SBA Resources for Small Business Owners

Published April 4, 2020

Brought to you by Harmon Kennedy Law, co-sponsored by True Fit Marketing

April 6, 2020 v.3

This guide is intended as a general overview and summary of a few of the resources available to small, for-profit businesses in the United States, and Pennsylvania for unemployment. While it focuses mainly on SBA-funded loans and grants under new laws, there are some resources at the end that are specific to the Pittsburgh area of Pennsylvania that you may also consider.

A few things to know before you dive in:

➢ This isn’t detailed. There are lots of nuts & bolts not covered here. It doesn’t explain everything you might need to know. These laws total more than 1,000 pages, and cannot be neatly summarized in a few page overview, but we’ve picked out the biggest.
➢ The information will change. Have you ever heard how your laptop is outdated the day after you buy it? Well, this guide will be outdated most certainly by tomorrow. It’s current (to the best of my knowledge) as of the date listed on the front, but there may still have been some changes over the last 48 hours or so that we haven’t been able to capture. We’re talking a constantly moving target here.
➢ This isn’t legal advice. “Legal advice” is tailored towards your specific situation, and everybody will have a different situation for purposes of selecting the best program for them.
➢ This isn’t for every type of business. We’re assuming you own a for-profit company with less than 500 employees, or that you are self-employed (a sole proprietor, independent contractor, freelancer, etc). Other types of businesses (nonprofits, agricultural businesses, cooperatives, etc) will fall under some different rules.
➢ Talk with your Financial Planner & CPA before taking out loans. This isn’t necessarily “free money” like we’ve been hearing. Make sure you have a solid financial plan for how you’ll run your business in these next few months, how you’ll deal with financial issues and potential repayment down the road (please don’t just assume that loan forgiveness is “in the bag”), and how to best use these funds and whatever income your business has coming in now to make sure you’re not just kicking the can down the road for a few months.

What’s your most pressing issue?

→ How am I going to pay employees for the foreseeable future? Go to Section A, Page 3, about the Paycheck Protection Program.
→ I need working capital to get through these next few months. Go to Sec. B, Page 6, about the Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL) and Emergency Economic Injury Grant (EEIG)
→ I’m worried about becoming delinquent on my pre-existing SBA loan. The Small Business Debt Relief Program may help you. We’ll cover this in another Summary, or email heather@harmonkennedy.com for a resource sheet.