We with the for you to follow events andxios follow on twitter axios. Our first guest, sophia dickens, started a Small Business. She will be joining us from orange county, california. She created eQ Entertainment. And the brand q wonder, a curriculum that helps people learn at home, which suddenly is in a lot more demand. Thank you for joining axios. Thank you for having me, mike. Mike how is california . I wish i was there. It is stunning, but it is outside the window, so not quite enjoying it like i used to. Mike sophia, you got the idea goteQ Entertainment, you this idea from a college class, which i think Small Businesses start with, just a germ of an idea. Tell us about it. I remember being blown away as a student at harvard by 40 ands of data, that social emotional learning, not academics, was at the core of success. There wasnt anything out there that made it fun and easy for parent teachers and kids, so i took that 40 years of data and translated it and built the q wonder show that has a liberty guests on it, if all online curriculum, and we also have an app for athome use. Mike you promised you would not quiz me, but one of the skills you teach is problemsolving. What is an example of how Q Entertainment and q wonder what attack the problem, based on research, as opposed to how we may have been taught back in the day . Sophia in a lot of ways through our Education System we teach kids exactly what to think, as opposed to how to think. And it is important because there is so much insecurity about what the teacher job market will look like for them, that we teach them problemsolving skills like growth mindset, teaching them to focus on the process as opposed to the result. That will keep them from having a little feeling and help them to grow further, it will help them take more risk. Kids have to be comfortable, and that takes practice. Mike what is a quick example of that . A problem and how you might attack it . Sophia one problem that kids deal with is delayed gratification, they want something in front of them and they want it now. We are the same as adults. But it is literally the difference between prison and lifelong success if you do not solve that problem. With impulse control comedic in practice it by using distraction techniques. That is something that we teach, we have a fun episode with Michael Strahan where he and a monkey are happy they dont eat the Cookie Contest and Michael Strahan wins because he has learned to distract himself, these are things we can teach kids every day. With when you are working parents, who suddenly have have who have suddenly become voluntary homeschoolers in many cases, whats going on across the world right now. In this moment what have you learned as a Small Business person for parents who have become educators question mark we have all become educators, yes. Institutional inertia doesnt allow the educational system to evolve with the times, so this has done something that politicians have never been able to do, disrupt a decadesold format of how we teach our kids. So you think thats good, right . Its an opportunity here. Are going toarents have a blank sheet of paper to customize their kids education. That could be scary, but either way, education is never going to be the same. The quicker we acknowledge that, the better off we will be there. There are a lot of jobs that will come back, they will be replaced by automation. Lookse we dont have that into the future, but we know is we need to teach her kids emotional intelligence. Emotionals intelligence. These are the Critical Skills we have to teach our kids. Able to help kids master those skills. Sophia dickens, you are in the same boat as so many entrepreneurs. Ou try to get a ppp loan tell us your experience, tell us what happened. I think the u. S. Economy is made up of almost half, half of the economy is made up of businesses that are small, that are under 10 employees. Hundreds of thousands got stuck in the queue. We were with one of the larger banks waiting for a ppp loan and we got stuck. It sounds like the online total wasnt working properly for a good portion of the week. I heard this happened with another major bank as well. So, now we have gone with a smaller bank, read on the process, and it kind of feels like we are subject to a lottery system here. So, that must be very frustrating for other entrepreneurs who are watching. What are some of your survivors survival skills, coping skills . Its a matter of the same things that we are talking to our kids about, growth mindset, being innovative. One, we have to shed the idea of who we thought we were as a company or business before this happened and we have to adjust, start innovating, think what are the need to out there now and how can we add value to a world that has completely reset . We have a viewer question for you. Talking to your friends, businesses, how many weekend months do these businesses have to stay afloat given that current stayathome order iross so many states . Dont have an optimistic answer there. The government has been patting themselves on the back for filling a onemonth hole in the economy and taking two months to do it. We will see a lot of small 30inesses fail in the next to 60 days and it will be tough, it wont be a matter of weeks or months, this will be a several year process and we are going to have to start really reinventing ourselves and looking to see how we can help each other. A sobering message, but thank you for sharing your story. We always finish with one fun thing. Sophia dickens, one fun thing for you, you recently took a ski trip where you skied longer than i have skied in my life. Did a 56 mile ski trip in sweden, in arctic conditions, following in my dads footsteps, like a 500yearold tradition. I am trying to rally my friends to do it again in the upcoming year. This was how many miles, how long it take . It took about 10 and a half hours. And that was a workout . Its always a workout. [laughter] sophia dickens, thank you for t andng us about eqtainmen q wonder. We wish you the best of luck to your business. Thank you. Now we have a view from the. Op second segment thank you, mike. I am joined here by alex chris, who is the gm of intuit quickbooks. How are you doing . Great, jim. Thanks for having me. You have an amazing lens into the economy and this moment. , you touch arole lot, huge chunk of the selfstarter Small Businesses in the country. Why would i come to you and what do you do for them . Over 6 million Small Businesses in the u. S. We pay one in 12. We have a breath right now. The beauty of my books is that we are the source of truth for your business. We can see your cash flow, the money in, the money out, your payroll, everything is in one place. If you are a Small Business that is selfemployed and you are desperate trying to figure out how much time you have left, but the cash flow is looking like, how you will be able to pay your employees, we are able to consolidate that information to give you the insights that you need. Thats critical for being a part. F this ppp program coming up so much of it is about gathering the right data and being able to have the data for forgiveness if you are able to get through. What is your advice to Small Business owners trying to become a part of the ppp program . Put more money into the federal government. Obviously some companies have been able to get it, others have really struggled. What have you learned about helping people navigate it . The amazing thing about Small Businesses is that they are incredibly resilient. I talked to Small Businesses every day and they are figuring out how to be a part of an online world or sell their goods in a virtual environment. But we have to help them basically by time right now. If they are scrambling, trying to figure out how to make the cash flow extend, we know from our Small Businesses that many of them dont really have a month or two of cash flow available. So, without these kinds of helping hands through Something Like a loan or a ppp program, they are going to go out. My advice would be to continue to pivot, do what you naturally do. Figure out how to keep your business running and look for help as well. Seeink that we are about to the second round of the Program Launch and there will have to be more around that. Dont be afraid, dont be thinking it is out of reach for you. There are folks out there like the books who will help you to get up and running and apply for one of these loans. How many more rounds do you think the federal government will have to do a visa loan guarantees for Small Businesses . Through two of them we have 600 billion allocated for the program, given that you had an insight into what companies are facing, how much more do you think the federal government is going to have to put forward . Im not sure, but i think we will have to reconsider how we progress. As we saw in the first round, even with the carveout from the second round, the folks getting the loans are the larger Small Businesses. The average loan size in the last round was 200 and 45,000. We are seeing customers coming in to talk about what they need to cover their payroll. 20 to 50 employees are getting the loans, where the vast have less than five employees. Those are the ones that structurally need it. The system is a really set up for it right now. Banks are there to cover the smallest. That is why we started the quickbooks capital business to begin with, they were underserved. They were not the ones that thanks cover. Its not just about putting more money in, its going to have to be as we move forward thinking how we work with players like quickbooks, that have the data and the algorithms to be able to approve and serve the smallest there,l businesses out the truly underserved, making sure those dollars are flowing to the Small Businesses. What else should or could the federal government do to help Small Businesses . Every politician says they love Small Businesses. What can the government to above and beyond the ppp program . To help the Small Business that you were just talking about . Someone who might only have 5, 10, 15, 20 employees . I think the government is doing an amazing job. The money flowing in is exactly what they need, but they need to think about the structure. We need to think about how they leverage the folks like us that have data that is above and beyond what can be relied on. Credit models that allow us to approve and lend to the smallest of Small Businesses, working handinhand with us so that we can put those dollars to use. I think that throwing dollars into a system that was already set up to help the larger businesses isnt going to get the job done. You are an entrepreneurial guy yourself. As we depart here, what have you learned throughout the course of your career that you can pass on Small Business owner looking for wisdom as they try to navigate these Tumultuous Times . Anex before quickbooks i was entrepreneur and i remember the darkest day of my startup was the day i wasnt sure i was going to be up to make the next payroll. Your insides are gnawing at you. You lose sleep. But you know that you are scrappy and it is on your shoulders. My advice to these Small Businesses is that there are willing to help you. At quickbooks we have 5000 folks that live and breathe every morning trying to figure out how to help you. Give us a ring, we will figure it out. Dont, dont be afraid to ask for help. Thank you for that smart and insightful conversation. We will turn it back over to mike allen. Think you, jim, alex, and axiost for making this Virtual Event on Small Businesses and a path to recovery possible. Welcome back to my home in arlington, virginia. Like so many people, this was my home and now it is my home office. We appreciate you joining us earlier today. With Suzanne Clark, president of the u. S. Chamber of commerce. Im joined now by Suzanne Clark, president of the u. S. Chamber of commerce, the Worlds Largest business organization. She has been in the trenches, i got to know her when she was running her own company as president and coo. She has a ba and mba in georgetown. Madam president , welcome to axios. Thank you. Suzanne, Congress Just replenished the money in the Payment Protection Fund to help Small Businesses stay in money. His round number two going to be thats a good question, mike. We hear from Small Businesses across the country every day. Some of them in tears. They cannot get over the impact on their family, their community, on their customers. Are Glad Congress got this done, but no, it wont be enough. And they cannot start working on the rest the next round fast enough. We spend all day talking to businesses of all sizes. Talking to Small Businesses, whats the most common thing that you hear . The most common worry that they find . First of all its just staying afloat, you know . They know firsthand what a job means to a family and a community. What it means to health outcomes. They are very concerned. They worry about their support in the community. Their Little League teams and their philanthropy. They are very concerned about staying safe, keeping their employees safe, and frankly, just staying afloat. They are also worried about how they reopen in a way that is safe and sustainable. These rounds were not enough, what is needed . Say congress were to get started right away, how much would be enough . All, i think they are going to have to do at least another 250 billion. But what is really going to mean enough is free enterprise. This isnt going to be government aid and assistance for ever. We have to help the people in real pain right now and then and safely reopen so that americans have access to their paychecks again. Isdo you feel that america on the road, or do you worry about the road we are on at the moment . Well, its hard as a human not to be worried. Look at the scale of the Public Health crisis and the scale of the economic crisis. Its tragic. So of course we are all worried. Business owners in the business community, when you are worried, you get to work. Thats what makes the worry better. That means phasing in a gradual reopening based on geographies that are safer, industries that are safer, following the right guidelines so that you can really help. We know that it fell off a cliff quickly when it closed down and as you reopen more slowly, we know the demand comes back relatively quickly and businesses want to be there to meet it. I hear you saying that your friends and business are pushing an anxious to reopen. Anxious about reopening, too, right . Chamberhave seen in the from the top forward is that we are looking at number one, essential services have to be in place. Day care and transit have to be in place if anyone wants to get back to work very good number two, the right equipment. Testing and tracing but also ppe. Thermometers, masks, hand sanitizer, training on all of those things. Third, the regulatory guidance. Follow osha guidelines, cdc guidelines, what does it mean . And making it clear. They are also concerned about litigation risks. This is an imperfect time and there is no playbook. While businesses are anxious to reopen for their families and employees, they want to make sure that when they do it, they do it properly. Thats interesting. What is the litigation risks that worries the Business People that you talk to . One of the things about return to work is that it is returned to life, places of worship, places where you can celebrate earth days, charities and philanthropy, etc. Its not just traditional businesses. Schools are worried about litigation risks. Its an imperfect situation. For example, we are asking ceos to operate during an unprecedented time. After years of saying dont discriminate on the basis of health and age, now we are saying protector vulnerable population. When we say keep health data you need to we say make something public so that we can trace the people have the virus or understand who has immunity. When there is a whole new playbook, unfortunately there are a small number of plaintiffs who go hard to look for liability. They are already organizing against Health Care Workers and device manufacturers. What do you advise businesses when they are getting conflicting advice and even direction from the white house and even different governors . Them advise them to help understand where the conflicts are so that we can be a conduit in between. , we can seee sit every side, every sector, every geography. We can talk to the white house, the statehouse, and local Health Officials to coordinate and collaborate. A lot of people at every level of government is trying to do the right thing, but totally unprecedented areas or collaboration, the more cooperation is better. We say to businesses, be clear about your questions and concerns. We have task forces based on geography that can help, but we also know that the challenges with consumer Country Companies will be different than, say, an office or industrial company. Anything we can do to get questions and concerns in one place to guide policy leaders and business leaders, we want to do. When you talk about high density businesses, like a french bistr