We’ve collated tips, guides and advice creating a modest toolkit of resources below, all from specialists and advisers, for you to consider for your business.  We will continue to update and add other useful resources to this blog over the coming weeks, so save it in your favourites and visit regularly.  

If you have any tips, guides or advice for other business owners or just want to share what you are doing in your business during the COVID-19 pandemic, please do send them through to us at hello@unlocking-potential.co.uk – we’d love to share it with others who might need the support. 

LOCAL AND NATIONAL GOVERNMENT ADVICE

Growth Hubs are a national Government initiative – and so are leading in the business response locally on behalf of the Council and LEP. Keep up to date from our Cornwall & Isles of Scilly Growth Hub here 

The advice from government is changing daily, and the latest updates can be tracked on the .gov website and you can sign-up to email updates from the Government as well. 

CORONAVIRUS BUSINESS INTERUPTION LOAN SCHEME

The British Business Bank is managing the Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme (CBILS) which is now live. The scheme supports a wide range of business finance products, including term loans, overdrafts, invoice finance and asset finance facilities and can provide facilities of up to £5m for smaller businesses across the UK who are experiencing lost or deferred revenues, leading to disruptions to their cashflow. 

CASH GRANTS AND BUSINESS RATES

From the FSB: What have the Government announced to help me?
Advice and guidance for small businesses and the self-employed on topics such as cash grants, business rates, cashflow and lending. Regularly updated. View the advice from the FSB  

COVID-19 AND THE 10 QUESTIONS EMPLOYERS WANT ANSWERED

Stephens Scown Solicitors: ‘The UK has now moved into the delay stage of dealing with Covid-19. People are very concerned, and businesses are beginning to be affected. We’ve put together our answers for the ten questions that we are most frequently being asked today by our clients’.
View the employer advice guide from Stephens Scown Solicitors. 

BEST PRACTICE ADVICE IN PREPARING YOUR COMMUNICATIONS

Cornwall Chamber of Commerce: ‘As businesses are readying themselves for potential effects of the Coronavirus, we wanted to share some best practice advice on preparing your communications.  We hope this helps, and we are here to help and guide you should you need further advice.’
View the ‘Best Practice Advice’ 

OBSERVATIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS FOR ONLINE BUSINESSES

Niddocks co-owner, Rob Edlin:
“We have been monitoring the situation with Coronavirus COVID-19 very closely, our particular attention has been focused on e-commerce and tourism as these are the two business categories that we work most closely with around the world.” 
A summary of observations and recommendations: This is a working document which is regularly updated as developments occur.  

FREE EMERGENCY HELPLINE AND TOOLKIT TO HELP BUSINESSES AFFECTED BY COVID-19

Cosmic UK: ‘Businesses across the south west, who are facing changes to their working environments due to the Coronavirus pandemic, will be able to access free advice and support on remote and home working with the launch of a new helpline.A free emergency helpline launched by Cosmic UK is available to support businesses affected by Coronavirus is 0330 088 4421 

Click here for the Cosmic Remote Working Advice Line Toolkit: containing advice and guidance on the steps you can take to ready your business.
Read more from Cosmic UK
 

WORKING VIRTUALLY

If you’re not used to remote working – some of us are, some of us aren’t – here’s a couple of pointers that we’ve picked up from Katherine George, co-owner of Oh So Social. Watch Katherine’s clip on how they operate a 100% remote-working business.  

While there are plenty of obvious, frequently used ways for suddenly isolated teams to keep in touch (text, email, WhatsApp, etc.) other easy-to-use software can help at little or no cost. Far-flung teams can collaborate on projects using products like Trello and Hubspot. Less formally, some teams find Slack a good alternative. Instead of an email system’s model – one private inbox per person – it’s organised by channels arranged by subject, not user, meaning they’re open and visible to all.   

If everyone’s out of the office and mobile signal’s a problem, a phone-answering service guarantees no missed calls and sends you a text or email so that no lead is ever lost. As regards communicating with clients, scheduled social media posts in a fast-changing situation can end up sounding inappropriate or factually incorrect, so be ready to reassign responsibilities, and try to respond to what’s happening, not to an inflexible plan. The same applies to all communications: prioritise honesty if you can’t deliver what you usually do. Try anticipating cancellations, enquiries and the sheer volume of people likely to be online, which might mean staggering employee working patterns so that business hours start earlier and end later.