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It’s no secret that COVID-19 has challenged small businesses everywhere to rethink the brick-and-mortar business model. With physical retail locations closing and e-commerce on the rise, it's been crucial for small businesses to pivot to digital to weather the pandemic.

By the numbers: Online sales grew by nearly 50% at the peak of the pandemic, and experts are predicting the shift may be permanent. According to a recent survey, 41% of consumers are currently shopping via social media and 51% say they’ll continue to use in-app shopping post-COVID.

Bank of America recently released their yearly survey of small business owners in the 2021 Small Business Owner Report. Their research found that business owners have started to regain their footing as economic confidence, business revenue expectations, and hiring plans bounce back significantly from levels seen in the fall. For example, 50% of SBOs are confident the national economy will improve – up significantly from 37% last fall, and 60% expect their revenue to increase – up even more from 34% last fall.

To address the impact of the pandemic, business owners tapped into various funding sources to stay afloat and made operational changes that they anticipate will continue going forward. More than half of SBOs tapped into funding sources such as personal savings, business credit cards and PPP loans. A majority of SBOs anticipate that the operational changes they made in response to the coronavirus will continue beyond the pandemic – specifically enhancing their sanitation practices and further building a digital sales strategy.

Regardless, entrepreneurship is on the rise—and it doesn’t show any signs of slowing down. Today, nearly 40% of the workforce is made up of freelancers, temps, independent contractors, and solopreneurs, and a growing number of millennials and Gen-Zers are becoming solopreneurs—61% of independent millennials are planning to stay independent as solopreneurs.

So, how do you successfully lead your business through COVID-19? How do you turn a seemingly insurmountable challenge into an opportunity? And how do you start planning for the “new normal” when the future is still unwritten?

Thankfully, we're joined by a particularly savvy business woman who can help answer all of these questions - welcome Ellen Marie Bennett!

Ellen is the founder and CEO of Hedley & Bennett, the leading Los Angeles based culinary workwear brand, and today they are known for more than just their aprons! They create culinary workwear, gear and outfits for over 6,000 restaurants, hotels, coffee shops, resorts and hundreds of thousands of home cooks all over the world. • Join the party on social @workparty and stay in-the-know at workparty.com.

Produced by Dear Media