Resources To Navigate Your Business During These Times
In addition to a healthcare crisis, COVID-19 has created an overload of information – some helpful and some not so much. We’ve decided to distill some quality resources for you, offering you the most important and relevant information about navigating this from a business perspective. You’ll find resources here on planning financially, working remotely, helping your employees cope, and leading with excellence during a crisis.
As this is a fast-moving situation, we will continue to update these resources as new developments and programs become available.
With the mindset that “No RI Business Left Behind,” we are committed to dedicating every resource at our disposal to help you in any way we are able.
Be Well and Stay Safe Out There.
Terrence Boylan
CEO, PacketLogix, Inc,
Do you know someone who needs help with Zoom? Click here for our Tips & Tricks guide
Good News About the COVID-19 Virus from Peter Diamandis
Demystifying CARES Act:
Ami Kassar is holding a DAILY webinar at 12 noon EST to help you flesh out what the stimulus package means for small businesses. You'll want to jump on this webinar when you see changes coming down so you can hear in plain-speak what to expect.
In this one-hour interactive session you will learn:
- SBA emergency loan status - after CARES Act approval
- Existing SBA program initiatives - after CARES Act approval
- Importance of filing 2019 returns
- Do you have liquidity you can leverage?
- Calculating Operating Expenses (6 month burn rate)
- Online loans to watch out for and stay away from
Sign up for the webinar here: https://769yv3el.pages.infusionsoft.net/
Zoom Webinar: https://zoom.us/w/378451652 and Password: 423895
SBA Disaster Loans:
https://www.sba.gov/disaster-assistance/coronavirus-covid-19
Apply for a loan as soon as its available. After they determine if you qualify, you will receive funds in 2-3 weeks. Apply even if you think you won't need it. You can always say NO.
MultiFunding has also put together a community site to help business owners navigate through the SBA loan process during these confusing times: https://multifunding.tribe.so/
90 Day Financial Planning Stress Test
Meet with your CPA and/or Controller/Accountant and create a financial plan for the next 90 days. Re-evaluate this plan every 1-2 weeks to see if you need to adjust.
Stress test your cash! Alan Miltz’ SaaS tool for managing cash – no charge for 3 months – stress test your cash with just 6 numbers from your financials.
Consider adding an expense line item called COVID-19 and dump off all expenses in there including your staff and personal time spent dealing with a crisis – this 30 second video by Ron Lovett, author of Outrageous Empowerment, will explain why it will make it easier to apply for government assistance if and when it comes available.
Stabilizing Your Business: Improvise, Adapt, Overcome.
With constant changes brought on by the pandemic of COVID-19, your business may be presented with cash flow challenges and opportunities you may have never faced before. To respond to these changes, look no further than a motto with which you are familiar: Improvise, Adapt, Overcome. The slogan used by the United States Marine Corps outlines steps you can take to combat the challenges you are facing as you make decisions that will be key to the survival of your business.
Financial Crisis Management Templates from My CPA and Author, Greg Crabtree. Will you have the capital needed to get back to pre-Covid19 profitability levels (or better)?
Keeping The Office Safe - Boilerplate for Office Protocols:
If your facility is still operating and you have ANY staff coming onsite, you NEED to have clear protocols in place as to how and when people access the building. Here is a copy of our protocols for coming to the office, disinfecting yourself, receiving visitors, and receiving packages/mail.
Keeping Staff Safe When Going To A Client Site - Boilerplate for Onsite Protocols:
If your facility is still operating and you have the need to deploy your team into the field for any reason, you NEED to have clear protocols in place to keep them safe and assure everyone has the same level of diligence. Here is a copy of our protocols for going onsite.
Top 6 Best Practices For Businesses Amid COVID-19 from business coach, Ryan Markel
Scan the article for details, but in a nutshell:
- Prioritize Issues of Greatest Urgency
- Triple Your Communication
- Work from Home
- Use Video Conferencing
- Manage Your Cash
- Look for Opportunities to Do Something Extraordinary
REMOTE COLLABORATION TOOLS:
Zoom Video Conferencing: www.zoom.us
We use this at PacketLogix daily. We hold a daily huddle each morning to align for the day and we get to see each other. Then I stay on zoom at my workspace all day to be available if someone needs something.
Slack Instant Messaging: www.slack.com
Slack is a great tool to communicate in real time about internal and client facing items. Try to keep your team communication OUT OF OUR INBOXES. There is enough going on in there!
Microsoft Teams for Instant Messaging and Video Conferencing:
This tool is Included in your Microsoft Office 365 Licensing a the Business Essentials, Business Premium, E1, and E3 levels.
Bigger Brains has moved their Teams training over to YouTube as a resource for companies who need to learn collaboration in a hurry.
SANS Security Awareness Work-from-Home Deployment Kit - FREE
The SANS Institute put out a free deployment toolkit/security awareness for working from home.
While many people are in a panic, Jay Abraham, Dean Jackson, and Joe Polish are NOT panicking at all, and you should know why. The three of them just had one of the most insightful, calm, and important conversations ever about succeeding in business in scary times such as what we’re experiencing right now.
They recorded the conversation and it is available for you to listen as I Love Marketing podcast Episode #362. Of all the podcast episodes they've ever done, this will be one of the most important you’ll ever listen to.
Links to More Helpful Information:
COVID-19 live tracker – ‘This is a comprehensive, as close to real time as I have found, tracker of the global to local impact’
- I suggest you book mark this so you have access to data should there be a need -
- There is a lot in this so take it slow, but look for things that may apply to you and specifically look at the ‘actions’ that are suggested’
Littler – ‘What we should be doing with teams during this time’
- Take a look, there is a ton of information in here, find the ones that meet your needs right now.
- CDC – ‘What to do if you think you may have COVID-19’
- This should likely be in everyone’s communication to their teams -
World Health.net – ‘High dose Vitamin C and a prevention and/or a treatment’
- Obviously we are not medical professionals, but in my personal opinion I believe that High Dose Vitamin C is a preventative in general by boosting the immune system. Judge completely for yourself but here is some data.
OSHA – ‘Guidance on preparing the workplace for COVID-19’
- Leadership teams should review this and ensure they are doing what is needed to be prepared Asaf Bitton, MD, MPH – ‘Why social distancing is needed and how to best go about it’
- Consider the impact of being a ‘node’ in the distribution of the virus and how you can limit the spread.
NBC News – ‘Video covering several areas of the virus – overall very good information’
- Consider sharing or even watching this as part of your meeting rhythms – you can do this virtually as well.
Fast Company & A LOT MORE – ‘How to manage virtual meetings – best practices’
As we move to more remote working have ‘good’ and ‘frequent’ meetings will become highly valuable.
- https://hbr.org/2016/04/what-everyone-should-know-about-running-virtual-meetings
- https://hbr.org/2017/03/how-to-raise-sensitive-issues-during-a-virtual-meeting
- https://www.inc.com/guides/2010/12/5-tips-for-conducting-a-virtual-meeting.html
- https://hbr.org/2012/05/the-right-way-to-run-a-virtual
- https://www.nten.org/article/9-best-practices-engagement-virtual-meetings
- https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Aeglaw0DYPXoM9L4WE6ftK3g1PgEorTIoCprjW-jMhI/edit
US Chamber of Commerce – ‘Top 20 Tips for building business resilience’
- Take a look at this list, not all will apply to you and your business but some will and some will just spur your thinking. Biggest take away is that you need to create a plan of action and, in my opinion, update it frequently, maybe daily in some cases.
Medium – ‘What is flattening the curve and why it is important’
- This is a long one and it’s is a few days old but it is full of data with graphs and gives a good overview including data from China and Europe for better understanding of what could happen in the US’
Sequoia Capital – ‘A look at the financial implications of COVID-19 from a business perspective’
- Managing the financial health of your business is paramount. This article gives some good insights on how to think about doing this.
McKinsey – ‘General implications for Business’
This is a few days old but after rereading this weekend I felt it is still very relevant and is one of the most comprehensive overviews I have seen to date. There is a checklist at the end of the article that gives a very good overview of what to be doing to mitigate risk.
