THE LAST WORD
By Aprile Rickert
Jerry Finn, executive director of Caesars Foundation of Floyd County
Downtime a good
time to take stock
A
s the current public health
crisis of COVID-19 bears
down on the local econ-
omy, much remains to be known
about how it will affect businesses
in the long run.
Some temporarily shuttered or
limited restaurants and businesses
may not reopen, or may reinvent
themselves when they do. The
situation could create space in the
market for new visions.
With that in mind, Jerry Finn,
executive director of Caesars
Foundation of Floyd County, has
some solid thoughts that might help
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May / June 2020
guide those wanting to follow a
new idea into the future.
“First of all, surround yourself
with really smart people and be
willing to listen to them,” Finn
said. “Stay creative — find out
what really energizes your creativ-
ity and tap into that.”
This could mean seeking out
mentors, looking for those who
have overcome challenges to find
success in their particular business.
“I think there’s a wealth of
knowledge out there,” Finn said.
“I would look at who are some of
the folks in our community who
have started a business and made
it work, and [use] it as a way to
get some of their wisdom that they
have acquired over time.”
He added that it’s important for
those starting out to be prepared
— business is a risk any time, but
often those risks bring the great-
est opportunity for learning and
growth.
“Think of every possible sce-
nario of what could go wrong and
how you would deal with that as
well as everything that could go
right and how you manage that as
well.