b'BUSINESSMATTERSStart-up 2021By Bob ShawW hat a year. 2020 has been an endless treadmill of reacting, adapting,We were hopeful early on that we hoping, and then reacting all over again. The operating season neverwould get relief this season. We had to had a chance and the January winter season arrived by October. Danbe optimistic for our teams, channel-Yates of the Portland Spirit saw it coming on April 1st. He foresaw false starts ining our inner salesperson to keep deals May and June, followed by lack of group business, and then the morphing ofalive. We were anchored to our old quarter three into winter. At the time such a prediction sounded like a terrible Aprilbusiness models that were carefully Fools joke; sadly, it was prophetic. refi ned over the years. Yet we had to look at the downside too. I learned as a board director to become a profes-sional skeptic, but nothing prepared me for this year, with all operating models broken. We saw operations Public Tickets &re-open with modifi ed schedules only Private Charters to lose even more money than when .together at lastDarwins maxim that survival of the species will go to EFFORTLESSEFFORTLESS those who are most adaptive RESERVATIONS CONTRACTS became our mantra. + TICKETING for Private Charters 2021 demands a new reality.for Public Cruises and Group Bookingsshut down. Darwins maxim that Integrated online,Custom PDF contractssurvival of the species will go to those phone and walk-upwith fully-trackablewho are most adaptive became our bookings versioning mantra. 2021 demands a new reality.Automated conrmation,Support for privateTerry MacRae of Hornblower told reminder and follow-upcharters, schools andme, also in April, that each operation emails tour groups must act like a start-up going forward. Begin with a blank piece of paper and Marketing and SearchDetailed reports forscale up from no revenue to reality. Engine Optimizationevent planning andDeep sea cruise companies have raised (SEO) nancial tracking 18 months of cash needs and will not reopen until they can make money. For Personalized set-up,example, Carnival will not run until 25 Resource tracking for training and supportmulti-use inventory ships can sail at 50 percent capacity. included Please forgive the following math calculations, but in lean times we all need to be hyper-focused on expenses and recovering our cash flow. Let us get that blank sheet of paper and Manage your entirebegin.business from a single,1. Focus: Make your break-even integrated platform sales point as the near-term goalHave your organization know the SCHEDULE A DEMO monthly revenue level where you WWW.STARBOARDSUITE.COM do not lose money, your break-even sales point.30OCTOBER 2020FOGHORN'