ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — Chris Fasick is a small business of one.
On his own, he runs a company called Crave Digital, which provides marketing for restaurants, and with a business partner, he operates Premier Photo Booth, which caters to big corporate events.
With restaurants statewide now limited to just carry-out and all large gatherings called off, Fasick said his calendar became empty seemingly overnight. The only bookings remaining this year, for now, aren't until December.
“So probably the two biggest hard-hit industries, Fasick said.
Since he has no employees, Fasick doesn’t qualify for the Florida Small Business Emergency Bridge Loan Program. Last week, Gov. Ron DeSantis announced for-profit, privately held small businesses with two to 100 employees would be able to apply for one year interest-free loans of up to $50,000.
“I’m just kind of out in the cold,” he said, adding that he submitted an application anyway a week ago but hadn’t yet heard back.
The Florida SBDC at the University of South Florida is facilitating the small business loan program in the Tampa Bay area—which includes businesses in Desoto, Hardee, Hernando, Highlands, Hillsborough, Manatee, Pasco, Pinellas, Polk and Sarasota counties.
"Swamped," to describe their backlog of requests, is an understatement, suggested Florida SBDC at USF’s regional director Eileen Rodriguez.
At one point Monday afternoon, callers trying to leave a message found a full voice mailbox.
Rodriguez says they’re steering callers like Fasick toward federal, low-interest small business loans instead. They’re bigger loans, she says, but the process is unfortunately even slower.
One of the most asked questions Rodriguez says they’re fielding is how small businesses should calculate losses for an emergency that’s ongoing.
“It’s not like it’s a hurricane that came and went and we know exactly what the injury is,” Rodriguez said. “So they need to add projections in addition to damages already occurred.”
They're also trying to spread that word that employers can also include contract workers in their employee count, according to Rodriguez.
Fasick says he’s got enough money to pay the bills this month but he wonders—like so many others—just how long he should be planning to suffer losses.
“It’s like how far out do I need to stretch it,” he said. “How much ramen do I need to buy?”
The deadline to apply for the emergency small business loans from the state is May 8, but that’s largely dependent on available funds which will be issued on a first-come, first-serve basis.
Click here to start the application process.
Small business owners with questions for the Florida SBDC at USF can email USF@floridasbdc.org or call 813-905-5800.
Applications and information on the federal economic injury disaster loans can be found here.
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