Many small businesses in the country have felt the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. As such, small business owners need to buckle down, reassess, and make changes to their strategies to keep their businesses afloat.
If you’re running a small business, here’s how you can weather the storm:
Reduce expenses
One effective way to ensure and manage business continuity is by cutting down on costs. We’ll outline three areas where you might be able to secure additional savings:
Parking costs – With employees not coming to the office, you can negotiate to reduce your parking rent with your landlord. If you’re required to pay for a certain amount of parking lots, ask your landlord to waive these requirements while your employees aren’t using them.
Recurring office supply orders – If you have recurring orders for your office, put them on hold first. These could include drinks, snacks, paper supplies, kitchenware, and other general office supplies.
Services and subscriptions – If your office has any recurring subscriptions like telephone, cable, or internet, you might want to cancel them in the meantime.
Move online
If you’re in a business of selling essential supplies like food, medicine, and toiletries, you may be luckier than others. Essential goods remain in demand during these times. However, given lockdowns are in place, your customers might not be able to go to your store physically.
What you can do is to leverage the power of e-commerce and market your goods online. A survey found that there have been a 35.5 percent sales shift from physical stores to online during the pandemic.
First Choice, a service that provides specialty foods for hotels and restaurants in London, took their shop online. They partnered with a digital marketing agency to set up an online shop. And thanks to their efficient selection, checkout, and delivery system, they’re now receiving around 800 orders per day.
Get in touch with your accountant
Contact your trusted accountant and take advantage of the advice they can provide at this time. In these trying times, it’s not good to make rash, uneducated decisions. Accountants can give expert advice on how should you manage your finances, as well as get you updated on the latest market trends and government initiatives.
Apply for government aid
At least 24 states and the District of Columbia have placed financial assistance programs o help small businesses affected by the crisis. The US Chamber of Commerce Foundation has a helpful guide that outlines the different loans, funds, and grants available per state.
A few of the states featured on the guide include:
California – The cities of Sacramento, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and San Diego are offering grants, loans, and donations to help small businesses.
Colorado – The Denver Business Assitance Programs offer businesses up to $7,500 in cash grants.
New York – The NYC Small Business Continuity Loan Fund helps businesses with less than a hundred employees and has experienced a sales drop of 25 percent or more by offering them zero-interest loans of up to $75,000.
These are extraordinary times and for business owners, the pandemic can bring up the question of survival. These are just four measures you can implement to help your business stay operational, and hopefully, make it through the crisis.
