Business owners today—from small businesses to midsize businesses—are staring at their accounting or payroll and shaking their heads quietly. All across the country, people who have dedicated themselves to producing, creating, and providing a service are going through an unprecedented time that is both uncertain and stressful. Every business has been affected. Even those that remain open must comply with new regulations and maintain new protocols, all while dealing with the same economic ripple effects we all have to contend with.
Those whose doors remain closed today, or are barely reopening, probably have a lot of questions about what to do and how to move forward. Over the years, Biel Fisette Iacono has helped dozens of small businesses across various different industries with their wealth management. We thought we’d take a moment to look at some solutions for small businesses.
Every business is different. Your needs, your clientele, your specific operational necessities will vary.
Government Programs to Date
We’ve discussed some of these programs already on our website; you can check out our blog page to read more detailed posts. But for now, let’s take a look at an overview of the kind of relief that small businesses have seen so far.
On March 27, President Trump signed an unrivaled $2.2 trillion economic stimulus. The package included billions of dollars for small businesses. The package also included jobless aid that would apply to freelancers and gig economy workers. This bill offers small businesses SBA-backed loans to pay for basic expenses. Business owners will be relieved of paying back portions of this bill if they went to paying employees, mortgage, rent, or utilities. The banks that will be lending those loans will be reimbursed by the Treasury Department.
A new bill was also signed on April 24. This $484 billion coronavirus relief bill was another big step the government took to add more relief to small businesses. This bill provides government-guaranteed loans to small businesses.
There are some conditions to receiving some of these government loans, however, and those too are outlined on our page. Some include ensuring your employees with paid sick leave related to the coronavirus. This can also be difficult for businesses that are already running their credit cards on max.
Some Words of Advice For Small Businesses
Every business owner in the country is looking intensely at the situation and monitoring how they could best respond and serve their customer and customer base. Some useful advice to business owners has come in many different forms, and there is no easy solution. Here are some of the top tips that have been discussed around social media:
- How can you shift your model (temporarily or permanently) to facilitate the operation of your business under current conditions or restrictions? For example, as a dine-in restaurant, how can you keep targeting your customers and keep your doors open? Perhaps focusing on take out and even delivery may work. Convert some of your workforce to drivers and set up a new schedule to rotate employees as much as possible.
- Be creative and study your cash flow, how you can cut costs, and how to get cash fast. This, of course, depends a lot on your industry and the avenues which it has available in our current situation.
Go Through This Checklist of Useful Tips
- Closely monitor the CDC website for changes and updates. Know the numbers in your area and understand the threat.
- Keep in mind the impact of school closures on your employees and your business.
- Begin a plan that outlines how your company might operate if you start to see employees have to take some time off due to illness or family illness.
- Your response plan should be flexible and tailored to the specific aspects of your business.
- Ensure client confidentiality while working from home. Many businesses’ operations changed from one day to the next. Yet, ensuring customer privacy and confidentiality as you shift your operations to the home office should be of top priority.
How Wealth Management Can Be There For You
Assessing any financial planning of the past year might be the key to your success. We can help build a contingency plan. Look at any annual planning and rework with the anticipation of reduced customer activity. Look for ways to preserve cash, slow down debt, and brace for a slowdown.
There is a lot to consider about how to move forward in these times. Whether you are looking to reopen soon or still have some time before you are able to, the next move can have a great impact on how your company comes out of this. We have worked with small and mid-sized businesses for a long time and know the sacrifice and effort owners put into their business every day. As your wealth management team, we want to help you sort out your best options.