22 THE QUEENS COURIER • QUEENS BUSINESS • JANUARY 21, 2021 FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT WWW.QNS.COM
queens business
Five ways small businesses are adapting to COVID
COVID-19 has irrevocably altered the
way that we do business. Some small businesses
have fl oundered, while others have
completely reinvented themselves.
In a recent survey by SCORE, just 34%
of U.S. small business owners now categorize
their companies as profi table, compared
to 55% in 2019. As a result, they’re
working hard to adapt - reconfi guring
their off erings to boost revenues and
planning such new strategies.
“Th e unexpected has forced many
to reevaluate plans, practices and procedures,”
notes Andrea Forstadt on
USChamber.com. “Yet one of the advantages
of being a small business is the ability
to more easily lean in to, embrace and
adapt to change. For many, the shortterm
alternate plans or adjustments are
fast becoming the realities of the foreseeable
future.”
Here are fi ve trends that have impacted
small business this year.
Freelancing has surged. As people rely
on contract work to replace lost jobs,
the number of freelancers in the U.S. is
growing steadily. NPR reports that two
million more Americans began freelancing
between September of 2019 and
September of 2020, boosting the freelance
portion of the U.S. workforce to 26%.
Studies also show that women lost jobs
at a faster rate than men during the past
year; and are more likely to pursue fulltime
freelance careers due to autonomy
and fl exible schedules.
Cashless commerce is growing. To
reduce person-to-person contact, businesses
of all kinds are discouraging or
completely eliminating cash payment
options in favor of card or digital payments.
“Ongoing shift s toward e-commerce,
digital payments (including contactless),
instant payments and cash displacement
have all been signifi cantly
boosted in the past six months,” confi
rms an October McKinsey report. In
one example, the raw volume of invoices
sent on Invoice2go, which saw more
than $24 billion in invoicing volume
in 2019, has risen from 58 million to
78 million invoices sent per month - a
boost of about 30%. As consumers seek
effi ciency and convenience, Invoice2go
also has seen a 50% boost in digital payments
via its payment platform - a crucial
assist to help small businesses stay
competitive.
Demand is up for digital tools. As
small businesses lean more on online
business functions and/or e-commerce
during social isolation, they’re calling for
leading-edge tools that can help them
navigate the logistics. Women-owned
businesses are oft en primary customers
for fi nancial management tools - studies
show they’re 43% more likely than male
business owners to be concerned that limited
access to funds could hurt their businesses.
Around 43% of U.S. small businesses
plan to expand their businesses
through digital and related technology as
a response to COVID-19, according to the
Verizon Business Survey. In fact, 30% of
these businesses have already added ways
to deliver products and services digitally.
To meet this demand, Invoice2go has
recently added “Reviews” and “Profi les”
features - prompting a star-based review
aft er each transaction and enabling creation
of an auto-generated website to
help small businesses get discovered and
build credibility. Th is is especially crucial
for solopreneurs (37% of the platform’s
users), who can’t always devote valuable
time for customer follow-up and encourage
the word-of-mouth that generates
future business.
Businesses are diversifying. Many
small businesses have devised new off erings
as previous income streams dwindled.
For example, hotels are now off ering
day-rate rooms for people who need to
work remotely, distilleries are producing
hand sanitizer in addition to spirits and
restaurants are off ering better, easier takeout
options. “Diffi cult times oft en lead to
changes in the way the world operates,”
says Wade Th omas in Forbes. His advice
to business owners is, “Develop products
and services that not only solve today’s
challenges, but will also thrive in the new,
post-diffi cult-times world.”
Virtual experiences are expanding.
Companies have transformed in-person
events into digital experiences. From
virtual happy hours, to podcast product
releases, to YouTube customers videos,
everything is going online. “Th e real
opportunity is to somehow provide the
experience and connectivity of former
live events to a virtual one that actually
can sustain itself over time, even aft er the
end of the pandemic,” explains Bernhard
Schroeder in Forbes.
— Courtesy of BPT
Elder Law Minute TM
The Importance of Digital Assets
BY RONALD A. FATOULLAH, ESQ.
AND STACEY MESHNICK, ESQ.
When an individual dies, the Executor
or Administrator (“fi duciary/representative”)
of the estate has the responsibility
of distributing the assets to the benefi
ciaries. Th e Executor must sift through
fi les to determine what assets the decedent
held at the time of death. With the
advent of technology it has become more
diffi cult to get a handle on people’s assets
aft er they die. Even if the Executor fi nds
an asset, he or she has to access the electronic
document with a password.
Google has recently announced that,
as part of its updated storage policies, it
will begin deleting the content of inactive
accounts as of June 1, 2021. An account
is considered inactive if the user has not
accessed the account for 24 months, and
Google has indicated that multiple notifi
cations will be sent prior to the removal
of any content.
Th e disclosure of a decedent’s information
to a fi duciary is governed by Article
13-A of the New York Estates Powers
ELDER LAW
and Trusts Law, which was signed into
law on September 29, 2016. Th e law was
designed to address digital assets. A digital
asset is defi ned an “electronic record
in which an individual has a right or
interest. Th e term does not include an
underlying asset unless it is itself an electronic
record”.
Under the law, upon receipt of a written
request, a copy of a death certifi cate and a
copy of the appointment of the representative,
a custodian (website) of electronic
records has a duty to disclose to the
representative of the estate “a catalogue
of electronic communications sent or
received by a deceased user.” Practically
speaking, this means that the Executor
will have access to a contact list (catalogue)
rather than the content.
As such, the Executor still doesn’t have
automatic access to the content. Th e law
provides that the custodian must disclose
the content in situations where
a deceased user has consented to, or a
court order has mandated, disclosure of
the contents. Th e law also lays out specifi
c requirements in order for the representative
to obtain content, including
the ability of the custodian to request the
username, so that they are not in violation
of the Electronic Communications
Privacy Act.
Aft er passage of the law, cases were
brought to address the issues and apply
the law. New York cases address and discuss
the diff erence between digital content
and catalogue. Catalogue includes
the name of the sender, the email address
of sender and the time and date of the
communication. Th e content includes
the subject line and text of e-mail messages.
Based upon the complexity of the
issues, it is very important to address
access to digital content in a Last Will
and Testament. Th e Will can allow the
Executor specifi c authority to deal with
the digital content in the estate.
Th e recent announcement by Google
that it will be deactivating inactive
accounts beginning June 1, 2021, exemplifi
es how, now more than ever, it is
important to make a catalogue of one’s
digital accounts, usernames and passwords
to avoid deactivation before and
aft er death.
Ronald A. Fatoullah, Esq. is the founder
of Ronald Fatoullah & Associates, a law
fi rm that concentrates in elder law, estate
planning, Medicaid planning, guardianships,
estate administration, trusts, wills,
and real estate. Stacey Meshnick, Esq.
is a senior staff attorney at the fi rm.
Th e law fi rm can be reached at 718-
261-1700, 516-466-4422, or toll free at
1-877-ELDER-LAW or 1-877-ESTATES.
Th is is not intended to be individual
legal advice which can only be provided
if you retain our fi rm. If you need legal
advice please contact our offi ces to schedule
a consultation at 1-877-ELDERLAW
(1-877-353-3752).
RONALD FATOULLAH
ESQ, CELA*
/WWW.QNS.COM
/USChamber.com
