Make most of available assistance

SMALL business owners should seek all the financial aid they can to help them emerge from the coronavirus pandemic in good shape.

Federal, state and local governments have offered assistance packages in response to COVID-19, and small business specialists say navigating them is complex but vital.

To-do lists can also include online expansion, workplace law changes, managing employee worries and potentially pivoting their business.

“For small businesses to thrive as we start to return to something approaching normal, they need to survive first,” said Richard Spencer, Business

Australia’s chief experience officer.

“Local, state and federal governments have put an unprecedented level of stimulus funding and packages together for small businesses to help them through.”

A spokeswoman for federal Treasurer Josh Frydenberg said measures included Jobcustomer

Keeper payments to workers, cash flow boosts, wage subsidies for apprentices and trainees, and bigger tax write-offs.

“The banks are also providing support to individuals and small businesses,” she said.

Small Business Australia executive director Bill Lang said he was making owners aware of available assistance.

“They hear about JobKeeper and JobSeeker but there are city councils setting aside millions of dollars for specific grants,” Mr Lang said.

He said every state had a business website, and in many cases an online search could show what was available. customers, because the most likely customers businesses were going to get back were those they had in the past.

Mr Spencer said small businesses that made the effort to communicate “will probably come back stronger”.

“A lot of customers are keen to put money back into the small business economy” he said.

Business owners should reach out to their community and help them understand how their business was opening up safely, Mr Spencer said.

“None of us had the chance to plan the way into this crisis, but the economy will come out in different speeds and formats,” he said.

“Look at different scenarios as to what the route out might look like. Plan what the organisation would do if we need to go back into hibernation.”