Impressions - Team & Active Wear - Fall 2019 - 24

...shop owners should
be prepared to
make tough, nonemotional decisions
after a disaster.

the middle of baseball season. Office staff
and artists worked from the basement of
Ficken's home for six months.
"We farmed out our printing to two companies we were friends with, one in Iowa and
one in Indiana," he says. "We met with our
accountant to make the decision of whether
to come back and, if so, what amount of a
Small Business Administration disaster loan
we could afford to take out.
"Those were tough times, as your initial
response is to come back no matter what
and to keep fighting," Ficken adds. "But
you also need to step back, look at the big
picture and make a non-emotional decision
on what is feasible."
Ficken says his loyalty to M&R over
the years was repaid during the flood as
the Roselle, Illinois-based screen-printing
equipment supplier helped with recovery.

Lessons learned

"We learned a lot during the process of coming back from the flood of 2008," Ficken says.
"Because we carried little to no debt, that
was a tremendous help. Our staff stepped
up with a lot of hard work and teamwork
that was needed to figure things out and
move forward."
Ficken says the trying times helped his
staff become closer and stronger. He also
learned the shop has many friends, customers
and vendors who will rally to offer support
when needed.
"The business community, faith community and the citizens of Cedar Rapids went
above and beyond in helping us," he says. "It
24 * Fall 2019

Despite the setbacks, Bimm Ridder
is thriving and producing
high-quality product.

was a fantastic example of all coming
together in a time of need."
Ficken offers this sage advice
regarding what business owners
should do to be prepared in case
of an unforeseen emergency: Go
through the process of creating a
business-continuity plan. It will require addressing what will happen
in case of a fire, flood, or electronic
disaster, such as a data breach or data
loss. Ficken says to identify processes like
how to turn your gas and water off, protect
servers and whether servers are backed up in
a remote location. Shop owners also should
be familiar with what is and isn't covered by
their business insurance policies.
"Have a survival kit," Ficken warns.
"The federal agencies will need your last
three years of tax returns to evaluate your
government-assistance package. Make sure
it also includes your insurance plans; your
business-identification information; and
your contact list for employees, suppliers
and customers."
He also warns that shop owners should
be prepared to make tough, non-emotional
decisions after a disaster. "The first big deci-

sion to make is deciding whether a business
really can come back, or if they're digging a
deeper hole than they can get out of."
Bimm Ridder's plan for the future is to
keep offering outstanding customer service,
products and designs, as well as providing a
good atmosphere in which employees can
excel and give back to the Cedar Rapids
community. 
Jennifer Morrell is an award-winning writer who
has written for a number of national consumer
and trade publications. For more information
or to comment on this article, email Jennifer at
jennmorrell@hotmail.com.
Impressions - Team & Active Wear - Fall 2019

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