Hello for another week! We hope you are staying healthy and well.

Easing restrictions

The coming weeks should bring good news as states slowly ease restrictions and businesses slowly start to open again. Of course, there will be social distancing, group size limits and hygiene requirements, but it will be good to see businesses up and running again.

Each state has developed its own plan as to what will reopen, how that will happen, and when. State government websites will have the details, or there is a roundup here.

Businesses unable to get support

Some small and medium businesses have been unable to access other support measures announced by the government, like the Wage Subsidy or Emergency Response Benefit. For those businesses, financing support is available through Canada’s Regional Development Agencies. You can find more information here.

Industry support

The government has details on support for specific industries, including agriculture, air transportation, charities and tourism, which may be available for you.

What’s next for your business?

While some business owners can see the ‘light at the end of the tunnel’ now, it’s unlikely that everything will go back to normal once we’re all back up and running. We strongly encourage you to use this time to create a plan for the months ahead, as none of us know exactly what will happen. We know that writing a business plan can feel like a big effort so we have created a template to make it easier. Please get in touch if you’d like to talk about your plan – especially the financial parts like cash flow.

Here to help

If you have any questions about the above updates, the support that is available to you, or your business plans in the coming months, please get in touch. We are here to help you get through this.