Many of us are adjusting to a new normal of staying home as much as we can, while finding a groove with working remotely, if that’s an option. The government is putting together financial resources to support small business, and many other businesses are doing what they can to help business owners keep the lights on and maintain sanity during these strange days. Here are some recent updates and helpful resources we’ve put together.

Financial Support for Businesses

You can find details on the government’s economic programs on the official website here.

Canada Emergency Business Account – CEBA

The Canada Emergency Business Account (CEBA) provides up to a $40,000 loan for eligible small businesses and not-for-profits. This federal program is designed to help cover operating costs for businesses experiencing temporary revenue reductions.

Some finer details:
The Canada Emergency Business Account will provide up to a $40,000 loan:

• at 0% interest until December 31, 2022
• requires no minimum monthly principal payments until December 31, 2022
• principal repayments can be made at any time
• $10,000 loan forgiveness is available provided outstanding balance is fully paid on or before December 31, 2022.

Small businesses and not-for-profits have to meet certain eligibility requirements, which you can find here.

Please contact us if you have any questions.

Wage Subsidy

The Canada Emergency Wage Subsidy (CEWS) provides a 75% wage subsidy to eligible employers for up to 12 weeks, retroactive to March 15, 2020. You can find all the details and eligibility requirements here.

Financial Support for Individuals

The government’s website has a dedicated section that outlines extra support for individuals and families. The measures include increasing the Canada Child Benefit by $300, a special goods and services tax credit for some families and mortgage support. Please ask us if you have a question.

Helpful resources

LinkedIn has made a number of courses aimed at small businesses free til June. These courses cover topics including marketing, managing remote teams, self-care, and financial planning.

Zapier has been all-remote since it started, and in this article, co-founder Wade Foster explains how the company relies on teams, tools, processes to make it all work.

Managing a remote team requires a different mindset and a different understanding of each employee’s situation. This post from Lighthouse has 31 questions and helpful context for better management of remote teams.

This pandemic won’t last forever, but it’s likely that business will be different afterwards. This article in Harvard Business Review has ideas for preparing your business for the post-pandemic world. 

Futurist and founder of XPRIZE Peter Diamandis discusses three things he’s hopeful about and three things that small businesses should do to prepare for what comes next.

Time for some good news!

An anonymous donor has gifted every household in a small US town with gift cards from local businesses, including a grocery store, restaurant and coffee shop. Buying a gift card to redeem later is a nice way you can support your local cafe, restaurant or other struggling business.

Thank you

Thank you for your continued support and patience as we work to wade through government packages, announcements and updates each week. Please get in touch if you have any questions.
We are in this together.