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It's the calm before the storm. Or is it? Like mosthomebased business owners, my wife and I haven't got a clue howthe Y2K bug will affect our business, let alone our clients. Whenit was safely in the distance, we were skeptical, tending to trustthat any problems would be minor and transitory. Now we're notso sure.
Why this Chicken Little change of heart? Smoke signals fromWashington, that's why--good news with ominous overtones. Thepresident recently signed a special bill approved by Congressearlier this year. The measure would provide an estimated $500million in guaranteed loans to help small businesses prepare forY2K computer glitches. That's great, right?
Not so quick. Here's the downside: Some studies haveestimated as many as 750,000 small businesses will be crippled orforced into never never land as their computers hit the 00 speedbump. Do the math--$500 million divided by 750,000. Needless tosay, competition for these loans could get fierce.
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