The COVID-19 outbreak has financially devastated businesses around the world, leaving a large amount of small-business owners distraught. It remains rather obvious that a large percentage of small businesses have been negatively impacted as a result of the pandemic. However, there remains a fairly tiny percentage of small business owners that feel their operations weren’t affected at all.
It’s important to realize that the immediate impact COVID-19 has had on small businesses corresponds with specific industry characteristics. Being able to analyze what the recovery mode will look like once the economy begins to return to a state of normalcy might be difficult as the scare of a second wave approaches. The development of a new normal has begun but it seems rather challenging because there has yet to be a clear ending to the pandemic. However, creating an exit strategy in place for after COVID-19 can help you be prepared to hit the ground running and rebuild. If you’re unsure of what your coronavirus exit plan should include, this guide can help with getting your business back on track.
5 Ways to Revamp Your Business
1. Analyze the Damage
The very first step in developing a rebuilding plan for COVID-19 is assessing how much your small business has been affected. Take a considerable amount of time to analyze how deep your losses have affected your business.
There are various metrics involved within this process, starting with concrete numbers. Begin by updating your financial statements such as recent profits and losses. It’s also helpful to review recent cash flow statements. After doing so, compare these statistics to last year’s statistics to gather how much your business may be down.
Aside from the hard numbers relating to sales, profits and cash flow, consider alternative ways in which your business has been affected. For example, if you’ve had to implement lay offs to some or all of your employees, you’ll need to factor that into your rebuilding plan. Another alternative transition is the cutting of your advertising and marketing budget. You may have noticed that some of your customers have moved toward competitors, which you’ll need to take into account as you identify financial resources to help you recover.
2. Assess Your Business Plan
Perhaps your business model worked perfectly pre-COVID-19, which means you may have to make some adjustments. Specifically, you may need to consider how your business can survive this pandemic. For example, if your business previously relied on an in-house location for revenue, you may need to look at a remote expansion to target higher numbers of people who shop from home.
Analyzing how your industry has been affected by the coronavirus pandemic can be helpful. When looking at your competitors and the industry as a whole, notice the trends and focus on finding opportunities. Being able to find a need that your business can fulfill that’s been neglected by others could be critical to growing your customer base moving forward.
When going over your business plan and business model, clearly identify your business’s strengths and weaknesses. Then, see what was working before that may not work as well now and revisit your business goals as they may have changed given the current circumstances.
3. Consider Business Funding for Your Rebuild
Unless you had a large amount of cash on hand going into the pandemic, it’s likely that you may need some working capital to jump-start your business operations while. When it comes to financing your small business during a COVID-19 rebuilding period, there is a viable option to consider.
Take into consideration the usage of a small business loan to help fund your rebuild process. It is essential to fund your rebuild in a way that won’t affect cash flow and especially your businesses operational costs. Ultimately, small business loans make it much easier for your business to pay for different types of services that are considered necessities as you transition.
Let’s say, after analyzing your business tactics that a primary solution is to implement a more remote way of doing business. A loan would become essential for funding professional remote services, along with the possibility of hiring an IT department. Other than funding the possibility of moving remote, this can also help fund new equipment if that is what can take your business to the next level.
4. Reinvent Your Budget for New Spending
Adapting, or in this case, attempting to escape the COVID-19 pandemic may require your business to spend money before you can make money. For example, you may need to spend money rehiring employees you had to lay off or more importantly hiring and training new employees.
In some circumstances, new inventory may need to be purchased, and you may have to revamp your marketing budget to start attracting new customers. Strategic marketing efforts continue to be a highly essential asset to daily business outcomes.
As part of your coronavirus recovery, you should have a clear concept of what you need to be budgeting for and what you can cut to make the most of the revenue you do have coming in. Ultimately, the goal is to eliminate the monetary waste and get your operating budget as lean as possible so that when the chance to invest in growth comes up, you’re able to take advantage of it.
5. Create a Timeline for Your Rebuild
You may feel overwhelmed by all of the things your business needs to do to recover following COVID-19, but doing everything at once can make it much more stressful. Creating a timeline to follow can help you prioritize which actions are the most important during the revamping process.
For instance, your first priority may be securing funding for your business. After you’ve done that, set a timeline for rehiring employees, organizing inventory and then finally, reopening if your business closed as a result of the pandemic.
As you take strategic steps toward recovery, it’s essential to track your progress. This is particularly important if you’ve secured capital to fund your business, primarily because you don’t want to waste time on actions that aren’t delivering a positive return on your investment.
Hiring a financial consultant could be a viable option for helping keep track of everything. In terms of reaching your financial goals, your accountant or financial expert may want to analyze data weekly. Then, after a certain period of time, you can shift to them reviewing your financial statistics monthly as things begin to ease out.
6. Embrace Technology
Final Word
While the COVID-19 pandemic may seem like a once-in-a-lifetime event, the reality is that a sudden emergency can wreak havoc to your small business at any time. Using what you’ve learned during the current pandemic can help you prepare for the next shocking event. The pandemic also may have taught your business a thing or two about how important it is to be able to adapt and keep your business running smoothly.
