By Dr. Diyari Abdah MBA, MSc In the current climate and as the world is changing due to the sudden and severe impact of the coronavirus pandemic on everyone and everyday life, business is changing too, therefore, we need to adapt fast or be left behind, and despite the recovery being slow perhaps, the need to act in this manner is a fast-moving-issue requiring an understanding of the resources available and how to use them in the best and most efficient way. Some businesses have been given a new lease of life, either through government backed loans or similar stimulus packages. This by far is NOT FREE money and it has to be paid back. The dilemma is how to pay back this money while there will be less customer traffic so that everyone is kept safe kept safe. Traditionally when a loan is approved, it is based on the capability of the business to pay back the loan during a certain time and this is based on the revenue of the business and other factors and metrics (a formula). However, today the dilemma most businesses are facing is how to keep themselves and their customers safe by not making too many appointments and yet trying to maintain the same level of income if not more because now there is a huge loan that has to be paid back, and let’s not forget the loss of revenue for weeks of inactivity. So, it is not just the loan itself, but add to that the loss itself, which has a negative compound effect. Even the lucky ones who had enough money “Stashed-away” for a rainy day, and wisely so, and didn't need to apply for a “carry-on” loan, still face the challenges of keeping and maintaining the same level of activity as before in order to maintain the business a float and keeping revenue at old levels or better. In this series of articles, the idea is to helping business owners, individuals, managers and leaders of businesses to make some sense of these uncertain times and lead their employees and their businesses through it. There have been many speculations regarding the recovery period. Some suggest a three-stage recovery over six months, others longer, and the hyper-optimists predict that in three months things will go back to normal. Researching this matter and looking at it from a scientific point of view, it seems that the recovery can take any shape or number of stages, as it depends on how well the business owner was/is prepared for the recovery phase and crucially how willing is he /she prepared to go above and beyond to secure a quick recovery, thus securing the future of the business. We predict that we are looking at four stages of recovery, if we must call them stages. The current situation: Any activity or movement even the slightest, can be part of the initial phase of getting out of the situation slowly. It is all about planning and failing to plan is planning to fail. It is not about going back to work and start from where we left, in fact we will be starting from a minus position. Pre-recovery (The official starting phase): This is when we realise that business is NOT as usual and it will not be for some time, and what we need to do when business is not conforming to usual norms. What are the strategies and steps one has to take in order to bounce back successfully? The Recovery (Itself): All the business figures and metrics will be all over, and how to plan and deal with this will be a true challenge, but when we have the right plans in place, this stage which could take up to 6 months, can move quicker and smoother. Any proper and rapid plans here can create a significant short cut to bouncing back effectively. The Post-Recovery (The maintenance phase which is extremely important and can take up to a year and for some, even longer). This is where your plans and actions will put you in a strong position and prepared for the future if the economy is hit again for any reason. Remember most of the government backed loans are taken over several years to pay back, and what if 2 years into paying the loan back the economy is hit again. We need to learn the lessons here and be prepared. You can read the full version of this in my new book ‘Business NOT As Usual’ The book gives you many more ideas and a roadmap to a successful recover. You will find in the book the right strategies that aiming to make every step more manageable and easier to implement as it provides clarity and hopefully secure your way through a smooth recovery. The book can be found on Amazon!