Douglas Kruger - Virus-Proof Your Small Business: 50 Ways to Survive the Covid-19 Crisis

And then someone came
along and shook our snow globe

If you are going through hell, keep going.

Winston Churchill

What were you doing between 2010 and 2019? Not everyone knows this, but those years were quite possibly the most prosperous in human history, with over a billion people lifted from extreme poverty, and improved standards of living realised for vast swathes of the global populace.

Then 2020 hit and, along with it, the coronavirus. Originating in Wuhan, a city in the Hubei province of China, the first reports of this particular strain reached our ears in December of 2019. The virus then spread throughout the world. COVID-19 was declared a pandemic by the World Health Organization on 11 March 2020.

The effect on global markets was dramatic. By late March, travel virtually shut down globally. The Dow and FTSE saw their biggest one-day declines since 1987. US unemployment benefits surged from under half a million people to over three million, (https://www.bbc.com/news/business-51706225), and, in Britain, even James Bond took cover, with the release of the latest film in the iconic franchise delayed until confidence picks up (https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland-scotland-business-51782513).

What about you?

The impact on markets was alarming. But our focus here is on a more granular level: you and your business. Are you still up and running? I hope so, and I hope I will be able to help.

We are interested in answering a few critical questions for your business. How can you weather such a period of uncertainty? What practical steps can you take to keep your earnings as high as possible and your losses as low as feasible?

There are human concerns at play, too: how to take care of staff who depend on you, and what you might do for the community in which you operate.

This book is the product of contributions from a wide spectrum of generous entrepreneurs, thinkers, professors and professionals, all of whom rushed to share their best insights to help you solve these problems quickly. Answers have been provided from Texas and Croatia, England and Malaysia, Australia and Israel.

Yet, for all its wealth of ideas, nothing would please me more than this book ultimately proving redundant, which is to say, if the crisis is resolved by the time this book comes out, that would be a best-case scenario.

Still, lets plan for the worst by pooling our best insights and arming one another for survival. We have a vested interest in one anothers success.

The most important principle

Here is the most important principle, upon which every other idea depends. The survival of your business relies upon this formula:

Profit over costs

Profit over costs is everything. Every business must have more money flowing in than out.

Achieving and maintaining that ratio represents survival. We must do as many smart things as possible in order to keep that ratio in balance. So, if you are feeling lost, confused or disorientated, place that formula at the apex of your thinking. If you can maintain profit over costs for long enough, that will do.

Many business owners focus exclusively on costs, and, specifically, on keeping them down. That is important, but it is only half of the equation. You must also strive to keep income as high as possible, lest you merely conserve yourself into the grave.

Choose what fits for you

In the following chapters, you will find 50 ways to keep income high and costs low. You wont need all of them. You will only need enough to keep your profit higher than your costs for a long enough period of time. How long is long enough? Well, thats the part we dont know, so sustained clever activity will be your friend during this crisis, just as it is at any other time.

The ideas we will cover are industry-agnostic. Many will work wonderfully in your scenario, others might not fit. Nevertheless, as the best creative strategy often derives from thinking across barriers and comparing unlikely categories, I encourage you to take a moments pause when you meet an idea that doesnt initially seem right for you. Could it be? Turn it around in your mind. With a little retrofitting, perhaps a concept from a different industry might prove to be the most valuable thing you try.

Are there silver linings?

Surprisingly, yes. At least, there can be. Handled cleverly, there are potential upsides to this crisis for individuals and for businesses.

While caution becomes the new normal, a few bold souls are, right this moment, doing something counterintuitive: investing. The reasoning is simple: if you buy low, then sell high, you make large profits. There is no better time than now to buy low, whether that means buying financial assets or another business.

Is that an option for you? Speak to a financial adviser. They are usually geared up even for small investors. You lose nothing and may gain greatly by asking. At the same time, do not place yourself into a precarious situation by using cash that you might need.