Did you apply for the Payroll Protection Plan?

Many small business owners are scrambling to decide what and how to recover from this pandemic. We are all in the same boat, which reached capacity weeks ago. The guidelines and rules changed faster than we could cut and paste them into an instruction manual. They are still changing. The struggle to obtain the correct information in a rather fast pace process, put many owners over the edge. It should not be this way. It does not have to be this way. As an owner, you should know where to go to find the information you need. Even if you have someone ‘in charge’, you as a small business owner should regularly review the software programs that hold this information. If your bookkeeping system is not current, accurate or reliable, you should make a change, immediately.

Understandably some of the frustration came from the language in the loan apps themselves. Even Einstein would have had trouble deciphering that code. It was sometimes vague and sometimes so detailed; it was hard to determine if there were any room for even the smallest variable. That is when you had to either wait on hold for hours, hope for a detailed reply email, or do your best and move on, as the clock was ticking. Or contact an expert, but doing that during the intense time of need, is never the most viable solution. “Whatever can go wrong, will go wrong.”, thank you Mr. Murphy.

So, what will you do to avoid feeling that helpless again in your business? The feeling of your feet just cemented to the ground, stopped dead in your tracks, no matter how hard you tried to move forward? Time efficiency is cost effective. Taking time now to prepare for future needs of your financial reports. Being organized with your bookkeeping, saved many of you, the major headaches, other business owners unfortunately went through. Using a payroll software program that worked with you during these times, is priceless. Reporting abilities were being changed in real-time. Amazing work that was done behind the scenes.

Numerous small business owners have been fortunate to receive some source of funding. Do you know how to keep track of your funding? Do you know how to manage your employee status? Now is the time to make changes. Consult with other business owners who went through this with minimal issues. You know them. They are your network associates, neighbors, your friends, and your church members. They will tell you the reason they felt the process was not painstaking, is because they had organized processes in place and experts already in their corner. They might not say those exact words, but in the big picture, that is what was a make or break deal.

Many of you over time, have built relationships with the business experts that are so vital to a successful business. You already had them on your team, walking with you side by side through this process. You took the time and resources needed, to build a relationship with them. Kudos to you and all of them. This has been grueling on so many for so many reasons. That fact cannot be denied. Yet, there is, or will be, a silver lining and that is all in the viewpoint of those who choose to perceive it that way. Grow from this experience, no matter what your perspective was and is. We pray that in our lifetime, we never can compare this to the next pandemic, nor for many many many more generations. We do not know what the plan is but having those who are in the trenches with you can make the walk a little less lonely.