The past weeks have been intense for the Squamish business community. Many companies across Canada had to make difficult staffing choices when demand for many products and services suddenly flat-lined.
Thankfully, the federal government has just announced substantial wage subsidies and interest-free loans for small businesses. You can be reassured you’ll get through this difficult period without having to shutter your company or lay off your employees. But can you thrive, not just survive?
3 Quick COVID-19 Pivots for Small Business
Pick-up and delivery
Do you have a company vehicle? The demand for delivery services has skyrocketed as people do their part to stay at home. For those who are not in a high risk group, courier services are a great option to keep your business in the black during quarantine.
If you sell products, offer delivery to your customers. If not, you can run errands for those who wish to remain indoors and can afford to pay. The BC government is matching vulnerable seniors with community volunteers, but there are lots of people who are staying home to protect others who are happy to pay for door service.
Live Streaming
Are you a teacher? You can offer classes online through video conferencing tools like Zoom or Google Hangouts. This is a great option for performing artists who are out of work until events are back on the table. Share your love of your craft with others who are just starting out.
Outschool has a ready-made platform for teachers and parents looking for a solution for home-schooling. No teaching qualifications are required – they believe everyone potentially has something to offer. They take a 30% cut of your teaching fees, and the rest depends on you. Teachers can earn up to $40 USD per hour of teaching time. The course material is up to you.
E-Commerce – Sell Products Online
There has never been a better time to be in the mail-order business. We have talked about how to get your store online in a hurry using ready made intuitive apps like Weebly and Wave.
If you don’t want to mess with building a website and setting up a whole platform, you can create an account for your business within an existing marketplace like Amazon, E-Bay or Etsy.
However you adapt to the pandemic, it might be a long time before we can get back to business as usual. When we do, the economy might not look very much like the one we had before. Now is the time to get creative and think about where the demand for goods and services is right now, so your business can slip in to meet it.
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