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You don’t really know what your income level is this year. So let’s, let’s hoard some cash. Let’s get some cash in the bank. Don’t hold toilet paper hoard. Tash. I can see the whole why with these two I can add cause it’s not. Hi there. Thanks for tuning in for another episode of Ask the Sparrow CPA here again with Trevor inspired method. Trevor, we are in the myths of the coronavirus and yes we are aware piloting the pirate ship as they say. And in keeping in that I’ve got a little pirate stash working here. I’m trying to embody the pirate nature of running a business. Yes it is a pirate ship as I tell Edmonton Business Consultant and never now more true than at any other time. So, Trevor, we got 10 steps ready for entrepreneurs on how to navigate through this. Walkthrough the steps here.
Okay, so step number one in getting through this time, a defer principal portion of mortgage and principal on term loans. Yes, the big banks, all six major banks in Canada have come up saying that they are willing to defer mortgage payments. Take advantage of that now, do not wait till you run out of cash. Take advantage of it now. You don’t really know how this is going to affect you. We’ve said before, this is a six to nine-month event. Even if you don’t need the cash now, do it now. Do it now. Um, because there might even be some more efficient uses for that cash, um, even if you don’t need it to so correct. Um, so if you’re a renter, ask the landlord to defer a principal portion of the mortgage and pass on the savings to you. That’s right. So a lot of the landlords might not know that they can simply go and they can go to their lender and they can defer the principal portion and then they can pass on the savings to you.
So we’re not asking the landlords to eat the interest and the property tax and we’re simply saying, Hey, the next six months, can you just not work on knocking down your mortgage on this property? Help me out a little bit because I might not be here if you’re, if you’re not, you know, not so much. You know, we own this property and you know, this was a, you know, kind of made for us, but they kind of forgot about in the way the regulations come out that the owner of the property is getting a big significant discount with a person renting it Edmonton Business Consultant. And the small business homeowner, you know, because the average person, you know, they’re renting a place and say they got a couple of cup, four grand come in a month on the eye, they can make their rent, right? If you’re a restaurant owner and your rent on that space is eight grand and sales have plummeted, you’re not going to make that space.
Right. And I’m telling you now that the Canadian way is to pass those savings on and I think there’s going to be melting social pressure to do so. And I, I think there could potentially be government regulation mandating that you do so. So get out in front of that if you’re a landlord, do the right thing on that one. Yeah, exactly. So number three, um, defer a federal CPP, provincial corporate tax and send payments, but not our P and G S T and maybe get into that a little bit more for us. So serious said, uh, minister finance, bill Morneau said, you know, they are not going to charge any interest. The corporate tax, provincial, federal, corporate tax, uh, you know, the problems Alberta has followed suit on provincial corporate tax. Um, they’re not going to charge interest on sin payments. So you know, if you’re at all worried about cash defer, those do not defer your payroll tax and your GST.
Um, that is the doom loop of death that is hard to get out of. Uh, they collect hard on that and you know, they might forget about it for a minute because they have reduced staff, but do not get behind on those. That’s not what it’s designed for. But you know, federal, corporate, provincial, corporate, uh, your sin tax, even all the plan pack tax payments that you made, you don’t really know what your income level is this year. So let’s, let’s hoard some cash. Let’s get some cash in the bank. Don’t hold toilet paper or hoard Tash, yes. The way to go. So, uh, number four, uh, this is concerning stuff. To determine capacity with effective social distancing. We’ve gone through it in our other videos before. This is not a two week or four-week event. Like you, you can’t afford to shut your business down.
No. But you can’t afford to keep your head in the sand either. And pretend this is, you know, this isn’t happening and the social contact that we’re having doesn’t have really adverse consequences. So let’s see what we can actually do in the business and over review your business. You know, you might not be able to get a full restaurant in, but can you put someone in every fourth table, every second table, uh, and maintain that six feet a contact. Edmonton Business Consultant Let’s say you, what our actual capacity will be under a, you know, uh, with correct social distancing and making some money is better than making zero money. Yes. And you know, any initiatives that come out, do you know it’s going to be hard to qualify for loans if you’ve been shuttered, right. There are any new programs that come down, do you think they’re going to be open for the people who are, uh, open and struggling?
Or are they, are they going to be available for the person who’s completely shut down? I want to be the person who’s opening. Right. If I’m on the fence. Right. That’s what I’m telling our clients to do. And it’ll be faster to ramp up to if you’ve been continuing to operate during these times. Yes. Yeah. And the next thing here, uh, talk to staff and lay off those that don’t wanna work and also the redundant staff. Yeah. So just have an open conversation. Some staff that just can’t handle this right now. They’d been, they’d spent eight hours a day watching CNN and the world is ending. They don’t, they don’t want to be there. Right. Don’t force them to be there. Right. Um, you know, maybe they got living circumstance or they got real, you know, complicated childcare. Maybe they got aging elders that they’re looking after.
Like, don’t, don’t stress those people out. They don’t need to be there. Find out which ones are your staff want to be there. Figure out how many of them you keep under the reduced, uh, capacity and how many customers you’d like to bring in. Keep those. That’s what we’re doing. And you know, the Edmonton Business Consultant, the remaining staff, um, you know, you, you’re going to want to, you want to lay those staff off. So, so lay off the ones who don’t want to be here. Lay off the ones that are redundant and can’t possibly keep them in with the demand and the logistical concerns of the social distancing. Yeah. And uh, the next one here, so silo your remaining staff into independent teams. Yeah. So we played the video for the staff the other day, the Armageddon video where this is the two ships up, right? And uh, they, the team freedom and team independence and they have their own little file.
Think of your business that way. Cause remember this is a six to nine-month event. It’s not if you will have to court a few people, it’s when and how many times you’re going to have to do this in six to nine months. So ideally you want independent pause that can function independently of each other. So think team a and team B. If your team cannot function without interacting together, you know, you have one shift that works two weeks on another shift that works, you know, two weeks on the next two weeks and you can go through and silo through and you will always have one revenue-generating unit. Also, some businesses has the physical layout that you can silo people have everyone there but they’re in their individual silos and they’re not interacting in the physical office, right. Either by rooms or coordinating it off.
So, um, let’s get real and you know, let’s pretend that, how can we be that indestructible unit where we always have troops ready to go, uh, because this is real. Yep. Next, um, communicate protocols and uh, open for business to customers. A lot of customers will do business with you. They just want to know that you’re taking real steps. They just want to know that they’re not walking into the Petri dish. Yeah. As long as they know they’re not walking into the Petri dish naked, they’re going to be seated so far apart. Or you have the ability to do online meetings like they’re going to do business with you, but you’ve got to communicate it to them. They, they can’t read your mind on what you have available to them. Um, you know, it, that’s going to be really important that you communicate and you’re open for business, open for business, open for business, open for business.
I can not recommend anybody, uh, closing down unless absolutely definitively government mandated closing down. And even then I’m looking at the fine print and see am I really close down? Is there something else I can do? Right? Um, maintain your social distance thing. Let’s be smart about this. Closing down is not smart. No, it will have a meaningful economic impact and it will have a human cost of business closing down too, which we discussed in our last video. Yeah, 100%. Um, so next thing to do is, this is number eight, launch coronavirus specific Facebook and Instagram initiatives. So what are people doing right now? They’re sitting at home, spending all day scrolling through Facebook. There’s someone out there who your product for services, they don’t know that you exist, that they got a whole bunch of time to research. You know, I saw a, you know, a, a, a client the other day and they talked about a way to fortify their house.
I’m not going to release it cause I’ll let him do it, but he had a way to four or five owners’ house because they’re going to be a little bit scared on, you know, the pandemic and how this is going to affect the social fabric. Right? So a restaurant who, you know, got out in front of all their customers and said, Hey, call us. We’re available to deliver it 20% off or any deliveries, don’t go through, skip the dishes. Hey, they’re ready to go. They’re ready to battle. Right. Uh, I love it. And people want food delivered. So I’ll probably call them this week. Like, yeah, absolutely I did. I wouldn’t even have thought of them right if they didn’t get out there and get the message out. So, yeah. So next thing, uh, deploy redundant, uh, cash into the market over 24 months. Yes.
So some people are going to look at there, they’re in an enviable position there. They got cash, they were ready to roll. They got cash going. They don’t got a lot going on in their business, but they are redundant tasks, right? Um, you know that person, you got a bunch of good looking stocks on sale right now. Do you want to know where the bottom is? I don’t know where the bottom is. Anybody who tells you those, where the bottom is, they’re lying to you. Like I’m unless they’re driving or unless they’re flying around in their private jet, you know, living in their 1700 room mansion. Um, they’re lying to you because if they knew where the bottom is, they’d always know where the bottom is. Right? But statistically, most market cycles will take 24 months. So don’t try to time the market. We just know that, Hey, we’re in a buyer’s market Edmonton Business Consultant.
It might not be to achieve his bias market. But if I know, for example, I have $24,000 of redundant cash and I don’t need to see me through this thing, I’m gonna make sure those tax payments are going to come due. Eventually. We’re gonna have to start making our, uh, you know, the mortgage payments again. But if I know I got $24,000 and there’s no way I need this for the operational effects of the business, do $1,000 a month for 24 months. Talk to your financial advisor. Get that plan rolling. That’s the way to do it. Yeah, 100% because now’s the time. BI-LO that’s right. Um, do something to help another small business. Then the next thing you gotta do help someone else along. You know, there are other businesses that it’s as simple as going in to buy from a local retailer who maybe you wouldn’t be buying from the big box changers.
Go in, you know, we’re all in this together and your business won’t do as well unless the other businesses around you are doing well too. So go out of your way. I heard about a small gym and I heard about customers reaching out and saying, Hey, we’re not canceling. We’re not canceling the membership. Don’t put my membership on hold. Just charge me. Um, you know, that those are the types of things that I’ve seen. Go out there and do something for another small business. Uh, cause we’re all in this together. Excellent. Thanks very much, guys. And I look forward to you guys, you know, tuning into our next video. Thanks so much for watching.
