This month commemorates the second anniversary of Covid-19, which brought the globe to a standstill. Small businesses learned lessons.
This month commemorates the second anniversary of Covid-19, which brought the small business globe to a standstill.
Main Streets throughout America have withstood one of the most challenging battles since the Great Depression, and the small businesses that survived are more robust than before the outbreak.
Although the virus is here to stay, companies and communities are returning due to Covid-19 vaccinations and booster doses.
A complete recovery will take time, particularly for small firms throughout the nation.
We’ve learned a lot about our economy and the sort of Main Street we should strive for post-pandemic via this catastrophe.
Lessons Learned from the Last Two Years
Here are five of the essential things we’ve learned in the last two years.
1. Never undervalue the tenacity of small businesses and ambitious entrepreneurs.
The number of small companies forced to shut down will always be one component of Covid-19’s consequences, but another will be a narrative of how many found ways to survive.
The number of Americans who established their own small companies during the outbreak was even more astonishing.
According to Yelp statistics, almost 500,000 new businesses debuted between March 11, 2020 and March 1, 2021.
This was just a 14% decrease from the previous year leading up to Covid-19.
2. Long-standing disparities persist and worsen during a crisis.
While many firms could thrive, mandates shut down many unfairly.
The epidemic revealed exactly how vulnerable small company owners, particularly Black and Brown business owners.
Between February and April of 2020, 41% of Black-owned firms closed, as did 36% of Latinx-owned businesses and 25% of women-owned enterprises.
All firms must have quick access to finance to withstand the next crisis.
3. Programs like the American Rescue Plan aided in the survival of innumerable small enterprises throughout the epidemic.
A variety of government initiatives, like the PPP, aided companies in surviving the first year of the epidemic.
The legislation helped them make it to the other side. The American Rescue Plan made an investment of $1.9 trillion in various sectors. Indeed, expanding the Child Tax Credit for nearly 40 million families with 65 million children and lowering healthcare premiums for 14.5 million Americans purchasing coverage through the Marketplace.
In addition, 85 percent of Americans got economic impact payments of $1,400.
These initiatives led to 2021 being the most significant employment creation, with 6.7 million new positions added to the workforce.
4. It may take longer for small firms to recover from a crisis, but the Act of Bi-Infrastructure would assist.
The Bipartisan Infrastructure Act (BIL) will aid in the recovery process.
This once-in-a-generation bipartisan bill will provide a much-needed boost to the economy and Main Streets throughout America.
One way it will achieve this is through expanding broadband internet access so that small enterprises may attain their full potential.
More than 30 million Americans live in places with no broadband infrastructure to provide a minimum amount of internet quickness. The thing proposes $65 billion to address this, including $40 billion for a formula-based grant program for broadband deployment to states, territories, and the District of Columbia.
5. More has to be done regarding fairer taxation and capital access.
Throughout this instability, multinational firms in the United States paid less than 10% in corporate income taxes on earnings earned in the United States.
This is unjust, but it also makes it more difficult for small firms to get the financing they need to expand and compete in the same market as multinationals.
Small companies are experiencing the effects of these pressures, according to a May 2021 study conducted by Small Company for America’s Future, with 76 percent of small business owners stating they are disadvantaged when multinationals utilize tax loopholes to avoid paying taxes.
A global minimum tax and a more equitable tax policy will aid in reducing this imbalance.
The lessons acquired from a disaster are often the only silver lining.
We should use what we know today to create a more egalitarian Main Street ready for the next crisis we face.
Small business marches on
You can’t make a calf’s ear out of sow’s purse. This is a truism. With current supply chain problems, you can’t get calf ears to begin with. All joking aside. The problem remains intractable to small minds. Think in the boxers. Drone mentality. Herbal tea bag brains.
You’re not that type. Are you? Hopefully not. Hopefully you’ll realize that your small firm needs more creative thought. Not manuals. Drop the cubicle. Whether remote or at the office. Think big. Talk small. And act bigger. Good luck.
