After spending 10 years as a fitness coach, the coronavirus pandemic imposed circumstances on Ivan Rogel of Waukegan where continuing to earn a living was a challenge, so he started a business — Energy Fire Fitness.
He opened Energy Fire in 2020, conducting Zumba and CrossFit classes, as well as offering one-on-one coaching to clients online. When the weather was appropriate, he found outdoor locations.
“I needed to work,” Rogel said. “I had to keep going, and I started the business.”
Now the state of Illinois is offering grants to entrepreneurs like Rogel, who had the courage to open a fitness business in the midst of a pandemic when some gyms were forced to close.
Businesses and nonprofits that launched in 2020 or 2021, and are still open today, are eligible for up to $30,000 from the state’s Back to Business NewBiz grant program.
The program is aimed at assisting businesses that were not operational prior to the pandemic, and were ineligible for other federal or state pandemic relief programs.
Applications for the grant program are open through Thursday. All eligible applicants will receive a grant if the business meets eligibility requirements and submits the proper documentation, the state’s news release stated.
Funded with American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) dollars, the Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity (DCEO) program has $25 million in grants, ranging from $5,000 to $30,000, available for both home-based and brick-and-mortar businesses.
Starting with an online business offering the Zumba and CrossFit sessions, Rogel wanted to find a way to work with his clients face-to-face. He met them in Waukegan parks, including at the lakefront.
When pandemic-imposed restrictions started to ebb in August 2021, Rogel started to look for a location and then opened a gym on Washington Street in Waukegan. He found ways to attract new clients to support his expanded enterprise.
“It was not easy,” he said. “I used Facebook and Instagram to get more people.”
According to the U.S. Census’s Business Formation Statistics, nearly 200,000 new businesses were launched in Illinois in 2021, an increase from the 170,000 new companies formed in 2020.
To handle the volume of applications, DCEO enlisted Lendistry, a small business lending firm, to serve as a program manager and assist with application review, provide technical support for applicants, manage the development of the application portal and help to processing payments.
“It’s important now that we go back and make sure we recognize that, because the pandemic lasted so long there were businesses that were not able to benefit from some of the programs,” said the company’s CEO, Everett Sands. “We all thought the pandemic was going to be a sprint, but then it turned into a marathon.”
During the pandemic, Lendistry helped distribute more than $300 million in Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loans.
Sands said a number of businesses that closed at the start of the pandemic, and later reopened, could benefit from the grant program.
“There was obviously significant information in terms of women-owned businesses, minority-owned businesses, etc. closing,” Sands said. “What came out after that was that there were a number of businesses that were reestablished. So, whether the businesses were able to make a pivot, or whether they made a decision to start something new.”
As the grant program got underway, people like Rogel worked with DCEO-certified navigators like Eddie Soto. A technical business adviser in Waukegan, Soto said he has helped between 80 and 100 people register for funding in Lake County.
Soto said when the program opened in late November, it was slow at first, but then word-of-mouth from one small business owner to another produced a flood of entrepreneurs who started a business between January 2020 and Dec. 31, 2021.
“They’re really good to each other, and let each other know,” Soto said. “At first, it was landscapers and roofers. Then I started seeing IT entrepreneurs, and lots of other small businesses.”
Meeting with the business owners, he said he made sure they had all the necessary paperwork like tax returns, bank statements, proof of their business license or registration and more. Everyone who follows the rules will receive a grant.
With life back to pre-pandemic levels for many, Eliza Glezer, the deputy assistant director for communications of the DCEO said in an email while COVID-19 relief was available for businesses started before January 2020, companies opened later were not.
Glezer said to help businesses which were opened after the pandemic started but still needed a boost, the Illinois General Assembly approved $25 million to assist those operations.
“Businesses that launched in 2020 or 2021 in hard-hit sectors, such as the arts or indoor recreation, faced significant impacts during the pandemic, but they have not been eligible for other federal or state relief programming,” Glezer said.
DCEO Director Kristin Richards said in an email, “courageous entrepreneurs in Illinois (who) launched businesses in the height of the pandemic” deserved support, just like the ones who were operating before COVID-19 hit.
“Small businesses across the state are the heart of our economy,” Richards said.
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