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We’ve been formalizing our relaunch framework that we’ve been working hand-in-hand with our clients on over the last month. Whether you are thriving, under mandatory closure or somewhere in between, we all need to reassess our business and pivot accordingly. PPP and/or EIDL will provide a short-term hand-up, but won’t solve the challenges. This blueprint is a pressure-tested guide based on 7 core principles that will serve as your framework for the “new normal”. The detail behind these principles have been successfully applied across clients within several industries throughout the U.S. and Canada and the initial results are very encouraging. The Ironwood (re)LAUNCH Blueprint can be downloaded here and also available on the Ironwood Website for those community friends looking for tactical guidance. We wanted to provide a few updates/clarifications that we’ve gathered from our various channels: EIDL Program There was some hubbub this week when the SBA Office in Boston sent an email that stated the $10k advance was based on $1k per employee; this was not communicated when Covid was listed as a disaster relief source and the language still states “up to $10k” The SBA said nearly 4MM businesses have applied for funding seeking $383B. Congress allocated $17B. It doesn’t take a Harvard MBA to figure out that’s a big problem and is why the program is stymied. The Federal Reserve announced several measures including the ‘Main Street New Loan Facility’ targeting “middle-sized firms” Key component – minimum loan amount is $1MM which excludes many of you on this distro and beyond, but could also be a good fit for some We have attached the Term Sheet which will be executed by the banks It includes a 4 year maturity with 12 months deferred is open widely PPP With significant issues earlier this week with the SBA Portal, E-Tran, not working correctly we are seeing the funding flow through Special thanks to those Community Banks that helped our clients and friends in our community and on this distro – you know who you are! There is a big issue with timing. I had the privilege of presenting business updates and Q&A to 200 SB Owners on Thursday and I shared how the 8 week time frame doesn’t work for many industries currently closed under mandate. That’s because many of those employees have already been let go and we don’t have confidence that we will be open for business within 8 weeks from your first payment. Plus, some industries like Family Entertainment have huge rent obligations so when you do the math, it doesn’t pencil out. I encourage you to reach out to your legislators with practical feedback that they can take back to their fellow lawmakers. The program sounds good on paper and in sound bites, but the practical nature dismisses many SB’s that are already closed. ‘Covid-19 Relaunch Battle Plan’ Whether you’ve seen a financial impact yet or not, a pivot will be required for just about every business in the US based on this pandemic Those that don’t have a documented Battle Plan will struggle to keep up with those that have thought through all of the dimensions of the “New !World” We have a 7 step program that we’ve launched/launching with our clients now: It includes things like a brand pivot using the StoryBrand system, capability/competitor assessments, pricing strategy, product pivots and tactical sales measures We will share the blueprint asset as well as some videos highlighting the early success stories from clients over the past month – you will be amazed how quickly you can pivot when there’s a plan!