NorCal B2B CFO’s Help Raise CARES Act Money – Clients do the Rest

The pandemic has caused great fear, uncertainty, and distress with small/medium sized businesses all over the Northern California Region. We believe that small/medium sized business owners are the hardest hit as they have limited capital for survival while the population figures out how to live in a post-pandemic world.

As a stop gap, B2B CFO partners in the region have helped raise over $22 million for clients under the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) and Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL) program. We are now assisting our clients in managing this money to assure they are in compliance with the ever-changing rules under the Cares Act and interpretations by the SBA. Helping business owners get as much of the PPP money forgiven as possible is one of our highest priorities.

But beyond using CARES Act money as a lifeboat, many of our clients have used these funds to make pivotal changes to their business models. These changes will provide significant benefits long after COVID-19 is gone. Examples include:

· A fresh fish wholesaler’s business depended solely on purchases by fine dining restaurants. They saw sales plummet to zero overnight when the economy was shut down. In response, the Company now sells direct to consumers. They built, over a weekend, a basic B to C website and a system for home delivery. The staff has been rehired using PPP money and the Company is now averaging close to 100 orders per day in the new direct-to-consumer division, with better margins.

· An electrical contracting firm hired its electricians back the day after receiving PPP money. They quickly trained the staff on COVID-19 safety protocols and have resumed work on the majority of existing contracts. They are also bidding work on new contracts where they will replace previous electrical contractors that have not been so nimble in getting their workforce redeployed.

· An environmental consulting firm received PPP money and immediately hired back its staff. They spent the entire first week training the staff in several areas, some of which have allowed the firm to create new business opportunities. One of the new opportunities is the monitoring of construction job sites for COVID-19 safety compliance. They expect this new line of service to increase revenue by 10% in 2020.

These companies will actually be better off after COVID-19 because of these innovations. These are just a few of the “silver-linings” our clients have discovered during the pandemic. We’re here to help you get creative in these unprecedented times.