, filling sandbags, handling mortar misfires, waiting in line for chow, not enough coffee, and standing guard.  This was a great lesson for me because this told me that these were all the tasks that I should help the platoon perform.  For the rest of my time, I sought out the worst jobs, filled sandbags, and stood next to the crews while they handled a misfire.  

Lead by Example – Always!
There were also pictures of me looking less than stellar.  In the pictures, my chinstrap was unfastened, I was wearing a completely unauthorized Marine Corps sweater that was great in the Korean winter, and another with me about five feet from my rifle - an Infantry "No No."  The US Army of the 1990’s lived by buttoned Kevlar helmets, snapped field gear, and your weapon within arm’s reach.  Of course, my platoon had pictures of me not doing this, even if it was only once.  Leadership by example is only leadership by example if you always do it and do it all the time.  

Ask for Help
I thought that the next three pictures on the roll of film was a mistake.  It pictured a Korean farmhouse three separate times as it became progressively dark.  The real story of the pictures is that I was lost and did not want to tell the Platoon, especially the Platoon Sergeant.  So, instead, I rolled by our next position four times and everyone in the platoon knew that we should stop.  Correction, everyone but me knew that we should stop.  It always benefits a leader to engage the entire team in helping make and perform a plan, even if you do not think you need the help.  Great leaders ask their team, repeatedly, and ahead of time, what their team’s opinions are to create an even better plan.  Let us just say I do this now.

Get Some Sleep
One of the funniest things is watching a sleep deprived Lieutenant issue orders and fall asleep while they are doing it.  Initially, I felt that I needed to be awake all the time to ensure that my platoon performed.  My Sergeant’s felt this was a fine idea and they got sleep for about three days until a Private found me sitting against an armored vehicle first asleep, probably with my chin strap unbuttoned, I am sure.  Leaders need to realize that when they make a mistake, they affect the success of hundreds and not just themselves.  I learned that nutrition, rest, and exercise made me a better leader and if I wanted to make good decisions for my team, I needed to take care of myself and trust others to help me operate the platoon.  

Take One for The Team
On one of my final exercises, my Commander ordered that every soldier would be with sleeves down on their uniforms, Kevlar helmets on, and all equipment buckled.  This was a great idea, except that it was August when Korea is over 100 degrees and humidity hangs like a sweltering invisible fog.  Hours later, I was having a conversation with my Battalion Commander on the side of a road with my platoon racing by dressed only in T-shirts and soft caps.  Naturally, I was yelled at (“lit up” in military parlance) for 30 minutes like the Times Square Christmas tree by my Battalion Commander.  Returning to my platoon, they braced for chew out session that never came.  Sometimes, all you can do is protect your team.  

The final picture on the roll is two of my most junior soldiers giving me a “traditional” one-finger salute.  I love this picture because it showed that I was a successful as a leader.  I was trying to create a powerful sense of initiative, a fighting spirit, a sense of personal pride and accomplishment in the platoon.  In the Army, a willingness to “own your disrespect” is a sign of pride, initiative, and audacity – exactly what I wanted to create.

I helped create a unit of soldiers that were confident and proud.  The soldiers helped create a leader that would always remember to help with the worst jobs, lead my example, ask for help, take care of themselves, and always support the team in front of their boss.  I was fortunate to be promoted several times in my career, but I will always remember my time and its fortunate lessons as an Army 2nd Lieutenant.

Chad Storlie is a retired US Army Special Forces officer, an Iraq combat veteran, and has 15 years university teaching experience as an adjunct Professor of Marketing.  He is a mid-level B2B marketing executive and a widely published author on customer experience, leadership, marketing, business, analytics, decision making, military and technology topics.