In these challenging times for our physical, mental and financial health people are looking for tips on how to handle the situation. We contacted the experts over at Meda (The Metropolitan Economic Development Association) to obtain helpful information on how to best manage your small business now, and during the coming months.

Helpful Tips To Navigate Your Small Business Through The COVID-19 Pandemic

1. Check your financing: Contact your bank and ask for relief from large payments now. Do not wait until the situation is dire.
2. Staffing: Evaluate staffing needs and get acquainted with state unemployment laws.
3. Overhead and spending: Evaluate all your discretionary spending now.
4. Innovate and brainstorm: Think about how your company can add value during this crisis.
5. Avoid predatory lenders: Predatory lending pulls roughly $9 billion dollars from small businesses. It is destructive. Regardless of the circumstances, predatory lending relationships are destructive to your business. Predatory lending could ruin your ability to restructure your loan with existing lender.
6. Communicate with compassion to your employees: We are all struggling and trying to process information as fast as we possibly can.
7. Follow CDC Guidelines: There is no benefit for placing profits above people and safety.
8. Practice Self-Care: Being an entrepreneur is a solitary path under the best of circumstances. During this type of unique and challenging scenario entrepreneurs may tend to default to simply working more and harder.
9. Think out of the box for Small Business Assistance: This situation is evolving quickly, and resources are being formalized almost daily.
10. Get your house in order:If your business has been disrupted, consider digging in on projects that have been pushed aside because things were too busy.