The level of distress that many entrepreneurs are experiencing during the COVID-19 pandemic is unsettling but normal. Many people have been displaced from their work and income. Now with incomes for many small businesses wiped out for the foreseeable future, there is a scramble to retool and recover.

Suddenly unemployed workers and business owners are searching for new ways to make money. Some are learning online platforms to take their businesses virtual. Some have fallen prey to charlatans who are offering to “solve” all their problems for a small (or not so small) fee. Others are hiding because they are so overwhelmed.

The initial shock of our economy shutdown is abating; but let’s be realistic, the distressed economic situation will not resolve quickly. So put your “long game” into play. The “long game” is your Resilience Strategy. Here are seven ways to start planning your next steps with a more emotionally settled approach while harnessing your inner strength to rebound.

1.   Take an Inventory: Focus instead on what you still have, not on what you have lost. You still have your skills and knowledge. This is valuable. Is there some other way to use your talents that you have not previously considered? Can you subcontract to others who are getting work to pick up a little cash flow? Can you convert what you do or know to help others? That help might not pay bills, but if you are wise about how you frame it, this could be the foundation for your future when the world around us recovers.

2.   Conserve Your Cash: Be brutal about cutting costs to conserve cash. Review your credit card for any automatic payments and ask if you really still need them. Don’t just focus on the monthly charge. Convert those monthly charges to their equivalent cost for a full year. The annualized number is what you should consider. Can you pay more important bills if you let them go? The same thing holds true for your cash expenses. Can you ask employees to shorten hours so you don’t need to lay people off? Ask vendors to lower their costs or renegotiate a different payment plan. Review your phone bills to see if there are savings by switching carriers. The same goes for insurance and utility bills. If you normally pay some invoices by credit card to get air miles, look at the timing of paying them so they roll into your next credit card invoice. That might buy you a few more weeks for things to settle down.

3.   Access Resources: With the various economic disaster loans available make sure you check them all out to see if you qualify. You might have more options available to you than you realize. This means looking for options and asking others where these resources might be available. The United States Small Business Administration has had some resources available (https://www.sba.gov) and some states also are working on establishing special programs for small businesses. Funding resources are evolving as this crisis continues, so be on the lookout for developing options that may help you weather this tough time.

4.   Connection: Even if your clients are not able to buy anything from you at this time, you can evaluate options you have to connect with them and/or support them in what they need. Keep in touch with customers when they’re not buying so they’ll remember you when they can buy. In some industries, such as healthcare, it was not appropriate to reach out in the early days because their energies were focused on the intensity of the immediate operational crisis. Your clients may have reached an interim “new normal” now that the situation has settled down a bit. Are they ready now for your connection? You must be sensitive to your clients. Do not force the issue. Focus your energies on what you can do for them. Even if it is not for a fee. Think about how communication you employ right now can play out over the long term.

5.   Use Your Network: Explore the power of partnership and collaboration through the community you have built. If you have not already done so, you can find a tribe of like-minded people online. Your industry associations are also full of people in the same situation as you. Coming together to brainstorm ideas for new approaches and to share news about resources is a powerful way to focus your energies on recovering from this tough situation. Set up a regular call with your peers or allies. It might be each night at a designated time or on a weekly basis. Focus conversations on resolving problems and forward thinking.

6.   Be Realistic: No one wants to consider permanently closing their business. But, if there is no way to recover your current book of business, you might have to get a temporary job to stabilize your income. This does not mean your business is closed. You are just temporarily focusing on a pragmatic solution. You can even try to continue your business and work a part-time job. This could take some of the financial pressure off of you. Don’t let your pride get in the way of taking advantage of a temporary opportunity to get some cash coming in your door. You don’t have to post this job on your LinkedIn profile or share it with the world. You do what you need to do to keep food on your table and toilet paper in your bathroom.

7.   Focus Your Mindset: Make the decision that you will survive this unprecedented crisis situation through your own grit, determination and effort. Try to find music, activities or people that will support your positive mindset to be resilient and mentally tough. Determine to keep focusing on solutions. Give yourself some grace. This is an exceptionally difficult time. Be compassionate with yourself just as you would to a dear friend you care about. Find healthy ways to cope with the stress as you move through this time of great adversity. Take care of yourself physically, emotionally and spiritually.

FINAL THOUGHTS:  Over the decades, small businesses have weathered recessions, natural disasters, terrorist events and strategic failures. They survived and even thrived afterwards due to the choices they made and the focus they developed to adapt to the changing circumstances. They focused their mindset on making choices each day that were laser-focused on their short-term survival and their intention to achieve long-term success. They leveraged unexpected opportunities into cash-flow, connections and tactics to survive and even thrive. You can do the same!

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Jill J. Johnson, MBA, is the President and Founder of Johnson Consulting services, a highly accomplished speaker, an award-winning management consultant, and author of the Bold Questions series and Compounding Your Confidence. Jill helps her clients make critical business decisions and develop market-based strategic plans for turnarounds or growth. Her consulting work has impacted more than $4 billion worth of decisions. She has a proven track record of dealing with complex business issues and getting results. For more information on Jill J. Johnson, please visit www.jcs-usa.com.