COVID-19 vs. small biz rant small business |
- COVID-19 vs. small biz rant
- Banks to get PAID a healthy processing fee by the Government.
- SBA loan payments being paid by the SBA for the next 6 months
- Lease a commercial space, landlord is asking for $10k for March and April rent. No source of income, governor ordered us to shutdown for the next 30 days.
- Are your sales dead or declining? Time to adapt to survive before it's too late
- Reapply for SBA's EIDL if your application didn't have a checkbox to apply for the up to $10,000 grant
- Small business coronavirus resource guide w/ free Paycheck Protection Program Calculator Template
- Should I pay my commercial rent during these times ?
- Can you deny the SBA loan if accepted for it and keep the 10k grant ?
- Spoke to the SBA
- PSA: There are 2 DIFFERENT Coronavirus loans and it's unclear if they can be used for the same purpose (payroll, expenses, etc). Please discuss.
- US Chamber guide to COVID emergency loans
- If your business got hit by the virus, I'll run your online advertising for free until this all passes
- PPP and 1099 contractors
- Own a nail salon in California - should I get unemployment or SBA?
- St. Louis Federal Reserve: Economic Effects of the 1918 Influenza Pandemic Implications for a Modern-day Pandemic (Nov. 2007)
- A fabric supplier of ours in China has disposable masks available. These will cost me $1.10 each to get delivered. How can I sell these without being considered gouging? I just want to be able to sell them for $2/each shipped to cover our staff costs.
- Has anyone been able to apply for the paycheck protection loan yet?
- Unemployment Higher than Paycheck
- Validating idea, start from scratch. Finding profitable and bussiness ideas.
- I see that a lot of businesses are struggling but I'm not sure if many are aware that sellers on Amazon are having the best month of all time. Plenty of money to be made if you sell goods.
- Two sole proprietorships applying for EILD
- GoFundMe will be issuing $500 matching grants to qualifying businesses that raise at least $500 on GoFundMe. See if you qualify!
- Pub Trivia Business: Pivoted to Online Trivia Successfully!
- A new idea I'd like to peruse when everything calms down
| Posted: 30 Mar 2020 08:41 PM PDT Hi guys, I just wanted to share something real with the group. Most businesses are not doing great now and I know, it sucks. I am fortunate enough to be in a position where I can sustain my business with the decrease in revenue I've experienced due to COVID-19. I am still cold-calling, cold-emailing, following up on old leads for new business and to replace the clients that unfortunately couldn't afford me anymore. Today was an especially hard day. Three people cursed me out for reaching out for business while "the world is in shambles." I spent the rest of the day as Drake would say "in my feelings." I was sad. I was mad. I wanted to quit my business. I had a pity party. I was tired of not being able to travel as much as I used to with the flowing disposable income of my 9-5 (every dollar I make now goes into growing my business). I was tired of rejection and people yelling at me for trying to make a living. Then I remembered why I am doing this. I am doing this for a better tomorrow for myself and my family. I am doing this to build a great brand and do what I love. We are so fortunate to be able to make money doing what we love! I love my boss for the first time in my professional career (LOL). I won't lie, I when I started my business I wanted to be rich, and I still do. But it's so much more than that for me now. I can't let rejection and COVID-19 and to be quite frank - assholes, deter me from my goal and my brand. Times may be hard, but please don't give up. I know it's easy for me to say don't give up when some of you literally will have to close your doors and I'm truly sorry for that. But I hope that when this is over that you either find a way to make things work with your current business or start something new. Cheers [link] [comments]  |
| Banks to get PAID a healthy processing fee by the Government. Posted: 30 Mar 2020 05:46 PM PDT The Cares Act requires the Administrator to provide a lender with a process fee for servicing the PPP loan. Sets lender compensation fees at five percent for loans of not more than $350,000; three percent for loans of more than $350,000 and less than $2,000,000; and one percent for loans of not less than $2,000,000. " [link] [comments]  |
| SBA loan payments being paid by the SBA for the next 6 months Posted: 31 Mar 2020 05:10 AM PDT I just reveieced an awesome email from my current SBA lender that's says: "CreditBench is pleased to share with you a payment relief benefit of the recently passed CARES ACT. Effective immediately, SBA will be making your next 6 consecutive monthly payments of principal and interest for any current SBA loan. These payments will be applied directly to your loan automatically." That's incredible, and it makes me want to take back some of my populist rhetoric about how this bill didn't look after small biz enough. [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 30 Mar 2020 08:34 AM PDT Hello, I'm in the same boat as many others. We lease a commercial space for a barbershop. The governor of our state has ordered that businesses (specifically, writing out barbershops and salons) be closed for the next 30 days. And given the nature of the work (customer facing and being so close to them), we would be putting both the public and employees at risk for further spreading the virus if we were to ignore the governor's orders. My questions are... to those small business owners, if you are forced to close your store during the national state of emergency, are you still going to pay rent? What rights do we have as tenants when we can't utilize our lease space to conduct business? Thanks in advance! EDIT: Within the last hour, the governor just declared an even stronger "stay-at-home" order until June 12, 2020. This is over two months without income. We are screwed. [link] [comments]  |
| Are your sales dead or declining? Time to adapt to survive before it's too late Posted: 31 Mar 2020 04:10 AM PDT Are you stressed that your store isn't doing so well in these recent times and don't now where to turn for help? You're not alone. However, that's not an excuse to pause everything, because who really knows how long this madness will last? It could be weeks, or it could be many months. Personally, I believe that even if the isolation ends in a few weeks' time, everything will NOT "go back to normal" right away. Best case scenario, things start to get back - very - slowly. That's because many people will be low on cash, will have debt stacked up, may have lost their jobs and now need time to find new ones, and the overall fear about the whole situation will continue (there's also word that the outbreak could re-start next fall/winter). If you wait a few months, there may not be any business to return to. So what do you do then? You have two choices: focus on new unique offers and sales angles, or preferably on new products that do better or even very well during these times. Here are some niches that do well now: Office furniture for home -- many employers have allowed their employees to work from home, but most people weren't ready for this so they need to buy furniture and other office supplies they may need to work from home. Fitness gear for home workouts -- same idea as above. People are afraid to go to gym now, but many also don't want to completely give up on fitness for months at a time. So they buy their fitness equipment for home. Kitchenware and kitchen appliances -- nobody is going to restaurants now, not just because they are afraid to catch the virus from other other people eating there, but from the restaurant staff, too. They also order much less now, for the same reason. But people still need to eat. The problem is they weren't prepared for this so they now buy whatever kitchen tools they need to make meal prepping a little more enjoyable. Supplements/health products -- whether they help or not against the virus, it may be irrelevant. People will take whatever they think is necessary to boost their immune system. Medical care devices -- these are also in high-demand now because either hospitals need them or people who are afraid to go to the hospital order them to check their pressure, glucose levels, alert bracelets, etc. Security systems -- a lot of buildings are being left vulnerable now as nobody is going there anymore, so employers want to install security/surveillance systems to ensure the safety of the offices. Some people are also afraid that burglars will break in to steal stuff to sell during these times, so they want some protection against that. Gaming-related products -- as everyone is staying home with nothing to do, gaming has boomed online, and gamers keep buying whatever products they need to game more comfortably: new laptops, mouse, keyboard, headsets, etc Courses/online training -- some don't want to spend their time gaming and would rather put this time at home to good use, so they try to develop a skill, start their own business, etc. So they are looking for good courses and training for that. There are more, but you get the point. If you can pivot to advertising one of these product categories or others like it that people want in this period, it could save your business "until everything goes back to normal" (whenever that may be). If you don't know how to find the right products that could work for you now and sell well, feel free to message me. This week, I'm giving 3 existing businesses that have been advertising on Facebook a free audit of their site and Facebook ad account along with all my recommendations for how they can increase their sales and profits during these difficult times. [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 30 Mar 2020 08:15 PM PDT Title is pretty self explanatory but I received the following email from SBA (sorry for the formatting, on mobile). On March 27, 2020, President Trump signed into law the CARES Act, which provided additional assistance for small business owners and non-profits, including the opportunity to get up to a $10,000 Advance on an Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL). This Advance may be available even if your EIDL application was declined or is still pending, and will be forgiven. If you wish to apply for the Advance on your EIDL, please visit www.SBA.gov/Disaster as soon as possible to fill out a new, streamlined application. In order to qualify for the Advance, you need to submit this new application even if you previously submitted an EIDL application. Applying for the Advance will not impact the status or slow your existing application. [link] [comments]  |
| Small business coronavirus resource guide w/ free Paycheck Protection Program Calculator Template Posted: 30 Mar 2020 05:43 PM PDT Hey all-- I've started to compile resources that small businesses can use as they try and navigate the CARES Act and everything going on with the SBA loans/IRS. In particular, there are summaries of the CARES/FFCRA act and SBA loan programs as well as a free template for calculating the possible loan amount you could get under the Paycheck Protection Program. I'll be adding to it over time, so let me know if there's anything that you think would be helpful to include! https://founderscpa.com/small-business-coronavirus-resource-guide/ [link] [comments]  |
| Should I pay my commercial rent during these times ? Posted: 31 Mar 2020 05:40 AM PDT Looking for hard answers for my brick and mortar retail business, I understand this worldwide virus pandemic is extremely serious and doesn't look like it's going away anytime soon. In Canada it looks like it's just starting to ramp up and from the example that China experienced they are slowly trying to return to some type of normal life, so looks like 3 to 4 months down the road and that's being very hopeful. In Canada landlords are not seeing any relief from the government and are not able to pass savings down to the Tennant's but in all honesty I cannot have a business sit there and pay commercial rent for a business that is not able generate any revenue. Thoughts, ideas and any suggestions please and Thank you ??? [link] [comments]  |
| Can you deny the SBA loan if accepted for it and keep the 10k grant ? Posted: 30 Mar 2020 06:40 PM PDT Can you deny the SBA loan if accepted for it and keep the 10k grant? [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 30 Mar 2020 12:36 PM PDT Trying to get clarity for loans, so I called them. Surprisingly, I only waited ten minutes at the most before someone answered. We did apply for disaster relief prior to the website crashing. The lady I spoke to said that there is currently no way to check the status of this and instructed me that the SBA would contact me in 5-7 days with an approval or denial. As for the payroll assistance program, she did state that this is a separate program that requires a separate process. She also stated that this program will be administered through banks. However, she also stated that they don't have a list of approved banks but that they expected this information to be coming shortly. Hopefully this helps someone. [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 30 Mar 2020 09:24 AM PDT There are 2 loans being thrown around and it's causing a lot of confusion, so I figured we can have one place to discuss them. The first loan is the SBA Disaster Loan Assistance https://covid19relief.sba.gov/#/ The only things they ask are for your gross revenues and your costs of goods sold. Depending on your business this may provide markedly different results. You can also ask for an up to 10k advance. It's unclear what type, if any, forgiveness is included with this one but from what I understand they won't reclaim the advance at least. It's extremely unclear what they will base the loan/advance amount on, but if it's just revenue and cogs then it will be really skewed hard towards businesses that produce and/or sell physical goods versus service industries. The second loan is the Paycheck Protection Program discussed here https://wcginc.com/wp-content/documents/sba-disaster-loan/023595_comm_corona_virus_smallbiz_loan_final_revised.pdf From what I understand this will be from private banks/lenders but I'm assuming guaranteed federally. It looks like a full application with tax returns, payroll, expenses and such having to be submitted. The loan amount is based on 2.5x your average monthly payroll, but you will be "forgiven" from what I understand 2 months of payroll and expenses such as utilities. I have no idea who administers this but I may start by calling the banks that have my accounts and talk to their SBA departments. Here is the caveat: From what I've read you can apply for both but only if they are used for different purposes. So I assume you can't use them both and use them to pay payroll, once again no clue what's accurate here and I have no official source for this last paragraph. I'm on hold with tier 2 customer service at the SBA (only 331 in line, sigh) as the tier 1 rep had ZERO idea about the paycheck protection program and in my asking her about gross revenue vs. cogs she said to only put in gross revenue, but both are required to advance the form. Updated: You can't use both loans for the same purpose. What would happen if you have an existing EIDL loan then you could get a PPP loan while at the same time refinancing the EIDL loan into the PPP loan, then you could apply forgiveness to the PPP loan. If you only get the EIDL 10k "grant" advance then that amount would get subtracted from your forgiveness of the PPP loan. For example (as I understand it) if you got 10k from EIDL but didn't opt for an EIDL loan then later got a 40k PPP loan and you were qualified to get 30k of that PPP loan forgiven the final number would be 30k-10k = 20k forgiven. Another question mark is what the "same purpose" means? Does that mean ALL payroll? Or could you say one month payroll goes to EIDL and a different month goes to PPP? Can you split it up by employee? Can you use different utilities and/or billing cycles? Etc. The EIDL loan seems more inclusive of what you can include as an expense, where the PPP you can only use payroll, expenses (specifically utilities), mortgage interest. Edit: For the EIDL does anyone know how the 10k "grant" advance amount gets calculated? Everywhere I read it says "UP TO 10k", but no one is quantifying that. Maybe for those of you who actually get a SBA rep on the phone you can ask them, but most likely they don't know either. I really doubt they are just granting 10k to every single applicant. [link] [comments]  |
| US Chamber guide to COVID emergency loans Posted: 30 Mar 2020 11:05 AM PDT This extraordinarily clear one-sheet explainer on the Paycheck Protection Program loan was originally shared by u/YouOverRotated in this post which I have referred to numerous times this past weekend. I just discovered the link to the one sheet explainer was changed so thought I'd re-share here... [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 30 Mar 2020 02:39 PM PDT Some of the stories here lately left me with a feeling of hopelessness. So many people who were doing great or were excited about what 2020 would bring them are now on the edge of closing their businesses. Rather than sitting by and letting this feeling overwhelm me, I want to offer my skills and help some of you. How would I do this? By running your advertising campaigns and bringing you online traffic while all of us are stuck inside. No charge, no contracts, no obligations. The world is online, maybe you can find some new customers that will keep the bills paid. Now I know that not every one of you will be suitable for this. But if I can only help one person out, I would consider it time well spent. What are the requirements for this to work? You have to have a decent enough website and some cash to spend on the campaigns. Online advertising is cheap compared to some more traditional forms of advertising, but some investment would be necessary. Also not every business is right for online advertising, especially at this time. But some of you can still work, maybe it's just a question of finding the right customers. Facebook and Google will be rolling out grant programs that you can try and apply for, maybe you can get some advertising budget from them as well. Facebok program is here, and Google is here. Who am I and what do I get out of all of this? I'm a digital marketer that has been working in this industry for the last 5 years. I work full time for a company that has sent us home during this crisis and I have way to much time on my hands. I also work as a freelancer and have a couple of clients in North America. I specialize in Google Ads, so if you are a business that people would search for via a Google search, I'm sure we could build a campaign that would be profitable. I'm confident in my skills to bring results, so why not help someone in this time? It's simple as that for me. If I can help someone keep a roof over their head, why would I spend this time playing video games? Let me know if I can help. [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 31 Mar 2020 06:37 AM PDT My husband is a 1099 contractor. Am I understanding correctly that he may apply for Payroll Protection? Does that effect the businesses he does contract work for? [link] [comments]  |
| Own a nail salon in California - should I get unemployment or SBA? Posted: 30 Mar 2020 06:34 PM PDT First off, sorry if this is a repeated question. I'm helping my mom (poor English) determine what she should do, and I'm having a really hard time understanding everything. She owns a Nail Salon in California, and the business has to shut down due to the pandemic. She wants to continue paying her employees to keep them on payroll, and she wants to pay her lease. We're looking to get the most financial assistance we can in order to keep the doors open once this is all over. I'm aware that there are two SBA loans: EIDL and PPP; which of these two would be better for this use case, and would applying for unemployment (EDD) affect these loans? I read that the EIDL has 10k grant; is this money that would have to be paid back? Sorry if I'm understanding this incorrectly; I'm very new to all of this. Thank you everyone. [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 31 Mar 2020 06:26 AM PDT Seems relevant given the prevalence of the present Pandemic despite the world of 2020 being much different than that of 1918. [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 31 Mar 2020 06:23 AM PDT Being that I've never sold these in the past, I have no idea if that would be considered gouging? What I looked up said it's 'grossly overpriced' compared to the trailing 30 days of data, but having not sold these before I don't know if this is kosher. Thanks! [link] [comments]  |
| Has anyone been able to apply for the paycheck protection loan yet? Posted: 31 Mar 2020 06:18 AM PDT I spoke to a local loan officer at chase, where I have my business accounts, and he told me they had no instructions on it yet. Has anyone been able to apply? Do I need to find a different lender? [link] [comments]  |
| Unemployment Higher than Paycheck Posted: 30 Mar 2020 06:07 AM PDT So I'm trying to wrap my head around all this and hoping some of you might understand this a little better. I run a business that is still open but at drastically reduced income. So in turn I've reduced my staff hours. All my employees are hourly workers. I intended on applying for the EIDL which to my understanding has some stipulations in regards to keeping your employees employed. My question is, at least one of my employees asked me about filing for unemployment because they saw they would get an extra $600 a week on top of whatever they are approved for. This means in the end, they might actually make more money not working, than working. So lets assume I get approved for an EIDL and I get money to cover my payroll and keep my employees working all their same hours. I'm not sure how it makes sense for this person to stay employed with me and work their normal hours when they could get more money just not working at all and filing for unemployment. So I assume they could be denied unemployment if I state they are able to work but am I wrong in thinking they would make more money not working than working? [link] [comments]  |
| Validating idea, start from scratch. Finding profitable and bussiness ideas. Posted: 31 Mar 2020 12:09 AM PDT Hello successful entrepreneurs, nice to meet you. I've got some questions about starting an online business. I know it sounds cliché but I want to ask the veteran in a small business that can give an honest opinion. I hope my question will help and give some different values to all starting entrepreneurs.
All the questions that I asked all based on my personal experience. I started to involve in business 2-3 years ago, all of them are a total failure. Didn't make any profit even a single penny. I tried various kinds of products/courses until I broke. It's a shame that I need to borrow money from friends and families to survive. So now, I manage to get back on track and wanted to give it shot once again in business. I didn't want to make the same mistake again. Looking forward to the replies. I don't who should I seek for advice. I appreciate spending your time reading all the way down. Thank you. [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 30 Mar 2020 10:18 PM PDT I feel that this information could possibly help some businesses on here that are selling goods. I'm a seller on Amazon that sells goods made locally in North America. I have no real competitors from China as it's not a mass produced product. We fulfill orders ourselves as our products are light and very cheap and easy to ship, plus the margins are way higher that way. Just some background. I was selling through other channels and ended up selling on Amazon only because I accidentally found someone else selling my products on Amazon for 3x what I was selling them for. They were my biggest customer by far, until I signed up to sell on Amazon myself. [link] [comments]  |
| Two sole proprietorships applying for EILD Posted: 31 Mar 2020 05:27 AM PDT I have two businesses that are sole proprietorships that are completely unrelated. Should i or could apply for the EILD grant? Using ssn for both. [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 30 Mar 2020 09:50 PM PDT GoFundMe will be issuing $500 matching grants to qualifying businesses that raise at least $500 on GoFundMe. They have partnered with Yelp and Intuit QuickBooks to provide small business owners with the financial support and resources needed to continue running their businesses during and after the coronavirus crisis. Many businesses already have pages started for them! Please help and support your favorite local business! #SmallBusinessRelief [link] [comments]  |
| Pub Trivia Business: Pivoted to Online Trivia Successfully! Posted: 31 Mar 2020 04:40 AM PDT Hi all, I'm Woody, owner of Woody's Trivia (https://woodystrivia.com). I run a "pub trivia" business, where I or one of my hosts run live 2-hour trivia shows in bars and restaurants. I was running roughly 25 shows per week plus private events before Coronavirus shut down all my venues. Last week, I was contacted by one of my players. Their office was having to work remotely and they were all going a little crazy, missing their weekly trivia night, and looking for some way to socialize without breaking quarantine. They asked if I could run an online show for them. I agreed, though I honestly thought it might be a disaster. I created a server on Discord and set it up so every team had their own private chat plus a general chat everyone had access to. I announced and played music via the audio channel, and several teams set up their own voice chat on Google Hangouts. I was totally surprised when it was a smashing success! They even booked me again this week! I posted it about it on my business Facebook page (facebook.com/woodystrivia) and almost immediately started getting contacted by other players. I ended up booking 4 more shows within an hour of posting. You can check out a pic of my "online trivia command center" here. If anyone reading this would like to book a private show for friends, or for remote workers or organization events, just shoot me a PM or contact me on my website for a quote. [link] [comments]  |
| A new idea I'd like to peruse when everything calms down Posted: 31 Mar 2020 04:13 AM PDT Hi guys, I'm an electrical engineer and run my own moderately successful smart home set up and installation business. In these scary times I'm trying to keep my mind occupied, and I've decided that when normality resumes I'd like to peruse a side business for weekend use. I'd like to peruse a business centred around my passion of motor racing. I was intending on buying an older style bus and turning it into a portable racing simulator with potentially 8-12 stations onboard. I would rent this out to parties/stags and whatever else. Make it very appealing to the eye with very vivid graphics outside and pleasant place to be on the inside. There is also a huge car scene in my city so I would tour it around to car shows/road races and events. Would anyone have any input please. I intend to spend around 25,000-40,000£ for the entire set up including vehicle, and aim to earn £300 (£20 per person) for a 3 hour party and £10 per person for half hour races at events and real race events. [link] [comments]  |
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