The last week has been a little stressful with respect to the music school I help manage. I suspect yours has been too?
On the one hand we are doing whatever we can to sustain as much of our revenue stream as possible, but with all the uncertainty over how long this situation will last, and what the longer term reaction of our customers will be we have decided to take advantage of the stimulus funds to ensure our staff can be supported and payroll maintained.
The assistance from Washington comes in many forms, which can be confusing - to say the least. I do not intend to provide yet another explanation in this blog, but I found this overview to be pretty useful: https://drive.google.com/file/d/17qabCSiIF07wPHKgcQftMkkbKrNEVpNU/view
Given that payroll is our major concern, and largest expense, I decided that the Payroll Protection Plan was the right place to focus. The promise of PPP is that you can go to your local bank and apply for a loan for up to 2.5 times your average monthly payroll. That loan will be backed by the Small Business Administration, and will not require personal guarantees. Sounds good, right? But even better, is that the amount of that loan you spend on payroll, rent and utilities for the first 8 weeks after it is approved will be forgiven. That sounds like free money just when you need it, and that is, indeed, the intent. You just have to keep paying your staff - "Payroll Protection"
It can't be that easy, can it? Well I didn't say it was going to be easy. So far I have not actually been able to submit an application. My local bank says they will have something on their website by Friday (April 3rd) to apply online, but I am expecting a torrent of applications and subsequent delays, and the funds may even run out, so I looked for another option and found a form from the US Chamber of Commerce and filled that out, signed and sent it in to my bank account representative. No go. I have to wait until they are ready with the online process.
In one last attempt to get things submitted early I went back to the SBA site and found a link to get connected with an approved lender (this link is no longer there it seems - I guess they are overwhelmed?). There I was connected to Fundera whose online form asked all the right questions and accepted my application. I believe they are a broker, so they are hopefully looking for a financial institution to submit through, but I must admit I am still unsure of the next step.
Friday I will check with Fundera and with my bank and see who is ready to go first.
I'll let you know how it goes (in the comments if it is not worthy of a whole new blog post).
Good luck with your plans...
Gerry
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