Covid-19 Resources for Artists and Small Businesses
We know many of our makers and other small businesses follow us so we wanted to provide resources that may help you through this difficult time. We will keep this updated as more become available.
You can apply for the Small Business Administration Disaster Assistance loan, https://disasterloan.sba.gov/ela/. The Illinois District of the SBA is hosting twice daily webinars on the Economic Injury Disaster Loans starting Thursday, March 18. You can find details and register for these training events at www.sba.gov/il.
In Illinois or Chicago
In Chicago, Through an innovative public-private partnership, Chicago has dedicated over $100 million to provide emergency, low-interest loans to severely affected small businesses. The fund will lend up to $50,000 in working capital loans to small businesses with fewer than 50 employees that have seen a 25% revenue decrease due to the impact of COVID-19. Applications opened March 31st.
https://www.connect2capital.com/partners/chicago-small-business-resiliency-fund/
Grants for artists in Chicago, applications open April 1.
https://artsforillinois.org/donate-and-apply
https://law-arts.org/coronavirus
https://www.gofundme.com/f/chicago-artists-relief-fund
Nationwide
https://covid19freelanceartistresource.wordpress.com/
https://www.kickstarter.com/articles/covid-19-coronavirus-artist-resources
https://www.ncaper.org/social-media
Other tips...
Set up an online shop if you don't have one already. Feel free to reach out to us if you don't know where to start or hit a roadblock, we'd be happy to help. Already have an online shop? Learn about and start implementing SEO tactics. We recommend the Moz Skillshare videos to help you get started.
Start an email marketing list if you don't already have one. And learn how to use the email builder tool. We recommend Mailchimp, which is free for lists up to 2000 subscribers.
Think about new revenue streams - could you create Youtube or Skillshare tutorials? Or offer online (paid) workshops on your own site? What else will people need or be looking for in the upcoming weeks and months that you could create? Think about both physical or digital products, or services...
Keep learning, keep creating, be willing to adapt!
- ifundwomen.com is offering free workshops through the end of March.
- of course there's skillshare, coursera, edx, etc etc...
To save money...
Reach out to your landlord. Be up front about where you're financially at right now and where you expect to be once your next rent is due. Ask them if they have any ideas to help you get through the next few rent payments. If they can't offer a discount, this puts it on them to come up with some other ideas that hopefully both they and you will be comfortable with.
Cancel or suspend unnecessary subscriptions. For necessary subscriptions that service a lot of small businesses (particularly if they are a BIG business) ... I'm talking about any of them from etsy to Shopify to Square to Visa to American Express ... Reach out and let them know that you're not sure if you will be able to afford to continue to use their service. Ask if they have any discounts or incentives to offer. It's in these company's best interest to help small business clients keep the lights on and the more of us they hear from, the more likely they are going to be willing to help.