Soto Law Group - May 2022

Soto Law Group - May 2022

Soto’s Chronicles

May 2022

R. DeDe Soto

Protecting your most valuable asset — your family

FROM THE DESK OF

DeDe Soto

Fearing a Summer Drought? Businesses Can Prepare Right Now

Mother’s Day will be celebrated on May 8 this year. It is a day devoted to honoring the mothers, grandmothers, and guardians in our families and to show our appreciation of the love, nurturing, and selflessness they have provided to us. The first American Mother’s Day was back on 1908 when a woman named Anna Jarvis organized a service of worship for her recently passed mother at her local church in West Virginia. Since then, the American tradition has become criticized for its commercialism. Today, it is the third-highest selling holiday for flowers and plants. It is one of the busiest days of the year for restaurants serving brunch, and reservations need to be planned well ahead. In fact, many people refer to Mother’s Day as a “Hallmark holiday,” or just a money maker for the greeting card industry. Despite all the commercialism, I prefer not to be a skeptic. I plan to embrace the day and celebrate and show my appreciation to all the women who have provided me with unconditional love and guidance throughout my life. Happy Mother’s Day.

As we quickly approach summer, there are a few tools I use in order to keep my business running smoothly for the season. Although summer is an exciting time for me, my staff, and my customers, there are some things I must do to ensure that this season doesn’t slow down. Summer is known to be the slowest season for businesses, which can impact every area of your company. Here are a few tips I found helpful to keep my business running smoothly during the hotter months.

For Your Business: Take care of maintenance and renovations.

We’ve all heard the term spring-cleaning and how important it is to use that time to take care of your home. But it’s essential to do the same for your business. Many business owners neglect to do any building maintenance or renovations, but you can take care of these tasks if you work ahead. Waiting until the last minute for maintenance issues can both cause stress for you and your team and make you lose customers.

For Your Employees: Schedule vacation time in advance.

Summer is the most popular time for traveling. To ensure that you won’t be understaffed and you’re aware of when your employees are taking time off, encourage them to submit their vacation requests

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operates and add unexpected stress for everyone involved. Communication is key during this time and will save you from future headaches if you prepare now.

as early as possible. By doing this, you can approve or deny requests quicker and make any necessary adjustments. You don’t want to be suddenly informed that one of your employees is on vacation. This can disrupt how business

For Your Customers: Offer summer promotions.

Your customers play a huge role in your business, and you want to ensure that they continue to use your company’s services throughout the summer. This is why special seasonal offers are a great way to bring in more customers. These offers can include free consultations, discounts, and rewards for referrals. You can also show your gratitude for your customers during this time by sending them letters (and maybe even a coupon or promotional offer) that show your appreciation for their support. Let them know that you value their business and that you’re there every step of the way! Summer can be difficult for businesses, and I sympathize with your stress and struggles during this time. Although this season can be challenging, with communication, dedication, and teamwork, your business will become an even greater asset to your clients.

5 Podcasts to Boost Your Business Growth

We’re Listening — Are You?

“Business Made Simple” is for you! On this podcast, Miller hosts and offers strategies for building and optimizing your business. He covers topics ranging from “How to Escape a Villain Mindset” to “Is Word-of-Mouth Marketing Dead?” ‘BizChix’ — “BizChix” is catered specifically to women entrepreneurs and hosted by business coach and strategist Natalie Eckdahl. The episodes mix business and advice and training with on-air coaching calls and interviews. If you’re looking for specific tips like how to pivot your client base or get in the hiring mindset, this podcast will be a perfect fit for you.

All of these podcasts are available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and a variety of other platforms. ‘How I Built This’ — Have you ever wondered what it was like behind the scenes in the early days of Coinbase? What about Expedia, Mailchimp, or Ben & Jerry’s? The “How I Built This” podcast from NPR dives into all of those stories and more during fascinating interviews with founders and CEOs. Find out what hurdles they faced, how they overcame them, and what lessons you can steal to level up your own business. ‘Entrepreneurs on Fire’ — This award-winning

‘Wisdom From the Top’ — Hosted by Guy Raz of “How I Built This,” this podcast expands beyond business leaders to glean leadership tips from all fields, including army generals, scientists, and reporters as well as CEOs. As the podcast’s description puts it, “You’ll hear accounts of crisis, failure, turnaround, and triumph, as the leaders reveal their secrets on their way to the top. These are stories that didn’t make it into their company bios, with valuable lessons for anyone trying to make it in business.”

podcast is hosted by author and thought leader John Lee Dumas. On it, he interviews entrepreneurs like Tony Robbins, Seth Godin, Gary Vaynerchuk, Barbara Corcoran, and Tim Ferriss and extracts business tips for you. Tune in for episodes like “How to Raise $400 million on the Internet and Build a FinTech Business with Jilliene Helman” and “Earn More with LinkedIn Sales Navigator with Julbert Abraham.” ‘Business Made Simple’ — If you’re a fan of “Building a Story Brand” by Donald Miller, then

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Free Your Team From ‘Meeting Brain Drain’ And Watch Your Sales Soar

meetings at 4–6 people when possible. If you have a daily company huddle, consider making it weekly or even monthly to save brain space. 2. When you meet, always set an agenda. We’ve all attended “30-minute” meetings that stretched to two hours as the speakers rambled. Don’t let this become the norm! Instead, set an agenda for every meeting — even a routine check-in — and stick to it. If you’re a talker, consider including timestamps with each item to really keep you on task and get your team back to work ASAP. (Not sure how to write a fantastic agenda? Visit HBR.org and search “How to Design an Agenda” for an in-depth article on the topic.) 3. Encourage time blocking. Fewer interruptions to your team’s flow means it’s easier to get back in the zone, so try to cluster meetings during one part or “block” of the day/week. This will help your team build routines around those blocks, and they’ll be able to dive deep during non-meeting blocks without the fear of interruption. Try these strategies today and watch your key performance indicators (KPIs) for lead generation, conversion, and retention closely. You might be surprised at the results!

Here’s a shocking statistic for you: According to a

Productivity Trends Report from ReclaimAI, the average professional is spending almost 309% more time in one-on-one meetings right now than they did before the pandemic. That’s crazy! Worse, it’s a waste of valuable time and a drain on your team’s productivity. Meetings can be productive, but there’s a reason why the phrase “This should have been an email” exists. If you pull your best people into Zoom call after Zoom call, they won’t have the focus they need to work quickly and perform at their best. That has implications across every department from marketing and sales to billing. Entrepreneur has a few suggestions for how to free your team from this brain drain. 1. Say goodbye to company- and department-wide meetings. Think of building a meeting the same way you’d think of building a team: Add as many people as you need, and only that many. The more you can whittle down the required attendance for meetings, the less you will impact your employees’ productivity. Entrepreneur suggests keeping

Mother’s Day Brunch Rainbow Frittata

Take a Break!

Inspired by EatingWell.com

Ingredients

• Basil, thyme, salt, and pepper, to taste • 1/2 avocado, pitted,

• Nonstick cooking spray • 1/4 cup sweet potato, diced • 1/4 cup yellow pepper, diced • 1/4 cup broccoli, chopped • 8 eggs

peeled, and thinly sliced • Cherry tomatoes, halved • Sriracha hot sauce (optional)

Directions

skillet with vegetables. Don’t stir but instead use a spatula to lift the edges of the egg mixture until it is evenly distributed. 5. Transfer mixture to oven. Bake for 5 minutes or until the dish sets. 6. Top with avocado and tomatoes. Drizzle Sriracha on top (if desired).

1. Preheat oven to 350 F and coat a cast-iron skillet with nonstick cooking spray. 2. In the skillet over medium heat, cook sweet potatoes, yellow pepper, and broccoli until soft. 3. In a medium bowl, whisk together eggs, basil, thyme, salt, and pepper. 4. Pour egg mixture into

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INSIDE THIS ISSUE From the Desk of DeDe Soto PAGE 1 Summertime Is the Slowest Time PAGE 1 5 Business Podcasts to Boost Growth PAGE 2 3 Tips for Boosting Productivity PAGE 3 Take a Break PAGE 3 Mother’s Day Brunch Rainbow Frittata PAGE 3 A Sci-Fi Operating Room Could Change Medicine PAGE 4

Meet the Regenerative Operating Room COULD IT SOLVE THE ORGAN DONOR CRISIS?

You might think: What?! According to Dr. Michael McPhail, a biomedical engineer and research associate at Mayo Clinic in Arizona, bringing together tissue engineering, biomaterials, regenerative medicine, robotics, 3D printing, and imaging could have a transformative effect on the entire practice of medicine. For example, a 3D image of the healed jaw could be created for someone with a jaw defect, and manufactured bone, guided by medical imaging and real-time optical sensors, could be created to help the jaw regenerate to its pre-injury appearance. Dr. McPhail and his team expect that these tools could enable less invasive surgeries while improving outcomes. Researchers are still working to realize this unique cohesion of emerging technologies into real daily care, but plenty of modern medical facilities use a version of this. For example, the Cosmetic Center at Mayo Clinic in Arizona uses 3D-printed models to rebuild facial features after debilitating effects of disease, cancer, or traumatic injuries. Patients can even try on a new nose or chin before undergoing surgery. It’s only a matter of time before a regenerative operating room can build bones and even organs.

In the recent past, while looking for dates on Tinder, you might’ve noticed an image of a celebrity with an “organ donor” icon next to their photo. By swiping right, instead of contacting the celebrity, users were given the option to register as an organ donor. While this might seem like an unlikely partnership, the truth is that many health organizations worldwide are desperate to find organ donors. According to OrganDonor.gov, 17 people die every day because they’re simply waiting for an organ transplant. Being on an organ waitlist is a terrifying experience for individuals and families. However, a new vision for operating rooms might have the answer, because — thanks to 3D printing — it’s growing closer to reality. 3D Printing of Organs and Bones We don’t have the capability to do this yet, but we promise there is a reason to be excited. Recently, a concept for a regenerative operating room won the Blue Sky competition at the Society of Manufacturing Engineers conference. This operating suite would double as a manufacturing room for the 3D printing of organs, bones, muscles, and cartilage.

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