Ensuring your business survives economic stress
Ensuring your business survives economic stress may mean a pivot in your business plan. Up to 40% of businesses can fail during times of natural disaster or economic stress. The business agility you demonstrate in the weeks and months to come can help ensure you are in the 60% that survive.
- What new services does your community need because of the emergency? For instance, during floods, there is a need for sandbags, hauling and manpower to build dikes. During a health crisis, there may be an increased need for caregivers or for people to run errands for those who are ill or have been exposed to the disease. Assess what the unmet community needs are.
- Look at your staff. What skills do they have that can be redeployed to meet the current community need so you can keep paying them? You may not make as much as before, but if you keep the lights on, it sends a strong message.
- Review your equipment. Can you use your current equipment to meet other needs in the community?
- Bring in your accountant to assess the viability of the new business strategy. You don’t have a lot of time to test drive it so make solid decisions from the start and you are more likely to survive.
Options to consider when staff need to work remotely
The COVID-19 has led some employers to have their employees work remotely. If you are in this situation and that change in workflow means the employee can not fill their hours, consider this as an opportunity to complete mandatory and optional trainings online. Another option is to use this as a time to clean up online files you don’t normally have time to address. As life and business normalize, knowing these tasks are completed can help you return to business as usual more quickly.