EDC Director provides business guidance during these difficult times

— from Victoria Compton and Mickey von Dassow for Economic Development Council —

As the first wave of emergency program applications ebbs, we encourage you to look for other ways to retool your business for these new and uncertain conditions.

One clear path that we can all work on to improve each of our businesses’ or organizations’ health is to work on their online presence. One simple thing you can do is to add your business to the various gift card/gift certificate sites set up by different islands’ organizations, such as Islandsstrong.com, orcasstrong.com, and lopezeats.com so that your fans can more easily find ways to support you. For other simple things you can do to improve your business’ online presence, see some of our past Chat ‘n’ Chew discussions with Erin Wygant of the Visitors Bureau.

We plan to have more discussions on these issues in future Chat ‘n’ Chew’s but this week we are looking at two other issues. On Tuesday, attorney Mary Schmitt will discuss bankruptcy and the CARES Act. It’s always better to think early about how to protect yourself in case you need it.

Then on Thursday we will hear about re-tooling production for public health with Suzy Pingree (San Juan Island Distillery) and Travis Ayers (Luxel) who quickly retooled their manufacturing to create products to benefit the local community. We’d love to hear from you about other inspiring stories to share.

Although filling out applications for emergency loans, grants, and unemployment seems endless, we also encourage you to fill out your Census forms online. These are crucial not only for future voting districts, but also provide vital data for economic planning and for making a case for our community’s needs.

A quick note about about the Working Washington Small Business Emergency Grant is that we do not expect to hear from WA Commerce about their status until May. We appreciate your patience.

We hope you are all staying well and enjoying the Spring weather.