Financing Your Business During COVID-19

As the world struggles to cope with the unprecedented demands of the coronavirus, businesses are facing serious disruption and threats to their future. Whether you run a business considered essential or you have been forced to close the doors on your brick and mortar outlet, finances are clearly going to be a major concern for business owners for the foreseeable future.

When nobody is sure what’s going to happen next, knowing your financing options is going to be critical. Whether the social distancing and city-wide lockdowns continue for months or years, here are some finance options available that could keep your business safer throughout the coming challenges. Paying rent, staff wages, and operational costs will be made much easier once you have a clear overview of your financial options.

Public Capital Options

There are some financing options to look at that come directly from official sources. If you’re concerned about your ability to keep your business running, then you should consider looking at SBA Programs. Always a useful financing option, SBA programs are being fine-tuned in these strange times. The Economic Injury Disaster Loan and the flagship 7(a) program can both be applied for online, and both have enhanced funding thanks to congressional legislation. While not every type of business will be eligible for these programs, entrepreneurs who have been affected by COVID-19 should check the eligibility criteria sooner rather than later.

Additionally: The CARERS Act is an economic relief bill that is known as the Paycheck Protection Program, and it went live on April 3, 2020. This has a different set of criteria from other public capital options and requires no personal guarantees or collateral. You should also look at state and local financing options.

Private Financing Options

From corporate-sponsored programs, like those offered by Facebook and Amazon, to industry-specific options like those targeted at the food and drink industry or public health facilities, there is a wide range of available private financing programs available. While these can all be applied for online, eligibility can mean having to put in a lot of admin work only to find that your application has been refused. Online lenders should be something that you give some thought to, with established names like biz2credit continuing to provide fast business loans to help you make it through the current crisis.

Extra Steps

The treasury has been working with the IRS to ensure that tax payment deferrals are easier to understand and easier to apply for, and that’s worth prioritizing if you want to stay protected from tax investigations once the pandemic is over. You should also go over your business insurance policy very closely, although the majority will not cover any losses in cases like COVID-19. Keep an eye on the latest information from your insurance providers as many are working with the government to help try and free up capital for businesses.

Getting access to finances in this difficult time will mean doing some work, but it could be the key to ensuring that your business survives over the next few months. This is also a good time to start cutting back on your business expenses and find new sources of revenue. Have a strategy in place for both the best and worst-case scenarios of the pandemic, and your business will be in a more comfortable position.