BOSTON — Small businesses in Massachusetts have been hit especially hard by the coronavirus epidemic.
And many are unable to pay employees.
There are steps small business owners can take to try and stay afloat.
Fitness instructor Micah Logan is offering classes online after temporarily closing his two small personal training centers in Boston and Winthrop.
Logan says he’s kept his three employees on the payroll, despite a nearly 40 percent drop in business.
“Unlike big corporations that have that are flush with cash because they’ve had billion-dollar quarters, that’s just not the reality for small businesses like myself,” Logan said.
Logan tried to apply for a loan program for small businesses in Massachusetts but just days after it went live, the $20 million fund stopped taking new applications due to an overwhelming demand.
Logan is now looking to the federal stimulus package for help. It includes more than $370 billion for companies with fewer than 500 employees.
“My goal is to try and tap in as much as I can into that stimulus package to try to cut the bell tolling off at the pass and be able to provide what I can to my employees,” Logan said.
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The stimulus allow banks to lend directly to small businesses and the loans will be backed by the Small Business Administration.
Money spent on rent, payroll and utilities becomes grants that don’t need to be paid back.
Small businesses will also be eligible for a 50 percent refundable payroll tax credit.
And a delay in employer-side payroll taxes for social security.
“We have nearly 700,000 small businesses in Massachusetts. We want to keep them going, that is what this program is all about. It’s to get them the revenues fast,” said Sen. Ed Markey, D-Massachusetts.
Logan says the stimulus provides some hope, but in these uncertain times there are no guarantees.
"I’m going to fight my hardest every single day to provide for my employees and my family and keep everything going but it’s hard to say what going to happen in the near term and long term," Logan said.
The White House says the emergency loan program should start this Friday, April 3.
Small business owners should begin gathering all their financial and reaching out to lenders before the anticipated rush.
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