Many business managers have seen their checkbooks drain and heard little or no relief from the government. A 4/18/2020 poll of 5762 business owners by Alignable reported 8% had received funds, 15% were approved and waiting for funds, 6% had been denied, but the overwhelming majority (71%) were still waiting for a response.
Source: https://www.alignable.com/forum/when-will-relief-money-get-to-you?_tid=644065
When the coronavirus hit the United States, you could almost hear the disks of the rolling economy come to a screeching halt. It’s been about a month now and impatience fills the air. Hope is hanging on “easing of restrictions” talk, maybe premature. It didn’t take long for emotions to go from reservation to anger.
It appears that the easing of restrictions will take place in phases and will be more or less reduced depending on the impact that the virus is having in that area. If the mitigation has had an effect in reducing the spread and severity of the virus, potentially the spread and severity could increase as we become more mobile and more social. Those who suffer from the illness or lose loved ones will feel any action that is taken to ease restrictions is too much.
Governments (federal, state and local) are taking extreme financial actions to reduce the economic impact created by their reactions to the sickness and death resulting from the virus. This will create additional problems to be dealt with in the future when the government is not so busy trying to protect the health of the populus and preventing the medical care industry from being overwhelmed. Considering it’s a no win situation for the government, it’s difficult to tell if what the government does is better than doing nothing. Regardless of our political leanings, we want to see the government do something, especially in matters of life or death.
I am a fan of Graham Winfrey, senior editor at Inc magazine, and if you are looking for business insight, I suggest you subscribe. My Sunday edition was headlined this morning (4/19/2020) “How to Plan Now to Reopen”. Graham writes, “Changing your business model may be the last thing you want to do right now, but it could be what keeps you in business.”
Here are two Inc. suggestions for what you need to do right now to get your business into shape to get back into the ballgame once the rain delay is over:
- https://www.inc.com/graham-winfrey/reopening-business-after-coronavirus-ppp-eidl.html?utm_source=incthismorning
- https://www.inc.com/video/how-to-prepare-your-companys-comeback-plan.html?utm_source=incthismorning
So where does CentralOffice fall in all of this? As Manny Cosme, President and CEO of CFO Services, says, “any strategy you are going to take needs to be run through a financial projection”. How will it affect income and how will it affect cash flow?