Where small business owners can find quick Grants, Loans and Funding
On Feb 5th, Statistic Canada reported 213,000 jobs were lost in January, and unemployment is now at 9.4%. Unfortunately, most of the losses were concentrated in Ontario and Quebec.
While over 63,000 jobs disappeared, you may be wondering how long you and your small business can hold on.
THE GOOD NEWS…There may be a few options you don’t know exists!
If you are a small business in Ontario, do check out the available grants. There are 3 specific grants which are relatively easy to apply for. Your business may be eligible for grants to help with costs of personal protective equipment, property taxes, energy bills, etc. You don’t have to repay grants. They are not loans. These are legitimate dollars you can use to help your business through shutdowns. And the turn-around time for these grants could be only a couple of weeks. So do give it a go!
The Ontario Small Business Support Grant takes 20 minutes to complete and is a rather simple application form. The grant provides businesses up to $20,000 to help cover decreased revenue as a result of the Province-wide shutdown.
Do you need help finding more funding?
Some grants are way more involved. They can take a few days to access…or a few months. Some of those grants can take hours to understand and fill out. Fortunately, there are companies that can write the applications for you. They will take a percentage of whatever sum you are awarded. There are a few of these out there. Some are freelancers, some operate as an agency type of operation.
One of those that specialize in the grant writing sector is Mentor Works. They will help your business find funding based on industry, geography, needs, etc. You may find freelancers with less overhead, so they can do it for lower rates. A google search for “grant writing services near me” will find your local options.
What about those tax credits?
A number of tax credits and incentives are available to businesses in Ontario to help lower costs, hire/train workers, compete in the marketplace and support various sectors.
There are some for Training, Cultural Media, Research and Innovation, etc.
Go scan through this list to see if one of these would match your small business. A good accountant should be aware of these and even help you access some of these tax credits. It’s completely worth it. One of the start ups we are familiar with received a 23K tax credit in his second year of being in business. That 23K is now a marketing budget for 2021. He paid 5K to the service provider who helped him get it and he did not have to pay them till he had a cheque from the government. Very handy!
Wait! Maybe it’s better for you to cash in and sell your business!
If you’re business revenue dropped and you’re in the red, you may think your business is not worth anything right now. But while YOU may not think your business is worth anything, think continue reading…
People love buying good businesses that are undervalued, under marketed and/or in distress. That’s the first thing. It may be worth it for someone to step in and take it over. They may have the resources to rehabilitate the business and make it profitable. It sometimes costs less to rehab a business then it is to build a new one from scratch.
DID YOU KNOW THIS?
Do you know that your domain name (your URL or .com) is probably VERY valuable? Even your phone number is valuable. If you have a customer list, that too is VERY valuable!
Your business could be losing money right now and it could be in the red. But there are a few people who would LOVE parts of it. I.e. Your URL, telephone number, etc. And maybe, just maybe, this is enough to get you out of the hole and avoid bankruptcy. Example, a restaurant URL. If it can prove it made money online (even just 5K in online orders), boom! Someone may want to buy it. You see, there is more power in an old domain name, and if it has a good reputation, that is worth a lot to an online marketer. We got a passive website recently evaluated at 56k USD – and it hasn’t made money in 10 years. It’s old..which means it has “google juice”’, which means…someone wants it not for the content, for the “google juice”.
Even start-ups can sell their business!
The most exciting thing in buying and selling businesses in 2021 is Microacquire. This is a new hotspot for buyers seeking businesses to buy without the messy long drawn out stuff in between. You could say bye bye to brokers and where buyers and sellers meet directly. It’s so easy to join. And businesses are getting bought and sold everyday. They are also starting to match investors to founders. Very interesting stuff!
If you have a great domain to sell, check out Flippa. What makes a great domain is how “old” it is, and if it gets traffic. Good .coms can get tens of thousands of dollars within days. If you’re holding on to a good domain, you may be sitting on money.
If you prefer a broker, check out Quiet Light Brokerage. You can get a free valuation, and speak with advisors who have experience in this area.
You wish you would have known sooner? Is it too late?
If you feel it’s too late, that you’ve already explored all your options and your business can’t be saved…well, give us a call and we could look at your different options. As a licensed Insolvency trustee, we could definitely help you. Get started today by calling to make a free appointment to talk to one of our experienced team members.
We’re happy to share our expertise with you and answer your questions. Your consultation will be an online appointment. It’s completely free. 100% confidential. Talk to us. We can help!