The Government assistance that we’re receiving here in Australia is great and we’re very fortunate in this country to have the ability to be able to provide assistance like JobKeeper and the Cash flow boost. 

But I think it leaves a lot of businesses very, very exposed right now. 

The reality is that this safety net, while it has some positives its also got a lot of negatives. And right now, I believe as a business owner and entrepreneur you should be setting your plans assuming no government assistance. 

Now, I’m not saying you shouldn’t claim the government assistance that you’re entitled to. I think that’s really important and it helps you to continue to operate and keep people employed through this time. 

However, some employees are becoming a little bit reluctant or lazy or resistant and some entrepreneurs are relying on this assistance. But when you think about it, when you started your business and I don’t know about you, but I know for me I didn’t have a safety net. I had some working capital, I had my plan and off I went. And I think that is what separates those that succeed and fail in business. 

It’s never about more resources, it’s about being more resourceful. 

It’s your resourcefulness, it’s your ability to push through the challenging times and find the answers, not just receive handouts. 

I’m reminded of a movie, (I’m a bit of a movie buff) and my son and I was watching “The Dark Knight Rises” with Christian Bale (one of the Batman movies) and he’s imprisoned and the only way out is to climb this wall in this well. And he tries multiple times and fails. And one of the other prisoners says to him, “if you wanna get out, you’ve gotta do it without the rope.” It was all about him facing his fears. 

And I think that’s a beautiful metaphor for what we’re all experiencing right now. These huge amounts of uncertainty, these huge amounts of fear in the business community. This pandemic that we’re not sure how it’s going to operate. 

As we sit here today, Victoria is back into lockdown, we’re starting to see cases rising in New South Wales. Who knows what this is going to be. But you need to view this through the lens without a safety net. If you do that, your business will be bulletproof. 

You’ll create and grow a business that’s bulletproof and any government assistance that you receive will be a bonus. You’ll be able to reinvest that money rather than just use that money for survival. 

I know this seems all great and easy and you’re sitting there probably going Matt yeah, sounds good, but it’s not the reality. But you have got to push yourself right now as an entrepreneur. 

There have been many times in many industries where things have happened, not like this, but things have happened where an entire industry has been disrupted. Look at the taxi industry, for instance, when Uber comes in, they weren’t prepared for that. They didn’t have government assistance yet there’s still taxi drivers out there surviving today. They just had to think differently. Many of them went out of business because they were waiting for court cases and the like to take Uber out of the picture but it didn’t happen. 

This government assistance is short-lived. And right now we’re putting another charge to the government’s credit card, which can only go so far. 

So, my advice to you is to create one business plan and financial forecast that assumes zero government assistance and then overlay this with scenario two, showing what it looks like with government assistance. Then push to achieve the goals and forecasts without government assistance. 

When you push for that, what you’ll find is there’s a bit of extra cash that you can reinvest back in. 

I hope this has been helpful, if you need any support or help with this please feel free to reach out. 

Remember, now’s the time to not want more resources but to become more resourceful with what you’ve got. Believe in yourself and your ability and you will be able to push through this.