Google: Steps To Take To Help Get Through Covid-19

[engine]

Google has published a resource for small and medium sized business to help owners get through the challenging times of this Coronavirus.

Whilst a lot of the information is gathered from other Google resources, if you're like me, i'm interested in hearing about helpful hints, tips and ideas.

[smallbusiness.withgoogle.com...]

Do you have any other suggestions and ideas?

[lammert]

All advice Google gives on that page is commercial advice, but I don't think we have a commercial crisis right now, where we have to put the majority of our efforts into customers. I personally will still go to the same hairdresser as I did before, buy stuff at the same shops as before, the only thing is, not now. And with me, many people are postponing their spending due to lockdowns in place. They will spend their money again, they will be your customers again, only not now.

As I see it, the health crisis ignited a liquidity crisis in many businesses, not a commercial crisis. Many business models are still sound after the lockdowns are over (except maybe for businesses which rely heavily on far travel or gatherings of large groups) but to reach that point, businesses have to focus on their short term survival. It makes no sense to focus on the far future if the business doesn't survive the coming months. I see three ways to do that.

1. Reduce costs. Now that you have more time to think, go through your bookkeeping records and determine how the money is flowing out. Try to reduce those costs. It will benefit you now to survive but also increases your margins when the economy starts running again.
   
   
2. Look at options provided to temporarily bridge the gap. The government may have a relieve package that suits your situation, or your financers may have options to reduce the financial burden for the short time.
   
   
3. Be creative to transform the business activities in such a way that you can still do the same, but with less direct human contact. Using videoconferencing for meetings is just one thing. For a job in a foreign country where I had to do on-site work, I found someone who was stuck there due to the closed borders and I was able to instruct him to do some of the on-site work for me. Be creative.