Hardwood Floors December 2024/January 2025

SMALL SPECIAL CONTENT BUSINESS BEST PRACTICES TOOLS FOR BUSINESSES

This fall, the National Wood Flooring Association (NWFA) welcomed an overflow crowd to its first NWFA Real Answers Small Business Workshop in downtown St. Louis, Missouri, as part of the Leadership Development Summit. Building on its long-standing success teaching and supporting wood flooring contractors, NWFA took the next step by shifting the conversation to the challenges of leading The training began with Tom Yochim from the Small Business Administration (SBA) explaining that the resources of the SBA, the tools and templates, as well as advice from Small Business Development Centers (SBDC) and Service Corps of Retired Executives (SCORE) advisors were all resources business owners could access for free. Because SBA is a national organization, SBDC and SCORE are resources that can be found throughout the country. Next up, Tom Meyer from SCORE spoke about the importance of a business plan. A business plan is a critical tool for aligning the team, carefully using resources, and having a measure of the business performance. Meyer showed a tool, the One Page Business Plan, that could be effective in getting a business owner through the process of getting this done. a growing wood flooring company. And it was an overwhelming success.

PHOTOS COURTESY OF NWFA

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