Free Resources To Help Businesses

CCarter

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A lot going on Comrades! I've been speaking with people on the frontlines all week, businesses impacted, support staff of business, police, nurses, doctors, firefighters, politicians, and everyday walk of life people. There are a ton of hustlers not sitting on the sidelines.

A lot of people have been impacted by the current situation, businesses more so than others. A lot of businesses will be dealing with this impact for months and years to come.

However the silver lining if there is any - people are a lot more humble in day to day activities. I see people outside riding their bikes, playing with their kids - it helps I don't deal with Winter where I live. But the people I associate with are mostly business owners and hustlers. There is a group that gave up the moment there was an announcement of a potential virus. They never had it in them.

But - the true hustlers, they are getting creative. And that creativity has inspired others and something within me.

"From Chaos Comes Order" - Dan Peña​

The key to winning is being able to see opportunities in the mist of chaos and uncertainty.

Now we can sit back and get clobbered. Or we can act. The only guarantee I can give you is if you sit back and wait for someone to come help you or something to change - you are going to get clobbered. At least with action - even if the wrong action, you can pivot with the momentum.

In all situations there are 3 choices:

1. Do nothing. That is the worse possible choice.

2. Do the wrong thing. That is a better choice since at lease you can change course with momentum.

3. Do the right thing. Hard to determine the "perfect" choice since only hindsight is 20/20.​

So if you are ready to act and continue acting to make sure your business survives, your business thrives, and you get a better footing in the world to come - join us in what's coming.

--

As things progress the public, governments, and private businesses are helping each other through these interesting times. We are putting together a list of resources that will be constantly updated to help business get through this potential Nuclear Winter.

== Government / Public ==

SBA (US Small Business Administration) - (SBA to Provide Disaster Assistance Loans for Small Businesses Impacted by Coronavirus (COVID-19) )

SBA's Economic Injury Disaster Loans offer up to $2 million in assistance for a small business. These loans can provide vital economic support to small businesses to help overcome the temporary loss of revenue they are experiencing.​

== Cities (USA) ==

Birmingham - The Birmingham Strong Emergency Loan Fund is providing zero-interest, 180-day loans up to $25,000 to small businesses with less than 50 employees.

Chicago - Mayor Lori Lightfoot revealed a $100 million emergency relief program. Denver Mayor Michael Hancock also announced the creation of a $4 million small business relief fund.

Los Angeles - The city's Small Business Emergency Microloan Program is offering loans ranging from $5,000 to $20,000 with 0% to 3% interest rates.

New York City - The NYC Small Business Services is offering businesses with fewer than five employees grants to cover 40% of payroll costs for two months. Businesses with fewer than 100 employees and sales decreases of 25% or more will be eligible for zero-interest loans up to $75,000.

Philadelphia - The city's COVID-19 Small Business Relief Fund is providing immediate relief to local small businesses in the form of grants and zero-interest loans.

Portland - Small businesses located in Portland's Jade District or Old Town Chinatown are eligible to receive support through the city's $190,000 emergency fund. Asian and Pacific Islander business owners will be prioritized.

Sacramento - The city established a $1 million economic relief fund for businesses that provides 0% interest loans up to $25,000 per business.

Salt Lake City - Business owners based in the area can apply for 0% interest loans up to $20,000 as part of the city's emergency loan program.

Seattle - The city's Office of Economic Development is providing $1.5 million in grants up to $10,000 to small businesses. The mayor is also deferring tax payments for business-owner candidates and will set up a small-business recovery task force.

Syracuse - The Syracuse Economic Development Corp. created a $500,000 fund to provide 0%-interest, 180-day emergency loans up to $25,000 to the city's small businesses.

== States (USA) ==

Florida - (Florida Disaster Loan)

Amount: Up to $50,000 per eligible small business. Loans of up to $100,000 may be made in special cases as warranted by the need of the eligible small business. Term: 1 year. Interest free if paid back within

Limitation: Only one loan may be made per eligible business. All previous bridge loans received MUST be paid in full.

Interest Rate: Loans will be interest-free for the loan term (1 year). The Interest rate will be 12% per annum on the unpaid balance thereafter, until the loan balance is repaid in full. Loan default is subject to a normal commercial collection process.​

Iowa: - Governor Kim Reynolds announced the creation of an Iowa Small Business Relief Program that will allocate grants ranging from $5,000 to $25,000, as well as tax deferrals.

Maryland - The state's Department of Commerce released two initiatives for small businesses: a $50 million Emergency Relief Grant Fund that offers grant amounts up to $10,000 and a $75 million Emergency Relief Loan Fund that will provide businesses with 50 or fewer employees loans up to $50,000.

Massachusetts - Governor Charlie Baker announced a $10 million relief fund for Massachusetts businesses affected by the coronavirus. Funds up to $75,000 are immediately available for companies with fewer than 50 full- and part-time employees.

Michigan - The Michigan Economic Development Corp. received approval to implement a Michigan Small Business Relief Program that will allocate $10 million in small business grants and $10 million in small business loans to local business owners.

Minnesota - The state's Department of Employment and Economic Development will be providing interest-free emergency loans ranging from $2,500 to $35,000 to Minnesota-based businesses in need.

New Mexico - The New Mexico Economic Development Department created the COVID-19 Business Loan Guarantee Program to aid small businesses seeking emergency loans or lines of credit. The program can guarantee a portion of a loan or line of credit up to 80% of principal or $50,000.

Wisconsin - 'The Wisconsin Economic Development Corp. launched Small Business 20/20—a $5 million grant program that will give companies with fewer than 20 employees up to $20,000.

== Private Sector ==

Ahrefs - (Blogging For Business) -

Blogging for Business is a resource that has several video lesson that business can use to communicate with their potential clients/customers.​

--

Moz - (Moz Academy) - Moz has made all it's courses and content free until May 31st, 2020.

They've got some courses on how to find potential SEO clients, which should go hand in hand with SEOs, freelancers, and agencies.​

==

Feel free to DM me or post straight in here if you found some resources that can help businesses. We'll re-organize this as things continue progressing.

One thing to note this is not limited to the United States - if you have resources that can help fellow countrymen in your country or others let us know! The only caveat is it has to be FREE!
 
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Digital Marketer (Ryan Deiss) is giving away access to their Lab until (at least) the end of March:
https://www.digitalmarketer.com/lab-plus/

  • A library of 36 marketing playbooks (and growing every month)
  • 11 comprehensive master classes PLUS future updates to keep you on the cutting edge of digital marketing
  • A supportive community of 10,000+ marketers to answer any and all of your questions
  • PLUS, exclusive discounts and deals on the tools you’re likely already using (this one benefit should literally pay for itself)
 
Facebook Blueprint Online Course:
https://en-gb.facebook.com/business/learn

^ Covers a ton of information about page management/ads on Facebook & Instagram.

Yes the course has always been free but these are quite good resources to go through to learn more about the platforms. Note that you still have to pay to become certified though.
 
Common Crawl is the number 1 free resource for digital marketing by a million miles.

They're doing gods work, by lowering barriers to search engine and marketing tool development while reducing redundant crawling across the internet.

I put up a no limits free index of the backlinks and page titles on backlinkshitter.com
 
Great idea for a thread, thank you Comrade Carter.

"From each according to his ability, to each according to his needs."

For the benefit of the proletariat, I submit the following: https://affinity.serif.com/en-us/supporting-the-creative-community/ - 90 day free trial for a Photoshop alternative.

They have an alternative to Photoshop called Photo, and a couple of other programs. They're offering a 90 day free trial on their whole suite, then half price after that ($35 one time payment per program), and they have committed to hiring 100 creative professionals for some gigs over the next 3 months. I'm playing around with Photo and it's just fine for everything I use Photoshop for.

(Sidenote: If you log in to your Adobe account and begin the cancellation process, they may automatically offer you the next 2 months of your subscription for free if you don't cancel. If not, you can reach out to them for a custom offer.)
 
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I just updated the list to add several cities and states within the USA that are offering different COVID help programs, loans, and aid.
 
Austria just opened up aid for small businesses/single self-employed last night.

Initial emergency pay-out (not loan) between 500-1000 Euros (depending on previous year's documented earnings) rising to maximum over three months of 6000 Euros.
Eligibility: you are paying into self-employed social insurance fund and are not double insured (e.g. you are not also being paid as an employee by someone)
you do not earn more than ca 5500 Euros pa from rental or lease income
you do not earn over ca 52000 Euros pa
your business has been negatively affected by an order from local or national government (e.g. curfew, closure)
OR
you are looking at less than half the income you had in the same month last year
OR
you are unable to pay fixed business costs
 
Ahrefs just extended Lite plans for 30 days free of charge.
 
SpyFu is offering two free months of their premium plan. You have to email them and grovel, though:
https://www.spyfu.com/blog/spyfu-is-free-for-anyone-that-needs-it/

Intellifluence is offering a free lifetime plan. Just fill out their form:
https://intellifluence.com/blog/charity-initiative

Hootsuite is free until July 1st. You'll have to sign up with a credit card for instant access. They have a page to signup without a credit card, but they'll have to manually approve your account to stop freeloading scum, such as myself, from abusing it:
https://hootsuite.com/pages/stay-connected

The Content Marketing Conference has a bunch of freebie stuff:
https://www.contentmarketingconference.com/academy/
 
Shopify is offering 90 day free trials instead of their usual 2 weeks (Also just learned they're now the 2nd largest company in Canada.)
 
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