Help for Small Businesses during the Coronavirus Outbreak
Help & Advice for Small Businesses
As a small business, I fully understand the fear and uncertainty of the Coronavirus situation at the moment. With no idea of when this will all end, we have to support each other now more than ever. The detailed Government schemes are yet to be released, but there are a few things you can do now to help your family and your business.
Contact Your Bank:
Contact your bank now to see if you can get the 3 month mortgage holiday. It shouldn’t affect your credit rating and it’s easy to do. Lloyds have a simple online form and will give a decision in 2-3 days. It is a short-term solution but it will give some peace of mind for a few months.
Ring HMRC:
Ring the HMRC helpline and see what help you can get for your business and for your family. There’s no shame in doing this and it’s worth the cost of a phone call to find out if you’re eligible.
Move Classes Online:
If you teach classes, look to move these online. Zoom is a brilliant free tool that you can use to do this.
Sell Products Online:
If you sell products from a shop which is likely to close soon due to Coronavirus, invest more time in your website to encourage customers to keep buying from you. I know these are uncertain times and you won’t want to invest too much, but you have to evolve if you want your business to survive.
Apply for Business Funding:
NBSL provide support services to help start and develop businesses across the North East. Depending on where your business is based, you could get a business grant of up to £8000 to grow and develop your business.
The Fund can support projects that encourage resilience including:
- Advice on revised business planning
- Advice on revised operating procedures
- Continuity and contingency planning
- Sales strategy and supply chain analysis
- Process change
- Financial restructuring & remodelling
- Marketing, branding & design
- Website improvements/changes
- PR strategy development & output
- Human resources consultancy
Exaltis are a registered NBSL provider, so apply now to see if you’re eligible.
Need Help with Your Website?
If you need help with your current website, or you desperately need a website to sell your products online so you can keep your business going throughout the Coronavirus outbreak, I am happy to offer an affordable monthly payment plan to spread the costs. I’m also going to extend my website startup offer until at least the end of April. I’m here, I’m still working, and I want to help others to do the same. Please get in touch using the form at the bottom of this page if you need help.