Call me Captain Obvious, but gas prices are putting a significant dent into 2022 profit margins and the ability of small businesses to bounce back from the business obstacles of the last two to three years. And recent gas price research conducted by Alignable of nearly 6,500 small business owners reflects nearly two thirds (68%) indicate that gas price spikes have had a "very significant' negative effect on their business recovery.

Alignable, who conducted the research, is an online referral network for small businesses with more than 7 million members across North America. They also track and report on business trends that impact the small business community.

In addition, Alignable's research found that not only are gas price spikes impacting those businesses that consume a lot of gasoline diesel as a part of doing business, but also those companies that rely on "trucking" to receive or send materials and goods. These added expenses are being passed down to the small business owner, as well.

Another interesting bit of information from Alignable's research is that while the recent gas price spike affects all small business owners, it seems to impact minority-owned businesses at a bit of a higher rate compared to non-minority owned businesses (74% compared to 66%, respectively).

And it appears that Michigan small businesses are really feeling the hurt, with 78% of owners claiming gas prices are hurting their recovery efforts. According to Alignable, "Michigan is often at or near the top of our list for small business rent delinquency and for states having the hardest time recovering. So, yet again, Michigan is atop another list of small businesses struggling, which must be frustrating for that state's small business residents."

Many states have at least 60% of small businesses pointing to gas prices as a major stumbling block on their road to recovery, according to the data. These include California (68%), Virginia (65%), North Carolina (64%), Ohio (63%), Pennsylvania (63%), Illinois (62%), and Massachusetts (61%). Some 60% of small businesses in Florida, New York, and Washington State are struggling with gas prices, too.

The state with the lowest incidence of gas spike issues is Colorado, with only 47%.

Our Canadian to the north are having similar issues, according to the research. Overall, 64% of Canadian small businesses said the negative impact of the recent gas price spikes is "very significant," compared to 68% in the U.S.

AB tops the Canadian chart with 70% of its small businesses struggling with gas prices. Ontario comes in at 64%, and BC is around 61%.

When you really need new ideas or fresh thinking or a creative solution to a challenge, a typical, day-to-day approach in your thinking is not the optimal process.  Using the same old thinking will simply lead you to the same old ideas you’ve already had or tried before. 

Instead, you need to do something different -- something that will stimulate your brain in diverse ways and shift your perspective on the issues.  Here are some ways to ensure you (and your team) shake up your thinking so that you actually come up with the fresh, new ideas you need.

1. Change your environment
Get outside your own conference room or office. Debrief the latest research results or industry report in an art museum. Or take your team to the zoo with the objective of coming back with new ideas. Depending on what part of the country you’re in, you could send your teams to the Mall of America, Walt Disney World, or a trendy area of Manhattan to look for inspiration and new ideas.

If you can't physically get out of the office, then find a way to get out metaphorically. Ask people to imagine how they would solve the problem-at-hand if they lived in Antarctica, or if viewed from the perspective of a submarine captain.

2. Bring outsiders in
Overtly invite other perspectives into your discovery and idea generation processes. For example, for a project on new packaging and product ideas for a beverage company, invite a boat designer, a rain-water management expert, a sculptor, and a water-park designer (among others). Your project team will be amazed at the range and diversity of new ideas that come when they are exposed to new perspectives on their challenge. They’ll think of ideas they’ll agree they never would have arrived at on their own— due to their own embedded assumptions about the topic.

3.Truly engage with your customers
Don't rely solely on second-hand data to understand your customers' needs. You need to actually talk to them. Go to their homes or offices to see the problems they need solutions for.

All too often teams looking for an idea generation project will say, “We don't need to do any discovery in advance because we already have ‘lots of data.’" This should always make you wary, because it usually means they have numerous reports with reams of statistics about customers. Unfortunately, it rarely means they have discovered any real new insight into customer needs.

If you're expecting your team to understand the customer by reading a deck or attending a Power Point presentation, challenge yourself to find a more engaging and interactive process. It will be far more effective to immerse your team in real customer understanding.

4. Question everything
Do some specific exercises that force people to confront and challenge their subconscious assumptions about the topic. An easy way to do this is to first ask for ideas that the team thinks would solve the problem, but they probably couldn’t implement for some reason.  

Then, ask them to re-frame each idea by saying “We might be able to implement this idea IF…..”  What comes behind the “if’s” will help surface a lot of assumptions people have that may or may not actually be barriers.  Of course, some of the barriers will turn out to be real, in which case, don’t spend more time on those ideas.  But in every case that I’ve ever done this with client teams, they also discover many supposed barriers that they could actually solve for.  

5. Let some crazy in the room.
The academic definition of creative thinking is “the process of coming up with new and useful ideas”.  The only way to get new ideas is to start with seemingly crazy ideas.  Every truly innovative idea seems a little crazy at first.  If you only start with ideas that are comfortable or clearly easy to implement, they’re probably not very new.

So, encourage people to throw in extremely wild ideas.  Then, play a game called “If We Could.”  Instruct the team to temporarily let go of the problems in the idea and ask “If we could implement this idea, what would be the benefit(s)?”  Once you have identified the benefits of each crazy idea, narrow down to the most promising few and ask the team to look for possible solutions to the barriers.  

A team was on the verge of killing a truly original idea for a new kids’ cereal, because they didn’t know how to create the critical component.  However, after “If We Could”, they agreed the idea was so interesting and unique that they needed to explore it.  The R&D team made a few calls to other experts, and within a few weeks, they had solved it.  This idea resulted in the most successful new product launch in the brand’s history!

It is unfortunately all too easy to simply approach every new challenge using our typical day to day thinking.  It feels familiar, it’s easy to access that type of thinking, and it works on most daily challenges.  So, you subconsciously assume it will work on any challenge.  But it’s incredibly helpful to do some meta-analysis on your thinking. I.e. think about how you’re thinking.  Not every problem will benefit from the same type of thinking. 

Once you recognize that this new situation needs new thinking, it’s fairly easy to do some things to shift to a more productive mode for this particular challenge.  Then shift back to the more familiar day to day thinking for your daily tasks.

A frequent Snow Magazine contributor, business coach Susan Robertson brings a scientific foundation to enhancing her clients' creativity. 

All my life, I’ve lived by the motto that “No one can outwork me.” Oh sure, there may be smarter people, richer people, stronger people, luckier people, and prettier people than me, but “No one can outwork me.”

That motto has served me very well, personally and professionally. And as a result, I’ve had enormous successes and awesome blessings come my way.

But I think it’s time to amend the motto. When I see the disruption in the economy, with labor shortages everywhere, you may not be able to find enough people who are internally motivated to work, work, work. And it’s going to take more than the mere raising of wages or clever social media campaigns to recruit and retain the talent you need.

I would contend that you have to make your organization a place where people want to come, want to stay, and want to give their very best. And your most powerful, underutilized strategy to make that happen might be as simple as putting more FUN in your workplace. Here are three strategies you can start with:

1. Believe in Fun
Indeed, fun might be the ultimate motivator in today’s world. Take a look at your kids, for example.

When you want them to do something, their level of interest and motivation is almost always in direct correlation to how fun it sounds.

Indeed, fun might be the ultimate motivator in today’s world. Take a look at your kids, for example. When you want them to do something, their level of interest and motivation is almost always in direct correlation to how fun it sounds.

Well, the people at work aren’t much different. In many ways, adults are just babies in big bodies. When they think about the tasks in front of them, they’re always wondering how fun it’s going to be. If they think it’s going to be lots of fun, you’ll see lots of commitment and motivation. If they don’t think it’s going to be fun, they’re revising their resumes.

Fun is much more than some fluffy nicety without any bottom-line consequences. As human potential expert Dale Carnegie says, "People rarely succeed unless they have fun in what they are doing."

So believe in fun. It’s good for your organization, and it’s good for the people in your organization.

Fun is good for you physically. There's plenty of research evidence that shows fun releases natural pain-killing, good-feeling endorphins into your body. And as author Matt Weinstein says, "If you take yourself too seriously, there's a good chance you'll end up seriously ill."

Fun and laughter are also good for you emotionally. They reduce the negative impact of the stressors in your life. As I tell people, very few people on their deathbed will say they should have attended more meetings, made more money, or spent more time at the office. But a lot of people will say they should have laughed more, smiled more, and had more fun.

2. Look for Fun
Fun is everywhere. You can find it or make it. And it doesn't have to be expensive. Matt Weinstein, the author of Play Fair, gives one example. He says you could have a slice of cheese cake delivered to a friend's house or hotel room ... in the middle of the night. Attach a note that says, "Thinking of you. Are you thinking of me?" You don't even have to sign your note. Let them use their imagination.

You need to be on the lookout for fun. I am. While in California, I read Chuck Thomas' column in the Ventura County Star. He said: A pessimist's blood type is always B-negative. Practice safe eating -- always use condiments. A Freudian slip is when you say one thing but mean your mother. Shotgun wedding: A case of wife or death. Is a book on voyeurism a peeping tome? Does the name Pavlov ring a bell? A successful diet is the triumph of mind over platter.

So look for fun. It's out there, all around you every day. What kind of FUN things are you seeing at work? If you’re not seeing much, go out and make some.

3. Review the Fun
To recruit and retain top talent, one of the things you can do is take some time to review the fun you've had over the years or throughout the course of a project. Sure, there might have been hard times, but even those things might bring smiles and laughter in retrospect. Talk about the "good old times."

You've got to review the fun. And I don't care how difficult your job has been or how COVID disrupted everything or how bad the supply chain is. You've had some fun along the way. You simply may not remember it. As W. N. Rieger says, "Much unhappiness results from our inability to remember the nice things that happen to us."

The same thing goes for a family. Nothing is more bonding than sharing your funny stories from the past. Some of your stories have even become classics that can be told over and over again.

Such was the case with my wife Chris. Working in intensive care and the emergency room she often had a stethoscope on the car seat. One day, when daughter Sara was on the way to preschool, she picked it up and began playing with it. Chris thought, "Great. My daughter wants to follow in my footsteps." Just then Sara spoke into the stethoscope, "Welcome to McDonalds. May I take your order?" That's a story that gets reviewed every once in a while.

You and your organization probably need more fun. Go for it … now!

Snow Magazine Contributor Dr. Alan Zimmerman is a business coach who works with companies to focus on transforming the people side of business.

EDITOR'S NOTE: Troy's column first appeared in Snow Magazine's May 2020 issue.

“Treat everyone like a customer,” is a phrase I heard many years ago and I still employ today. It’s a foundation-based statement, meaning it could reside at the core of your overall business philosophy. In fact, it’s almost a perfect phrase because it’s very simple to relate to and very clear to understand.

It’s also fundamental in nature, and we could spend time meditating on its meaning and its application. The phrase is meant to remind us that kindness and servitude is the correct way to live our lives – all day and every day in all interactions. Yet, so often this is just not the case.

In our day-to-day lives we interact with our spouse, our kids, friends, coworkers – from our boss to those who report to us – neighbors, teachers, customers, the barista at the local coffee shop staff or team that brings you your lunch at your favorite diner. However, not all of those interactions leave us feeling great.

You know what I mean. So many of those interactions leave us with a bad taste in our mouths, doubting the essential principles of customer service in this day and age. I would argue the interactions where we feel the best are the interactions where someone is trying to help us. Where they are not ignoring us, arguing with us, disrespecting us, trying to prove us wrong and themselves right. Why does it feel like those conversations are so few and far between in today’s world?

In fact, many of us feel we’re constantly engaging in conversations where the sum total of the outcome is where we’re left ignored, argued out, and disrespected. I question how many customers would we have at the end of the day if we behaved that way with them?

So why in business are we not treating others like they are a customer?

In my experience, some people treat those they know the best the worst. They hide information, bark orders or disrespect workplace colleagues for no better reason than they can get away with it. Or, they come up with lame excuses like, “They don’t get it!” “They deserved it!” “They started it!” – always passing the buck and not offering a true solution to the problem at hand.

The first step to correct this is to start with me, not they. We need to ask ourselves why we behave the way we do. We need to look in the mirror and really work to understand who we are. We need to read books on the subject, dig into a faith-filled life, seek out and talk to mentors or just keep being that person who doesn’t understand why people don’t want to be around us.

The bottom line is we can either be the person who can’t reach goals and dreams, or we can commit to being better, starting with treating others better and affording them the respect they deserve.

Once we have opened our eyes to the fact we are the ones who need to change, the next step is to own our behavior and our results. Once we own our behavior and the results that it produces, then we can start treating everyone like a customer.

We must apply this to every interaction, single phone call, email and text. We should focus on making a positive difference in the lives of those individuals we work with and those we share our lives with. We should smile when we look at people and we should be kind. We should put ourselves in the shoes of those we are communicating with and then ask ourselves, “Am I being helped? Do I feel served? Appreciated? Respected?

If not, then we are not treating others like a customer. I’m a man of deep faith, and I take solace in the infinite wisdom of the following passage:

“Real wisdom, Gods wisdom, begins with holy life and is characterized by getting along with others. It is gentle and reasonable, overflowing with mercy and blessings, not hot one day and cold the next, not two faced. You can develop a healthy, robust community that lives right with God and enjoy its results only if you do the hard work of getting along with each other, treating each other with dignity and honor.” – James 3:17

Troy Clogg is the founder and president of Troy Clogg Landscape Associates in Wixom, Mich. He is a frequent Snow Magazine contributor and a 2010 Leadership Award recipient.