If there is anything that has affected businesses globally, it’s the COVID-19 pandemic. Right from the onset of the crisis, most small businesses reported drastic consequences. People have been forced to change how they do things, businesses have had to adapt, and sadly, most have shut their doors due to the adverse effect of coronavirus on businesses. If the current situation has affected your business, you need to look at how to recover your business after COVID-19.
However, it is understandable that various businesses were hit differently. For example, hospitality and travel industries faced the brunt of the situation as travel came to a halt, and cities were put on lockdown. Being hopeful of a bright future is said to be one of the ways businesses can start to recover. As you prepare a business recovery plan after coronavirus, let’s look at tentative steps you can take to achieve this. Let’s dive in.
1. Conduct an accurate assessment of the financial damage experienced
To build a more organized and coordinated effort towards business recovery after the COVID-19 pandemic, you will need to take a deliberate step in stocktaking to determine how much your brand has been affected. The first layer in this process is looking at the numbers. You need to update your financial statement and assess losses, profit, and cash flow aspects. That way, you’ll be able to compare them to previous years and get an actual picture of the toll the COVID-19 pandemic has had on your business. You may realize the impact is not as bad as you thought.
And again, when creating your business recovery plan, you may have to look at how your employees have been affected. Take stock of the layoffs if applicable to your business. This is also a crucial step in formulating a rebuilding and recovery plan.
2. Go through your recovery business plan thoroughly
In view of the current social distancing measures, you’ll agree that the usual operating plans have been messed up. This means you will need to fine-tune your strategy to accommodate all the changes. For instance, as you review how to recover the business loss after the COVID-19 pandemic, you may need to expand your venture digitally to cater to online shoppers. As such, you will have to invest heavily in your online presence if your main focus was your brick and mortar office.
Your business plan and model will reveal where your strengths and weaknesses lie. Going through them will allow you to see what was working before and what needs to be readjusted to continue thriving. Don’t be afraid to give your plan a complete overhaul if that is what you need to recover from failing business. At this point, you may want to reevaluate your goals in light of the coronavirus. Perhaps dial them back a little to make room for all the drastic changes.
3. Funding
Studies on the impact of COVID-19 showed immense effects on the financial fragility of businesses. Most companies were hoping and planning to look for support from the coronavirus funding and other stimulus packages. If your business falls in this category, it’s no secret that you will require working capital to restart operations. Remember, it might be difficult to recover a business debt as a source of your funding at this time since most people are struggling even to make ends meet.
There are various options that you can consider for business recovery loans. They include federal funding programs, for instance, the paycheck protection program; though, the funds may be limited. Alternatives are small loans from banks, online lenders, credit unions, accounts receivable options, inventory financing, purchase order financing, and many others. Whatever you choose to help you get you back on your feet, ensure you read the fine print as each source has its own pros and cons.
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4. Restructure your budget
The possibility that you will need to spend funds before you make money is high. You will need to revamp your budget to account for the spending. Things like hiring new staff, rehiring, or purchasing inventory need to be carefully planned. You also should cut costs as much as possible as you recover from business failure by eliminating any waste and keeping a lean budget.
When preparing your budget, do not forget to look at how the pandemic has influenced your specific industry. Whether you run a marketing agency or any other business, you will want to study your competitors to see how they adapt to the new reality. Here, you can focus on emerging trends and profitable opportunities. That way, you’ll be able to take advantage of the market gap to get ahead of your competitors
5. Create a timeline to restructure
The saying “Rome was not built in a day” is one to refer to here. It might not be realistic for you to expect to fully bounce back overnight. Besides, such ambitious expectations may cause you to be disillusioned and lose hope in what you are doing. To avoid that, creating a timeline your business can follow as it recovers is an excellent plan, and quite frankly, more realistic.
The need to create a workable and achievable timeline for your business cannot be overemphasized, as this will help you to know what you need to prioritize and what to put on the back burner at the moment. Keep track of this progress monthly as you go along.
6. Prepare for the next crisis
Finally, after you follow all these steps, remember that a crisis can occur at any time. While there’s no knowing to what extent the next pandemic can impact your business, it’s always best to be prepared for the worst-case scenario. Record the lessons that you have learned from this situation and use them to build a better strategy.
You also have to put appropriate measures in place to mitigate an impending crisis. For instance, don’t just focus on foot traffic to your physical location for sales, also target online customers. And if your employees can work from home instead of coming to the office every day, this is something you may want to adopt moving forward.
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Conclusion
COVID-19 is still here with us, and it encourages every business owner to know how they can restructure and continue not only to operate safely but also to run a profitable venture. Assessing the damage your company has faced is one of the first steps to recover from business failure. Once that is done, tweaking a business plan to suit the modern-day challenges is extremely important to pave the way for funding. Restructuring your budget and creating a recovery timeline helps when it comes to profitability and growth.
Author’s Bio
Chris Delgado is a Junior Copywriter with high ambitions and an undivided passion for economics. He is currently studying to get his degree, and his future prospects revolve around marketing and financial writing. In his spare time, he is a dedicated dragon island player.