7 Essential Tips to Get Your Business Back on Track After the Pandemic
Thursday, August 6, 2020, 6:00 AM | Leave Comment
Unless you’re Jeff Bezos, chances are that the COVID-19 pandemic hit your business hard.
While sectors such as eCommerce, home entertainment, and social media are thriving as the world suffers through quarantine and social distancing, most of the other industries have taken a serious hit.
This crisis has plunged us into a global recession that’s likely only to get worse if the virus isn’t contained.
Unpredictable events that have such a strong and unexpected impact on the economy are called “black swans”.
In history, some of the examples of black swans are the Dot-Com Crash (2000), The Great Recession (2008), and the European Sovereign Debt Crisis (2009).
If you remember anything about these events, you’ll know that they plunged a lot of people into poverty and made a lot of businesses crumble.
This new crisis is no joke, but not all is lost even amidst the chaos. How can you, as a business owner and a hardworking person get out of this financial trouble and make your business profitable again after it’s all over?
We have a few tips.
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Assess the damage
This is going to be the most stressful step, but also the one you have to take before you do anything else. After the crisis ends, take out your cash flow and profit loss statements and assess the extent of the damage done to your small business. Compare the numbers to the ones from the previous year and you’ll get a pretty good idea of where you stand. If you’ve had to fire people to cut costs, you will have to start thinking how this has affected the product or service that you’re selling and whether you can afford to hire someone again.
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Make a new business plan
After you assess the damage, it’s time to make a business plan for the future of your company. You must analyze where your industry stands and figure out how your business can get back to its feet with the new conditions you find yourself in. After the pandemic your funds should start recovering enough for you to invest in new products and ideas.
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Sell your product online
If you haven’t set up an online store already, do it as soon as humanly possible. The future of any sort of retail is in eCommerce, and even if your business has nothing to do with retail, you’ll still need a polished, professional website that describes who you are and what you do. This will lend you the needed credibility to gain customers’ trust.
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Control your costs
We’d recommend that you start by optimizing your spending habits and finding a better credit card deal. There are plenty of great deals you can find, regardless of where you live. For example, in Singapore business-people tend to be more proactive when they shop for their financial products. They can easily find a good credit card with no annual fee in Singapore that offers a bunch of other benefits, such as no minimum spend required and cashback options.
There’s no reason for you not to do the same. Look around and find a credit card that will actually help you save money instead of wasting it.
Besides the credit card, you can also save up on utility bills and rent by offering your workers the chance to work from home at least once a week. If you need new equipment or furniture for the office, consider buying secondhand instead of splurging on something new and expensive.
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Research your competitors
You’re not the only one who’s been hit by this crisis. Your competitors must be going through exactly the same, or at least somewhat similar situation. Before you make any decisions about your own business, you must see where they stand. Now might be a good chance to take over some of your competitors – find a gap that they haven’t filled and cash in on it immediately. Examine what you can change or adjust to stay ahead of the game.
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Apply for a loan
It’s always better not to take out a loan if you don’t have to, but if you need funding to recover, then don’t hesitate to apply for one. SBA loans are your best bet, but they are notoriously difficult to apply for. The type of loan you go for will depend on your specific business needs. Business lines of credit and traditional loans are generally good options, and so are equipment financing loans if you’re looking to buy new equipment.
You can also look into invoice financing. With this loan, you borrow money against the amount that your clients owe you. Instead of waiting for the client to pay up, you can get money from the bank immediately if you “sell” them the invoice. Bear in mind that the lender will take a percentage of the invoice as compensation for its services.
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Make a backup plan in case of another crisis
This crisis should be used as a lesson to all businesses – don’t let this happen again. Bad things will happen when you least expect them, so strive to build a business plan that doesn’t rely on luck and hoping that things will work out. Make something that can withstand a crisis.
The situation is unstable right now, but it won’t stay that way forever. Start making plans on how you can recover your business once coronavirus pandemic ends, and until then, just do your best to stay afloat.
Throw us a like at Facebook.com/doable.financeAbout the author
Mike Johnston is an avid blogging enthusiast and experienced content writer with a focus in business, technology, entrepreneurship, and real estate.
