There is so much information about COVID-19, I decided to distill this for you, offering you some of the most important and relevant information about navigating this from a business perspective.
You’ll find resources here on planning financially, working remotely, helping your employees cope, and leading with excellence during a crisis.
We will continue to update the resources found here as new developments and programs become available.
As always, we’re here to offer any guidance you need on concerns about your business and business continuity.
This too we shall overcome!
Sonya Conley
Co-owner | Business Manager
Good News on Efforts to End Covid-19: https://happycoronaending.com/
More Good News About the COVID-19 Virus from Peter Diamandis:
SBA Disaster Loans:
Apply for a loan as soon as its available. After they determine if you qualify, you will receive funds in 2-3 weeks. Apply even if you think you won't need it. You can always say NO.
https://www.sba.gov/disaster-assistance/coronavirus-covid-19
MultiFunding has also put together a community site to help business owners navigate through the SBA loan process during these confusing times. https://multifunding.tribe.so/
CARES Act Daily Webinar:
Ami Kassar, the founder and CEO of MultiFunding LLC, and is a nationally renowned expert on access to capital for entrepreneurs. He’s committed to ensuring that business owners have the best possible access to the capital structures to help grow and manage their businesses.
Ami Kassar is holding a DAILY webinar at 12 noon EST to help you flesh out what the stimulus package means for small businesses. You'll want to jump on this webinar when you see changes coming down so you can hear in plain-speak what to expect.
In this one-hour interactive session you will learn:
- SBA emergency loan status - after CARES Act approval
- Existing SBA program initiatives - after CARES Act approval
- Importance of filing 2019 returns
- Do you have liquidity you can leverage?
- Calculating Operating Expenses (6 month burn rate)
- Online loans to watch out for and stay away from
Sign up for the webinar here: https://769yv3el.pages.infusionsoft.net/
Zoom Webinar: https://zoom.us/w/378451652 and Password: 423895
Paycheck Protection Program:
You can apply for the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) at any lending institute that is approved to participate in the program through the existing U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) 7(a) lending program and additional lenders approved by the Department of Treasury. This could be the banks you already use, or a nearby bank.
90 Day Financial Planning:
Meet with your CPA and/or Controller/Accountant and create a financial plan for the next 90 days. Reevaluate this plan every 1-2 weeks to see if you need to adjust.
Stress test your cash! Alan Miltz’ SaaS tool for managing cash – no charge for 3 months – stress test your cash with just 6 numbers from your financials. www.cashflowstory.com/stresstest
Consider adding an expense line item called COVID-19 and dump off all expenses in there including your staff and personal time spent dealing with a crisis – this 30 second video by Ron Lovett, author of Outrageous Empowerment, will explain why it will make it easier to apply for government assistance if and when it comes available. https://www.linkedin.com/posts/ron-lovett_outrageousempowerment-activity-6646137020743761920-N9Uo
Financial Crisis Management Templates from CPA and Author, Greg Crabtree. Will you have the capital needed to get back to pre-Covid19 profitability levels (or better)?
Resource here: https://simplenumbers.me/crisismgmt/
Stabilizing Your Business: Improvise, Adapt, Overcome:
With constant changes brought on by the pandemic of COVID-19, your business may be presented with cash flow challenges and opportunities you may have never faced before. To respond to these changes, look no further than a motto with which you are familiar: Improvise, Adapt, Overcome. The slogan used by the United States Marine Corps outlines steps you can take to combat the challenges you are facing as you make decisions that will be key to the survival of your business. Read details on this strategy here: https://www.cricpa.com/stabilizing-your-business/
Keeping the Office Safe - Boilerplate for Office Protocols:
If your facility is still operating and you have ANY staff coming onsite, you NEED to have clear protocols in place as to how and when people access the building. Here is a copy of our protocols for coming to the office, disinfecting yourself, receiving visitors, and receiving packages/mail.
www.ClevelandComputers.com/OfficeProtocols
Keeping Staff Safe When Going to A Client Site - Boilerplate for Onsite Protocols:
If your facility is still operating and you have the need to deploy your team into the field for any reason, you NEED to have clear protocols in place to keep them safe and assure everyone has the same level of diligence. Here is a copy of our protocols for going onsite.
www.ClevelandComputers.com/OnsiteProtocols
Staying Centered and Grounded - More Important Now Than Ever!
We are in unprecedented times and the pressure on us as leaders has never been as great. Now more than ever we need to assure we take time for centering, grounding, mindfulness.
https://www.verywellmind.com/mindfulness-meditation-88369
REMOTE COLLABORATION TOOLS:
We use Online Meeting at Direct Connect and can get you setup FAST and FREE for 6 months!
Online Meeting Video Conferencing: www.ClevelandComputers.com/work-from-home
FBI Warns of Teleconferencing and Online Classroom Hijacking:
Telehealth Executive Order Signed by Governor DeWine:
SANS Security Awareness Work-from-Home Deployment Kit – FREE
PODCAST:
Mindsets for Scary Times
So, how is all of this affecting business?
And how will it affect YOUR business?
While many people are in a panic, Jay Abraham, Dean Jackson, and Joe Polish are NOT panicking at all, and you should know why. The three of them just had one of the most insightful, calm, and important conversations ever about succeeding in business in scary times such as what we’re experiencing right now.
They recorded the conversation and it is available for you to listen as I Love Marketing podcast Episode #362.
Of all the podcast episodes they've ever done, this will be one of the most important you’ll ever listen to.
Links to More Helpful Information:
COVID-19 live tracker – ‘This is a comprehensive, as close to real time as I have found, tracker of the global to local impact’
- I suggest you book mark this so you have access to data should there be a need.
CDC – ‘What to do if you are sick’
- This should likely be in everyone’s communication to their teams.
https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/if-you-are-sick/steps-when-sick.html
Fox News – ‘Using IV Vitamin C to fight Covid-19’
- Mikhail Kogan, medical director of the GW Center for Integrative Medicine, joined Fox News to discuss research into using IV Vitamin C to fight COVID-19.
https://www.fox5dc.com/video/670223
OSHA – ‘Guidance on preparing the workplace for COVID-19’
- Leadership teams should review this and ensure they are doing what is needed to be prepared.
https://www.osha.gov/Publications/OSHA3990.pdf
Fast Company & A LOT MORE – ‘How to manage virtual meetings – best practices’
As we move to more remote working, having ‘good’ and ‘frequent’ meetings will become highly valuable.
- https://www.fastcompany.com/90304194/best-practices-for-virtual-meetings
- https://hbr.org/2016/04/what-everyone-should-know-about-running-virtual-meetings
- https://hbr.org/2017/03/how-to-raise-sensitive-issues-during-a-virtual-meeting
- https://www.inc.com/guides/2010/12/5-tips-for-conducting-a-virtual-meeting.html
- https://hbr.org/2012/05/the-right-way-to-run-a-virtual
- https://www.nten.org/article/9-best-practices-engagement-virtual-meetings
- https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Aeglaw0DYPXoM9L4WE6ftK3g1PgEorTIoCprjW-jMhI/edit
US Chamber of Commerce – ‘Top 20 Tips for building business resilience’
- Take a look at this list, not all will apply to you and your business but some will and some will just spur your thinking. Biggest take away is that you need to create a plan of action and, in my opinion, update it frequently, maybe daily in some cases.
Medium – ‘What is flattening the curve and why it is important’
- This is a long one and it’s is a few days old but it is full of data with graphs and gives a good overview including data from China and Europe for better understanding of what could happen in the US.
https://medium.com/@tomaspueyo/coronavirus-act-today-or-people-will-die-f4d3d9cd99ca
Sequoia Capital – ‘A look at the financial implications of COVID-19 from a business perspective’
- Managing the financial health of your business is paramount. This article gives some good insights on how to think about doing this.
https://medium.com/sequoia-capital/coronavirus-the-black-swan-of-2020-7c72bdeb9753
McKinsey – ‘General implications for Business’
- This is a few days old but felt it is still very relevant and is one of the most comprehensive overviews I have seen to date. There is a checklist at the end of the article that gives a very good overview of what to be doing to mitigate risk.
https://www.mckinsey.com/business-functions/risk/our-insights/covid-19-implications-for-business
