Resilient Growth: Navigating Market Change, Financing, and Customer Expectations A Practical Guide for Small and Midsize Business Owners
The insights in this paper are drawn from a panel discussion on financial services at the 2025 WBENC National Conference. The conversation featured leaders from Capital One, Wells Fargo, and small business advocates sharing real-world guidance on financing, market trends, customer expectations, and the role of community partnerships. Their practical advice reflects the challenges and opportunities facing women-owned and minority-owned businesses today.
Introduction: Strong Businesses Start with Informed Decisions
Today’s economy brings both complexity and opportunity. As a business owner, you are facing higher costs, shifting customer expectations, global disruptions, and constant technological change. These challenges are real, but they are also manageable with the right information and planning.
This white paper offers practical guidance on how to respond to rising tariffs and supply chain disruption, prepare for debt financing, use data to personalize customer experiences, and build strong community relationships. It is written for business owners who are actively growing, evaluating their financial options, or rethinking how to serve their customers.
Part 1: Tariffs and Supply Chain Pressures; What to Know and What to Do
The current landscape
Import tariffs are creating new financial pressures across many industries. Ranging from 10 to 51 percent depending on the goods and countries involved, tariffs are raising the cost of raw materials, components, and finished products. This directly affects your bottom line.
What this means for your business
Increased cost of goods
Reduced profit margins
Greater cash flow uncertainty
More difficult forecasting and planning
Steps you can take
Rethink your sourcing strategy
Explore alternative suppliers. Assess domestic options. Negotiate pricing or terms where possible.Model different pricing scenarios
Determine how much of the increased cost can be passed along to customers. Evaluate the impact on demand.
Pause or sequence large investments
If your financial outlook is uncertain, consider slowing your growth plans until costs stabilize.Buy smarter
Look into volume discounts or renegotiating contract terms to reduce exposure to fluctuating prices.Track policy updates
Assign someone on your team to monitor tariff developments and prepare scenario plans.Use your voice in policy
Join trade groups, attend forums, and support advocacy that protects small businesses.
You do not need to solve global trade policy, but you do need a flexible strategy that protects your business as conditions shift.
Part 2: How to Prepare for Debt Financing and Capital Partnerships
Why access to capital matters
At some point, growth requires investment. Whether you are hiring, expanding into new markets, or upgrading systems, you may need financing. For many business owners, debt is a strategic tool. But banks and lenders need to see signs of financial readiness.
What lenders are looking for
Predictable and stable cash flow
Clear use of funds with return potential
Solid financial statements and reporting
Strong understanding of financial metrics
A backup plan if things do not go as expected
Alignment between the lender’s services and your business needs
Actions to take right now
Organize your financials
Make sure your profit and loss statement, balance sheet, and cash flow report are current and accurate.Know your numbers
Understand your debt coverage ratio, liquidity position, and margins. These help lenders assess risk.Map your use of funds
Prepare a clear plan that shows how borrowed capital will drive measurable outcomes.Build your forecast
Include best case, worst case, and most likely scenarios. Show that you have thought through the risks.Start building relationships early
Find a lender who knows your industry and takes time to understand your goals. Do not wait until you need the money to start the conversation.Balance debt and equity
Use financing to grow while maintaining ownership. Debt can help you scale without giving up control.
Lenders are not just looking at your balance sheet. They are assessing your readiness, your strategy, and your leadership.
Part 3: Using Data to Build Personalized Customer Experiences
Why personalization matters more than ever
Today’s consumers expect more than good service. They expect businesses to understand them, remember them, and anticipate what they want. Personalization is no longer optional. It is a key part of building loyalty, referrals, and competitive advantage.
What personalization looks like in a small business
Greeting customers by name, not account number
Offering recommendations based on past behavior
Sending reminders or follow-ups at the right time
Communicating in a customer’s preferred language or channel
Tailoring marketing messages to specific customer needs
How to get started
Use the data you already have
Even basic purchase history, appointment records, or feedback forms can provide insights.Talk to your customers
Ask what they care about. Test small ideas. Let their responses guide your improvements.Choose one journey to improve
Start with something manageable like your welcome email, repeat customer outreach, or post-sale follow-up.Invest in accuracy
A basic mistake like “Hello LastName” breaks trust. Make sure your personalization is thoughtful and correct.Find a partner if needed
If data is not your strength, work with someone who can help translate insights into action.
Why this works
At Capital One, for example, mobile banking apps send tailored alerts, offer custom product recommendations, and even highlight savings opportunities based on customer behavior. The same logic can be applied in any small business setting. Whether you run a wellness clinic, construction firm, or e-commerce shop, using data to personalize your service makes people more likely to stay and spend.
You do not need enterprise tools to start. You need curiosity, commitment, and a plan.
Part 4: Community Partnerships and Support for Diverse Business Owners
The gap is real
Many business owners, especially those who are women, Black, brown, immigrant, or first-generation entrepreneurs, face more barriers to traditional financing. That includes fewer banking relationships, less access to capital, and a lack of tailored support.
The role of community partnerships
Provide financial education in plain language
Connect owners to grants, microloans, or CDFIs
Offer mentorship and business planning support
Help navigate local, state, and federal funding programs
Bridge the gap between traditional and nontraditional funding
What you can do
Connect with local business incubators, women’s business centers, or Black chambers of commerce
Attend workshops hosted by banks, universities, or nonprofit programs
Ask lenders about their programs for underserved businesses
Be proactive in sharing your goals, challenges, and needs
What banks are doing
Wells Fargo and Capital One have both launched programs aimed at increasing access to funding and education for underrepresented entrepreneurs. These include Spanish-language platforms, diverse supplier initiatives, and support for accelerators that work with small and medium sized businesses.
But these programs only help if you use them. Reach out, ask questions, and advocate for what your business needs.
Choosing the right bank matters
Choosing your bank and your banker is one of the most important financial decisions you will make as a business owner. In the early stages of growth, access to trusted guidance and resources can make the difference between momentum and missed opportunity. Unfortunately, many large banks are not staffed with business bankers who can build real relationships or offer practical advice. At Athena, we actively encourage our clients to explore community banks and local financial institutions. Community banks are often better positioned to meet business owners where they are, understand their unique challenges, and connect them to the right financial products, grants, and planning tools. They also tend to take more time with clients and can help slow the process down when needed, ensuring that decisions are made thoughtfully, not reactively.
Final Thoughts: Resilience Is a Strategy
You do not have to predict every change in the economy to run a successful business. But you do need to be responsive, informed, and prepared.
Seven steps you can take right now
Watch for economic trends that affect your costs, your customers, or your competition.
Strengthen your financial reporting so you can make decisions with clarity.
Test a personalized experience for your customers, even if it is simple.
Use your data to identify new opportunities and hidden risks.
Prepare for funding conversations long before you need capital.
Build a support team that includes financial, legal, and technical expertise.
Stay connected to community partners and programs that align with your values and goals.
Most importantly, stay adaptable. The business owners who succeed are not the ones who avoid risk. They are the ones who plan for it, move through it, and keep building anyway.
As one speaker shared, “Never settle for the path of least resistance. I hope you dance.”
Your business deserves that kind of belief. Let’s move forward with clarity, creativity, and community.
How This Connects to Athena’s Approach
At Athena Advisory Collective, financials are not a side conversation. They are the foundation of every decision you make as a business owner. Whether you are navigating economic pressure, preparing for financing, investing in personalization, or evaluating your customer journey, the question we always ask is the same. What does this mean for your bottom line, your valuation, and your future?
Here is how the guidance in this white paper reflects how we work with clients:
Responding to Tariffs and Cost Increases
We help you model different financial scenarios so you can see the full picture of rising costs, shrinking margins, and delayed growth. We make sure your numbers are clean, clear, and ready to inform action.
Preparing for Debt Financing
Our team guides you through building the financial infrastructure that lenders want to see. That includes accurate reporting, confident forecasting, clear ROI planning, and a strategic understanding of how to balance debt and equity. This is not just about access to capital. It is about financial readiness as a growth strategy.
Using Data to Personalize and Differentiate
Your customer insights and financial data are connected. We help you use both to drive smarter decisions. Whether you are identifying your most profitable offers or refining how you retain clients, we make sure every investment in experience leads to measurable value.
Supporting Ownership and Equity
We work closely with women founders, queer founders, and founders of color who are building businesses with long-term impact. That means understanding your valuation, protecting your ownership, and using capital wisely. Our role is to make sure your financials reflect your vision and support your next move.
At Athena, your financials are not just numbers. They are the blueprint of your business. Everything we do, from growth planning to investor readiness to operational design, starts by understanding where your business stands financially and how to make the most of every dollar, every decision, and every opportunity.
We do not separate strategy from finance. We build them together.
Start by getting a picture of your business health and readiness by taking our Health and Value Business Assessment
