In case you’re not familiar with the CARES act, for most small businesses the PPP loan it provided seemed like mana from heaven. The ~instant cash infusion was amazing, and its forgiveness made it a no-brainer – everyone wanted it.
FREE MONEY!
When the program was announced, I was initially frustrated because I thought this would be yet another chance for poorly run companies to get help when companies that were cash-efficient and built to survive (almost) anything would essentially be funding our friends and competitors.
But upon further analysis I read, it seemed like basically any small business in America would be eligible. Just about every startup I talked to was jumping on this, and I was leading the charge.
FREE MONEY!
I read just about every article I could find on eligibility, listened to webinars from law firms and startup incubators. I talked to accountants, lawyers, and tried to spread the best information I could find on how to calculate loan amounts. I called Gusto 3 times to report new errors in their reports (each time being told that I was incorrect, only to see them make the change within the next couple days).
Because I was on top of this shit. I submitted my application first day Bank of America was open, answered every unnamed call on my phone just in case it was about our application, and when we missed out on the first phase of the PPP funding due to “missing documents” (nuh uh) that I wasn’t informed about until AFTER all the funding was gone.
I was livid. I don’t show anger too often, so my explosion terrified my human and dog quarantine partners. Here I am paying $11,000/mo for an office we can’t use, dealing with a 2.4 person (voluntary) reduction in staff that occurred in March, and now I’m back to where I started:
FREE MONEY! … for everyone else
It took me a day, but through prayer and careful evaluation of what was important to me, I got through that frustration. I remembered that I don’t do any of this to be wealthy (thank goodness). I do it to help people, run the business in a manner I’m proud of, and hopefully make enough money to do it all again at a bigger scale.
So the loan could be a tool to help empower that, but success or failure isn’t about money. It’s about doing the best I can, with whatever external circumstances afford me.
I wound up getting the loan in the second phase of PPP, but gave all the money back that same day. I’m more at peace with that decision than I was with any other part of the PPP process, and I’m glad to have learned an incredibly valuable lesson about where I should put my time and energy. Not gaining an advantage – producing value.
Read more about my decision to repay our PPP loan!
Technical(ly) CEO 