Here Is Why You Might Need a Loan to Restart Your Business Post-COVID

Listen in! Pick up some expert advice to a reader's question that we selected from CyberSchmooz.

We are all sick and tired of COVID and want to get things back to normal as soon as possible. We keep having false starts and mixed messages about the state of the pandemic. On the one hand, the CDC tells us that fully vaccinated people no longer need to wear masks or social distance regardless of whether the setting is inside or outside. This is good news. Except we are also told that mask mandates will need to continue in schools and places of business along with social distancing.

This makes it very difficult for people to know if it is time to restart their business or if they should wait for a more favorable time. The answer is you need to restart your business — the sooner, the better. You have the green light. But what you don’t have is the ability to pretend that all is exactly as it used to be. There are going to be certain expenses you will have for the restart you will need to address. The first thing you will need to do is to secure some extra funds.

Whenever a business has been shut down for a while, there are always surprises when it comes time to get things restarted. Those surprises are usually unpleasant and expensive. The first thing you will need is a source of funding like one of those same day loans usually available only to people with elite credit and who know the right people. Now that you have equal access to those loans, here are some of the reasons you are probably going to need one of them:

Rebooting the Machines

Restarting machinery that has been at rest for a long time is never as simple as flipping a switch and picking up where things left off. If you don’t maintain your seals during periods of no use, seal failures can lead to massive equipment failures. If you have a fleet of vehicles, you might want to get them checked before running them again. One should operate sitting vehicles periodically whether or not you have anywhere to go.

You might need fresh gas and oil for all vehicles. You will need to do a careful audit of all your equipment. Then, you will need to do a test run to make sure everything is operating in a safe and efficient manner. You also need to give everyone a chance to ease into their routine. Skills get rusty. In dangerous, industrial environments, that can be a life or death situation. When restoring your business, take the necessary time to restore all of your machines to their peak capacity.

Increased Costs

During the pandemic, you are not the only one who has been suffering. All of your vendors and suppliers have also felt the pinch. As they come back online, they will be trying to make up for lost ground. One of the ways they will do that is by increasing prices. That means that everything you need to run your business will cost a little more than it used to. In turn, you will probably have to raise your prices which will make no one very happy. None of this changes your need for cash flow. Your workers still need to be paid along with the utilities associated with keeping the lights on. Be sure to get a loan big enough to cover the cash flow shortfall due to higher expenses.

Advertising

One of the biggest challenges to this on again, off again return to normalcy is that no one can tell which businesses will be open and which remain closed. If you want people to know you are back in business, you are going to have to make a concerted marketing push to let people know that you are ready to do business again. People are tired of getting in the car and going to pick up supplies, only to realize the store is closed. Now, they just assume everything is closed. You will have to ramp up your marketing efforts to let them know you are back.

With or without a mask, your grand reopening will go smoother when you secure the funds to do proper maintenance on your equipment, prepare contingencies for increased costs, and advertise the fact that you are fully open for business.

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