Covid-19: How to Help Small Businesses Amidst the Coronavirus Outbreak

With all the business shutdowns and event cancellations to prevent the spread of Coronavirus (Covid-19), many small businesses are struggling. This means lost funds for employees and business owners and no income to support their families or pay bills.

For some small business, this means returning deposits received from customers for events that now have to be canceled. This could add up to well over $10,000 in refunds on top of lost gigs and payments.

It can be catastrophic to the small businesses, and may even require business closures. Right now, we should all be coming together to find any possible way to keep them afloat. Not only will we be helping other people during a time of crisis, but we will also be helping our economy.

I know most of us want to help but don’t know how. That’s where I come in! I’ve done some research and spoke to business owners to see what might help them during this time. I hope you will all do what you can, no matter how small.

How to Support Small Businesses

1. Start booking for next year.

When it comes to wedding DJ’s or photographers, Covid-19 has essentially halted business for them until further notice. With the president saying this could last well into July or August, that cuts out one of the busiest times of the year for them.

Most weddings have well over the recommended limit of 10 people, which means that all weddings will have to be canceled or postponed. Not only that, but with government buildings shut down, no one can even apply for a marriage license now.

This is where the deposits may need to be refunded. Many couples who are affected by this limit on gatherings are going to need their deposits back. So, not only are DJ’s losing out on the payments they would receive on the day of the event, but they also have to dish out tons of money.

With all of that being said, we CAN help them hang on and bounce back when everything is overwith. We can do that by booking our events for next year (2021). When you book with them and make your deposit, you’ll not only be giving them a source of income and giving them job security for next year, but you’ll be helping yourself by getting ahead of the rush.

Just think, some of the brides that have to postpone their dates are going to be re-booking for the following year (we hope), so you’ll not only be competing to book dates with those who will be getting engaged in the next year, but also with those who were already engaged and had to reschedule.

2. Buy gift cards

Right now, only restaurants, nail salons, bars, etc. are closed, but small shops and stores are still open. Unfortunately, since many people are self-quarantined and social-distancing because of Covid-19, those small shops are still down in sales now.

With that being said, all of those places can get by if we all just buy gift cards to their establishments. You can buy them for yourself, since you know you’ll be out and about once this situation is more stable, and you can also buy them for gifts. Plan ahead for Christmas or birthdays and support your local economy at the same time.

3. Help keep the employees healthy

If the business is still open, do your part to keep everyone there healthy. Remember, even if you feel fine, you could still be a carrier of the illness. Make sure you are washing your hands, covering your coughs and sneezes, and staying home if you don’t feel well.

Even more important, if the employee has to come inside your home, take the time before they come to sanitize any surface they may have to touch. Do the same when they leave to protect yourself and your family.

4. See if they offer other services

While even small get-togethers are a no-go right now, you can still book smaller things such as photo shoots. For entertainers such as DJ’s, you could maybe ask if they record music for websites, podcast or YouTube introductions, etc. It is always worth a shot to ask!

5. Hire them to do an interview or write a post

Do you have a blog or podcast? Hire small business owners to come on your podcast and talk about what coronavirus means for their business and what it could mean for the future. If you don’t want to talk about Covid-19, just ask other business questions instead, like how they got started and if they have advice for up-and-comers.

Some small business owners are great writers, too, so they could even potentially do a guest post on your blog. Again, the post could be about this pandemic, or it could be about something completely unrelated.

6. Skip the chains

McDonald’s and Wendy’s are going to be fine. Skip the food chains and head to a local business instead. These are the businesses who will be losing the most since their regular customers can no longer come in and sit down to eat.

Order takeout from them and, if you can, try to tip their waitstaff as if you were sitting down to eat. Remember, they are losing a huge income source, too, and they still have families to feed and bills to pay.

7. Share their social media posts

This is the best way to help a small business during this time. When restaurants post images of their carry out menus, share it even if you won’t be eating there. This way the small restaurant may potentially gain new customers.

For other types of small businesses, share their content to help spread the word about their services. You never know, your share could have a huge impact on a small business.

Covid-19: How to Help Small Businesses Amidst the Coronavirus Outbreak

No matter what your stance is on the actions taken to protect against the spread of Coronavirus, we’re all in this together. If we don’t work together to get through this, it could be bad things for our economy and for local small businesses.

Help one another out, help our economy, and do your part to contribute in a positive way. We can all help small businesses in this time of crisis.

Is there something we can do to help small businesses that I didn’t mention on the list? Leave a comment and let me know!