I'm pretty sure you've received a ton of emails by now about COVID-19 and it's impact on the economy, your health, and your day-to-day life. The purpose of this email is to hopefully provide you with some much-needed resources to help you get through this unprecedented time.
If you are like me, you are probably stuck at home, trying to get as much work done as you can between helping kids with their “virtual” school.
In the coming weeks, I'm going to try to start going live on YouTube on a somewhat regular basis to help you out, answer some questions, and try to provide a breath of fresh air when all the news seems to be doom and gloom these days.
But until then, here is a list of some of the free resources and tools I've found online that might be helpful to you:
Pat Flynn is currently offering his course, “Smart from Scratch” for free, as well as many other value-laden resources. Click here to check out what he has to offer.
Convertkit, the email service provider I use to send these emails, has established a “creator fund” to help online creators in need of financial assistance. Right now the fund is up to $160,000+. Click here to learn more and apply for a scholarship/grant.
The Small Business Administration is offering loans to businesses to use to assist with keeping people on payroll during this crisis. Click here to apply.
If the SBA is not appropriate for your business, the non-profit organization Kiva is offering 0% financing for up to 36 months for small businesses from around the world.
Facebook is offering $100M in small business cash grants and ad credits to 30,000 businesses around the world. Grants are great because, unlike loans, they do not need to be paid back. Click here to learn more.
Grants, in general, can be more difficult to qualify for, but if you find the right grant, it can get you some free cash for your business. Fundera compiled a list of 107 grants that might be helpful to you.
If you take e-signatures in your business, like I do with my law firm, you may want to check out Pandadoc's new free e-sign program to assist with getting signatures from clients for free. Personally, I use Pandadoc in my firm and love their platform.
Here is a crowd-sourced google sheet that contains a ton of resources that may be able to help you or your business. With everything from local links, to specific resources for kids and teens, this spreadsheet has a ton of great information.
Findhelp.org has set up a page to help people find everything from food assistance to help to pay bills to other free or reduced-cost programs.
Some states are offering assistance on a local level. Here is a website that has aggregated some of the local programs that are currently available in Washington, California, Connecticut and Maine, among others.
