By James Pruitt, Senior Staff Writer

• Learn the Practice of Mindfulness:

Mindfulness is a state of awareness. Through mindfulness, we focus on the task at hand. Regardless of  how simple the task, practitioners absorb themselves into every detail. Whether cleaning, preparing food, listening to music, or simply being, a mindful person lets go and concentrates on the moment

Running a small business may keep an owner in a constant state of distraction. Small business owners are inevitably busy multitaskers. However, in our routine we may carve out moments to melt into our surroundings and concentrate on the now. Hence, our down-time can become our time to relax and de-stress, rather than ruminate on what we cannot control.

• Meditate:

Related to mindfulness is meditation. Time and place are the main distinctions. Business owners can set aside time each day for simple meditation. Mindfulness can be practiced anywhere.

Meditation can involve a methodology unique to the practitioner. Some write their feelings and thoughts on paper before the session. Afterward, many practitioners feel secure and tranquil to concentrate on emptying their thoughts. After the act of writing, the task of mentally working through burdensome responsibilities has already been done.    We strongly recommend checking out The David Lynch Foundation Meditation programs for Veterans.   There are also other excellent programs.

• Practice Gratitude:

Always stay mindful of the positives in life. Whether great people, a fulfilling career path, or whatever blessings may grace you, the practice of gratitude adorns every setback with a silver lining. Gratitude helps maintain perspective, reminding the practitioner that better times loom ahead. Also, recognizing the positive is known to reduce stress and anxiety.

Many people keep gratitude journals and write down a certain number of things they are thankful for every night. Others write down their blessings and post them in a place where they will see them each day. We should refresh our sense of gratitude regularly. Gratitude gives us hope and perspective for the challenges facing us.

• Use your Support System:

The pandemic has disrupted everyone’s personal interactions. Fortunately, nothing can take away our strongest supports.

Networking with peers helps many business owners. Other small business owners and associates may provide a source of meaningful interaction. Shared experiences can provide bonding.  Furthermore, peer groups can provide opportunities to exchange information. The resulting sense of meaning can help anyone who must plow through adversity.

Also, never forget friends and family. Despite the isolation of the pandemic, this generation has online resources to help remain connected. Finally, always practice gratitude for those who support you every day.

• Relinquish Control when Necessary:

Stress tends to burden the most responsible people. Often, we feel that only we can do everything right, and achieve perfection according to our standards. Unfortunately, no one can attain perfection. Circumstances can foil the most well-laid plans, and we cannot always do a thing about it.   The Pandemic has certainly made this clear and that so much is out of our control.

Stay aware of priorities. Successful business owners recognize what they can and must control. Sometimes, the winds of change shift, and carry some of your goals with them. Proprietors should have the flexibility to adapt when necessary.

• Delegate:

The need for control can overwhelm the most well-adjusted business proprietor. There is one good strategy to reduce the pressure of responsibility: delegate.

Business owners can exercise self-awareness by recognizing those tasks they may not enjoy or do well. Making a list may provide insight into those processes we can best assign to someone else. Consider who on your team may have a different skill base. Also consider routes for contracting out the most dread-inducing tasks. Thusly are built the most efficient organizations.

• Remember You are Not Alone:

Innumerable strategies may alleviate stress during these difficult times. The pandemic is nothing if not unifying. We must all bear some of the same burdens for slogging through these difficult times. While in the end each of us bears different types of burdens, in the end self-care and kindness to ourselves will help us survive.

VAMBOA, the Veterans and Military Business Owners Association hopes that this article has been helpful.   We work hard to bring you important, positive, helpful and timely information and are the “go to” online venue for Veteran and Military Business Owners.  VAMBOA is a non-profit trade association.   We do not charge members any dues or fees and members can also use our seal on their collateral and website.   If you are not yet a member, you can register here:  https://vamboa.org/member-registration/

We also invite you to check us out on social media too.

Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/vamboa

Twitter:  https://twitter.com/VAMBOA

By James Pruitt, Senior Staff Writer

Government Programs:

Federal Programs:

The Small Business Administration (SBA) continues as the wellspring for small business. Indeed, the pandemic has rendered the SBA even more important to the small business community. The SBA has branches in every state. Also look for Small Business Development Centers (SBDCs).

Small Business Development Centers provide free counseling to local entrepreneurs. These centers generally receive funding partially through the SBA and are administrated by local colleges and universities. SBDCs are an important go-to resource for entrepreneurs, providing diverse training and consulting resources.

CARES Act:

The CARES Act, passed in March 2020, remains a source of relief for small businesses. This legislation provided for a variety of relief programs in the wake of the Pandemic.

FEMA:

The FEMA National Business Emergency Operations Center can help any businesses with urgent concerns about continuity or delivery of goods. This office is available 24/7. The latest administration has partnered with FEMA to provide expanded services. These services include. vaccine support and information about best practices. A quick look at this website could provide you a myriad survival tools. See fema.gov for more details.

Economic Injury Disaster Loan Program:

The Small  Business Administration or SBA administers many programs, often in partnerships with other organizations. This program provides small loans up to $2 million. The amount of the loan must cover expenses due to the pandemic. These loans have extremely generous terms, with 30-year repayment Interest rates are 3.75% for businesses and 2.87% for nonprofits.

Express Bridge Loan Pilot Program:

Another SBA program streamlines paperwork for businesses with an SBA Express Lender. These lenders are generally banks and financial institutions. These institutions contract with the SBA to facilitate services on the SBA’s behalf.

SBA Government Contracting:

Many small businesses have contracts with the federal government. Contracts with the government in the past have not given much negotiating power to private-sector businesses. However, current circumstances have provided a degree of wiggle-room. The SBA’s Procurement Center Representatives are the go-to resource in this circumstance. The SBA website actually has a directory of procurement Center Representatives.

Useful Websites:

SBA Access to Capital:

All businesses need capital. This site provides numerous resources to keep your company running.

https://www.sbc.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/accesstocapital

Reimbursement of Medical Leave Costs for SMBs:

Inevitably, more employees have taken leave during the coronavirus pandemic. The IRS has tried to adjust. The following site provides guidelines for reimbursement of resulting tax expenses.

https://irs.gov/newsroom/covid-19-related-tax-credits-for-required-paid-leave-provided-by-small-and-midsize-businesses-faqs

State Programs:

Most states have individual websites to connect entrepreneurs with additional local COVID small business resources. Many states have multiple such resources from several organizations. A google search can provide varieties of additional resources in each state.

Private Organizations:

SCORE is a private educational organization for small businesses. Their website, www.score.org provides access to the largest network of small business mentors.

US Chamber of Commerce has been working with the US and various governments to provide businesses with up-to-date information about the pandemic.

Where to Get Help:

The SBA provides innumerable resources for veteran owned small businesses. However, opportunities do not stop with the SBA. Local organizations, public and private, can prove amazing resources. In everyone’s interest is keeping your business alive during this unexpected crisis. The show must go on. Often, the trick lies in recognizing the public and private resources available. These resources are wide and varied.  Keep an open mind, recognizing that better times come soon.

VAMBOA, the Veterans and Military Business Owners Association hopes that this article has been helpful.   We work hard to bring you important, positive, helpful and timely information and are the “go to” online venue for Veteran and Military Business Owners.  VAMBOA is a non-profit trade association.   We do not charge members any dues or fees and members can also use our seal on their collateral and website.   If you are not yet a member, you can register here:  https://vamboa.org/member-registration/

We also invite you to check us out on social media too.

Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/vamboa

Twitter:  https://twitter.com/VAMBOA

By James Pruitt, Senior Staff Writer

• Consider Your Anxiety about Controlling Your Circumstances:

The pandemic is not your fault. Others will understand this in retrospect. Stay gracious for the gifts the universe gave you. Recognize any blessings that may surround you. Do not howl at the moon about whatever someone could do differently.   Find joy whenever and wherever you can.

• Open Your Mind to New Methods of Outreach:

We are lucky to have the Internet, given pandemic restrictions about meeting in person. As many have discovered in the past few years, several online outlets provide avenues for connection. Google chat, Zoom and Facetime are among them.

Time with friends and family salves frayed nerves and depressed feelings. Circumstances with the pandemic seem to throw a wrench into our normal outlets. However, online interactions still provide meaning. Even day-to-day, a simple message may provide connection even for those not immediately living with friends or family.

• Stay Productive:

The lack of a routine confounds many stuck at home. Remember the routine of waking up, eating breakfast, and commuting to the salt mines? Furloughed workers may relish these memories. Same for work-from-home employees. As many times as you may have pounded that snooze button, at least you had somewhere to go. The trip to work provided a new adventure every day.

The unexpected pandemic disrupted our workplace lives. Our sense of validation often comes from our accomplishments. During the crisis, we often must squeeze water from a rock. However, many of us have lists of projects that can fill our day. Consider the pandemic an opportunity to explore new horizons.

Learn an instrument. Practice a language. Redecorate your house. People need to feel useful. Small business owners should get creative about using down-time productively.

• Do Not Compare Yourself to Others:

The Age of Social Media has brought new strains of peer pressure upon all of us. Now that so many spend so much time at home, the pandemic has exacerbated this stress. Social media is often the only outlet.

Remember, your friends on social media post what they find worthy to post. In the end, we all do. More power to all of us. And many of us not even on social media.

In an age when so many of us have “our own brand,” always remember that the online presences of others does not define us. We should stay confident of our own identity while respecting those of others.

• Stay Mindful by Journaling:

Keeping a journal is healthy. You have likely developed some new routines during this period. Record your thoughts. Take the time to write down new recipes, insights, and feelings. Mindfulness keeps us aware of our ongoing mental states. Journaling can help with mindfulness. Day-to-day, records of your mental state could well prove benefits to your mental well-being.

• Get Out of the House and Exercise:

The virus is weakest outdoors. Rather than going stir-crazy in the stuffy confines of our claustrophobic domiciles, simple walks outside do wonders for our mental health. Hikes, jogging, bicycling, and any number of activities can leave us with a new outlook and bring home a sense of relief. Just remember not to “share air,” as the new pandemic saying goes.

A few additional hints from Debbie Gregory, VAMBOA’s founder & CEO:

A few things that help me:   I make sure to acknowledge gratitude for the people in my life and all that I am grateful for each day.  It is nice to add it to your journal too.   This is a good way to begin your daily entry.   Almost every day, even if I am not going anywhere, I still shower, groom, dress nicely if only for me.   This helps me to be positive and when we look nice, we feel better, at least I do.    Once in a while, I do have a pajama day, but it is rare.  For me, it is better to make sure my clothes fit than to hang out in PJs or sweats.   I also go out of my way to make nice, healthy meals and exercise even when I cannot go outside with online classes, an elliptical or exercise bike.  Walking is the best.   The love, affection and devotion from our fur children is priceless too.    I also try to meditate at least once a day and find the joy where I can and often.  I am a glass is half full girl too.

VAMBOA, the Veterans and Military Business Owners Association hopes that this article has been helpful.   We work hard to bring you important, positive, helpful and timely information and are the “go to” online venue for Veteran and Military Business Owners.  VAMBOA is a non-profit trade association.   We do not charge members any dues or fees and members can also use our seal on their collateral and website.   If you are not yet a member, you can register here:  https://vamboa.org/member-registration/

We also invite you to check us out on social media too.

Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/vamboa

Twitter:  https://twitter.com/VAMBOA

By James Pruitt, Senior Staff Writer

• What is the Small Business Administration (SBA)?

The Small Business Administration known as the SBA runs the stimulus programs relevant to small businesses, including the loans under the Paycheck Protection Plan. Generally, financial institutions administer the loans. The mission of the Small Business Administration is “to maintain and strengthen the nation’s economy by enabling the establishment and viability of small businesses and by assisting in the economic recovery of communities after disasters.” The SBA has offices in each state. Contact your local office for information about PPP loans and pandemic assistance.

• What are Payment Protection Loans?

Payment Protection loans are forgivable loans under the CARES Act, signed by the former President on March 27, 2020. The Small Business Administration primarily intends the loans to ensure that smaller businesses meet payroll.   President Biden is opening a new round of PPP Loans.

• Criteria for Small Business Loans under the Second Draw Paycheck Protection Plan:

Second Draw PPP Loans started with the second act on January 13, 2021 for select businesses who were original PPP recipients. These businesses must have exhausted their original funds from a first draw loan.

The criteria are the following: (1) money is going to small businesses, defined as having fewer than 300 employees per location. These businesses must (2) have been specifically affected by the pandemic, and (3) must have lost 25% in revenue in any quarter of this year compared to last year.

• Forgiveness Simplified:

Forgivable expenses now include (1) supplier costs, (2) operations expenditures for everyday functioning, (3) property damage from public disturbances, and (4) safety expenditures. When you apply for forgiveness of the PPP loan, any expenses are tax-deductible.

• Support for Minority-Owned Businesses and Depressed or Rural Communities:

Businesses in Low to Moderate (LMI) income areas may qualify for additional support. The latest CARES act has set aside $15 billion for initial PPP loans and $25 billion for second PPP loans.

Credit unions and other financial institutions may qualify. Other eligible recipients include small agricultural credit unions, minority depository institutions, certified development companies (CDCs), and community development financial institutions (CDFIs), as well as groups that administer SBA Microloans.

• Seasonal Employers:

The SBA now defines seasonable employers as those that (1) operate for no more than seven months of the year, or (2) earned no more than 1/3 of their revenue in any six months in the prior calendar. Seasonal employers have different eligibility and forgiveness criteria.

7) Employee-Retention Tax Credit:

The “Employee Retention Tax Credit” Induces employers to maintain payrolls. The new bill expands benefits from employers with 500 or fewer employees to those with 100 or fewer employees.

These businesses may use the credit based on wages from the same quarter in a previous year.  New employers may claim the credit even if they formed in 2019 or early 2020. There is also help managing health plan expenses. Further, the new bill removes the 30-day wage limitation, and even allows certain public organizations to claim the credit.

8) Deferral of Social Security Taxes:

Employers’ social security taxes are deferable for eligible businesses. The new CARES Act relieves those taxes through March 2021, and repayment may extend until late 2022.

9) EIDL Program:

The new wave of PPP loans does not preclude Economic Injury Disaster Loans. Small businesses may receive both. The main caveat is that the SBA now has more power to detect fraud. Also, proprietors need not deduct the EIDL grant from the PPP forgiveness amount. Emphasis remains on employee retention, with $1000 per employee grants still available.

10) Additional benefits for nonprofits:

Individual taxpayers can deduct even more for charitable giving. Nonprofits should emphasize this benefit when soliciting donations. The “above-the-line” charitable contribution is now $600 for joint filers, and $300 for others.

11) Shuttered Venue Operator Grant Program:

The pandemic has direly affected arts and entertainment venues. A grants program supports these businesses under the new legislation. Businesses that receive such grants will not receive PPP loans. The new program provides grants to entities with 70 percent or greater loss in revenue. These businesses include museum operators, those involved with the performing arts, and talent agencies.

12) Exemptions:

There are certain exemptions for PPP loans under the new round of CARES legislation. Examples may include entities that receive a grant under the Shuttered Venue Operator Grant Program (such as above), businesses affiliated with the People’s Republic of China, registrants under the Foreign Agents Registration Act, and political or lobbying organizations.

We hope that this article has been helpful.   We work hard to bring you important, helpful and timely information and are the “go to” online venue for Veteran and Military Business Owners.  VAMBOA, the Veteran and Military Business Owners Association is a non-profit trade association.   We do not charge members any dues or fees and members can also use our seal on their collateral and website.   If you are not yet a member, you can register here:  https://vamboa.org/member-registration/

We also invite you to check us out on social media too.

Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/vamboa

Twitter:  https://twitter.com/VAMBOA

By James Pruitt, Senior Staff Writer

The pandemic’s disruption on the economy has been epic and continues. There are many businesses that are able not only to survive but can also thrive in such conditions. Others, not so much. Huge swaths of the economy are struggling. Unfortunately, downsizing is an unavoidable necessity for many small business owners.

Depending on the circumstances and nature of the recession, some businesses seem nearly recession-proof. Examples include essential services including the repair industry, online services, food and beverages, information technology, and health care. Such businesses tend to stand up to economic trauma.

Other companies, not so much.  In this current recession, restaurants, entertainment venues, and luxury goods tend to wash out when consumers tighten their belts. As such, widespread downsizing is inevitable. Fortunately, there are right and wrong ways to downsize.

Below are some mistakes to avoid when rightsizing your business:

• Eliminating Entire Business Functions Unnecessarily:

Before eliminating an entire division or business function, consider the feasibility of across-the-board cuts. That function may well come in handy further down the line. Your business during tough times should become leaner and meaner, while remaining versatile. Use caution before eliminating an entire department or function. Even when the time comes to tighten your belt, a business should stay prepared for whatever challenge awaits and be prepared for the future.

• Failing to use Empathy with Staffing Changes:

When the time comes for layoffs, empathy and kindness counts a great deal. When laying off employees, do so with compassion, and consideration for overall circumstances. The same goes for schedule and salary changes. Downsizing mistakes can affect the employer’s relationship with his or her remaining workers. Any staffing agencies the business uses may also hesitate to work with such a business. Finally, wide repercussions can follow a reputation as a cruel employer.  Makes sure you are following all applicable laws as well.

• Misreading Economic Circumstances:

An economic downturn is a good time for positive thinking. Employers in a recession need to get down to business. Plan for the worst-case scenario.  Protect your bottom line, and ensure core operations are safe even as opportunities may drive up.

• Inventory Hoarding:

Inventory can be painful to lose, especially at less than its full value. However, inventory is also expensive to store and maintain.  Business owners should liquidate when necessary and makes good business sense. Cash on-hand serves the company better than depreciating stock in the warehouse that is taking up space and perhaps expiring.

• Practice What You Preach:

Hardship is a two-way street in an economic downturn. Employers should demonstrate their own willingness to sacrifice. Concrete lifestyle changes show a spirit of togetherness against adverse circumstances. A recession is the wrong time for fancy vacations and glamorous purchases. You and your employees are in the same boat. Show it. You need to work together in order to come out in a positive way.

• How to Adapt to Rough Times:

Staying realistic can be a challenge when a business’s course takes a painful turn, especially with the current challenges from the pandemic. Sometimes, the best course is to sacrifice, and grin and bear it. An owner should keep the faith while rolling up his or her sleeves. The economy is cyclical, and circumstances will change. A recession is a time to weather the storm. Owners should understand that good proprietorship entails sucking up the bad with the good. Remember that even if the business fails, things will get better.

Even during these challenging times, it is important to stay positive and focused both personally and professionally.   VAMBOA wishes you great success.

We hope that this article has been helpful.   We work hard to bring you important, helpful and timely information and are the “go to” online venue for Veteran and Military Business Owners.  VAMBOA, the Veteran and Military Business Owners Association is a non-profit trade association.   We do not charge members any dues or fees and members can also use our seal on their collateral and website.   If you are not yet a member, you can register here:  https://vamboa.org/member-registration/

We also invite you to check us out on social media too.

Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/vamboa

Twitter:  https://twitter.com/VAMBOA