22 May Oklahoma Strong!

A rough period here in the US for events with mass casualties, some man-made and some brought to us by Mother Nature. This week’s devastating record-breaking super tornado in Oklahoma, killing dozens, the Boston Marathon bombing, the Connecticut school shooting, superstorm Sandy here in the Northeast. Innocents killed including too many children.

Of course anyone close to these traumas who is spared injury (and many who were injured) hopefully renews their spirit to live and to live well. Life is both short and fragile and I believe it’s important to enjoy it at every phase. A full chapter in my new book is about finding both family and “me” time even if you are a hard-charging entrepreneur.

Another important focus following these tragedies: finding ways to help small businesses affected by them. Large companies can deal with adversity and bounce back. But an entrepreneur with a small factory that was destroyed in the tornado could find his business devastated. Even with insurance to rebuild, during the months that you are doing so, you could lose everything. Retailers, restaurants, manufacturers, many simply cannot come back after severe events such as these. Areas such as Freeport, Long Island’s famous Miracle Mile still mostly devastated and very few restaurants and businesses re-opened almost seven months since Sandy. It took until yesterday for Nathan’s Famous restaurant on Coney Island to finally reopen.

I hope our federal, state and local governments, insurance companies and all of us remember to help and support small and emerging businesses affected by the tornado and other major tragedies not of their making. Business is hard enough! Let’s do all we can to be there for them.