Coronavirus treatment – impact on small business

Last couple of weeks and for some countries already months COVID-19 is the biggest threat to economy that our small businesses have faced since the Second World War. We need to protect our businesses from coronavirus deadly impact.

In all medical aspects the novel coronavirus is an unprecedented situation that will lead to a health disaster all around the world. Already over 250 000 people infected and growing amount of casualties are forcing Governments to shut down countries and economies.

Social distancing and all other measures like forced work from home and stay at home policies which should prevent virus from spreading is impacting directly our economies – globally.

Unprecedented Coronavirus threat on small business and economy.

The economical landscape changes dramatically on a daily basis. Amount of people that were let go is growing rapidly. Businesses that they have worked for are no longer able to sustain paying wages to their employees.

While everyone struggles in those hard times all of us are also seeking the best way to not go bankrupt. For some of the small businesses this will be extending the payment terms to additional 60 or 90 days, the other ones will say upfront that they are unable to pay for the invoice. The growing cost of sustaining a company with employed people is killing the businesses.

Can we protect Small business from going bankrupt?

Production company who employs 100 people in their factory is producing goods that are needed for the event industry. They supplied tents and mobile event venues for their client. As of February – major events all over the world were canceled so was the event in our story. The Event company had to return the money for the tickets to their audience – they were left out without any revenue. But the tents and venue was supplied on time – they were not gone be able to pay the production company. Invoices pending – not paid. Also no feasible future opportunities over the next few months as all the events were canceled. 100 employees have to be let go, company goes bankrupt, end of the line for a well prospering business … but in pre-COVID19 times.

How to treat small business from Coronavirus

In that story, both the supplier and contractor could and should behave differently. Obviously it all started with Coronavirus outbreak – and the Event organiser was forced to cancel the event. But what if he would pivot – set up the event fully online for the audience. Cancelation would not happen. Visitors would not be super happy but if a good communication would be used, they would avoid the necessity to return all the money. It is not the same obviously – but that would help to control damages made by unexpected situation. This would also prevent the supplier for not getting paid giving them a little bit more time to adapt to the new situation.

Small business need to adapt quickly to COVID19 outbreak

Not all business can adapt but certainly a lot of bankruptcies can be avoided and losses can be delt with. Those companies need a smart out-of-the-box approach to reconstruct their business to think about the new economy landscape. We need to work very closely with our partners to think about a way out. We can’t just close ourselves with narrow minded thinking and continue working in a dumb way.

Hefty amount of classic business can adapt to Coronavirus situation

You all probably heard hundreds of stories how Startups have to adapt to ever changing business landscapes – that not all business models are feasible. Stories of Swarm – former Foursquare that had to rethink their business model to generate revenue out of gathered data to avoid bankruptcy or Kodak the huge photographical enterprise founded in 1888 which did not want to adapt to digitalisation times and had to fill out bankruptcy form on January 2012.

Help avoid bankruptcy of small businesses – Providing a treat

Since the Coronavirus outbreak on January 2020 we all heard magnificent stories of classic companies adapting to new reality. We can help them out by sharing those stories on Facebook or LinkedIn. We can utilise out brain power for the good of other people that are struggling to come up with a genuine ideas to change into a sustainable business in COVID19 times.

Small business Coronavirus treatment ideas found by me:

• Tailor shop – started to produce face masks for medical purposes to avoid bankruptcy
• Coffee shops – started to invest in mobile units that can serve coffee as a car drive-thru
• Big event tents producers – started to follow WHO advise on the materials and equipment to deliver mobile treatment and testing facilities
• Business Workshops – started to train people over the internet with the help of webinars and online courses
• Events and conferences – started to organise online version of their activities to avoid shut down
• Retails shops – started to go fully online to help out with the goods deliveries
• Schools that were shut down – went to continue education over internet with webinar and digital school platforms

We do not know how long this will last – but we need to assume the worst – let’s help each other in those hard times – for the sake of us and for the sake of next generations!

If you have any other cases that you have heard about a successful transformation – please share it in the comment section – let’s build the full list of ideas for small business all around the world!

Also remember to check on how to improve small business marketing in 24h and also what are the 6 steps for high performing marketing campaign.