Keep pushing

Matt Henderson:

Good morning, Business Mind Podcast listeners. It’s Matt, and we are, I think, officially now in 30 days of quarantine.

Hey. Welcome back everyone. I know I have not been on here as often as I had hoped to be here in this quarantine. Actually, I thought I might have some more time to actually record these episodes during this strange pandemic that we have going on right now. However, I’ve actually been still in the factory taking care of some stuff, because we are essential. One of my businesses is an essential business, and we’re 3D printing masks for healthcare workers and different local businesses as well. We just actually helped out at a funeral home.

…Luckily, I was able to, because I have a friend who has owned funeral homes from when I was a child, so I was glad to be able just to help out. I was on my way back into the factory this morning, and I thought, “Oh my gosh. I haven’t talked to you guys in so long.” I wanted to reach out and say hello, see how everybody’s doing, just update you, and try and give you a little bit of thoughts as to where you can possibly go and what you can be doing right now, because I understand this has gone on much longer than I think even those of us who anticipated this to go on a long time had figured.

That being said, what have everybody been doing to keep busy? I know I’ve, like I said, been in work and keeping myself busy in that sense, but on the side, I thought, “Oh my gosh. I need to double down on things like I talk to everybody about here.” And in this kind of crazy time, I thought, “There’s never been more of an opportunity for me to heed my own advice than right now.” For the past few weeks actually, what I’ve been doing is I have doubled down on everything I’m doing, all of my businesses. The e-commerce business, we really pushed, and we actually doubled our sales. I know that seems ridiculous.

We don’t sell supplies or anything like that, that are currently keeping everyone healthy. Like I said, we’re printing masks, but we’re just giving those away. We’re not charging for them, so I thought it was interesting that my other e-comm business actually doubled, because I have a lot of friends right now that have their own businesses, and they are struggling, some of them. Some of them are struggling. Some have made pivots and are doing really well. I have a friend who has a coffee roasting shop and obviously sells coffee as well, and he’s added a pickup window, an ordering window, and a system, and done a little bit of advertising.

He seems to be surviving this, which is fantastic. Another friend of mine is a personal trainer, and he has not been having the same success. He has kind of gone dark. And I haven’t talked to him much, so I guess now that I’m talking about it, I’m going to reach out to him again today. In these kinds of times, are you pivoting? If you have a business, did you pivot your business so that it can function in the world we’re currently living in? If you don’t have a business and you’re currently laid off from work, have you thought about taking any of the steps that I’ve discussed in this podcast?

It might be worth, at this point, if this is one of the first episodes you’re listening to or if you’ve picked up somewhere midway through the podcast series, it might be time to go back and start at the beginning here, listen to them, and follow the steps. I’m trying to leave breadcrumbs as to how I’m starting my own digital business, and the whole point of this podcast is for me to talk to everyone and let you guys know exactly what I’m doing for my startup, and then you can learn from my trials, my failures, and my successes. I’m doing this for everybody else, as well as for myself.

I want to document it all and be able to look back and see my journey, but if you’re not sure what your next step’s going to be after this quarantine is over, and if you’re not sure maybe that your business is going to come back or that your job will be there after this, I suggest going back. Start back at the beginning of this podcast and listen, because there’s a lot of clues as to what might work for you. I’m not saying every step of the process is going to be the same for everyone, but something may resonate with you, and then you’re going to be able to say, “Oh. Okay. Maybe I can put together my own business of X, Y, or Z.”

That’s why I bring that up. Like I said, I’ve been doubling down on all the businesses. My e-comm business doubled down, and it’s been working out well. The digital marketing business, same thing. I actually started really pushing and reaching out to my clients and people who were prospective clients, really just trying to lock them down, because I know there’s a lot of uncertainty right now, but the one thing you don’t want to give up on is if you’re marketing or advertising, if you stop, you 100% now have no billboards out there telling people about you. You’ve no way for anyone to find you and bring business to your store.

In times like this, when money gets a little tight for your business or whatever you’re doing, and you’re thinking, “Where can I cut costs?”, you never cut the marketing and advertising expenses. That’s one of the reasons why I got into digital marketing and advertising, because I really enjoy it. I enjoy websites. I enjoy all the online stuff, so I thought it’s a good market for me. Plus, if you do things right in your downtime, you should be investing more in marketing and advertising and really securing your spot online. That’s the other reason, was I thought this could be a pretty good evergreen business for me going forward.

Now, I’m not telling you that’s the business for you. I’m just saying that’s the one I personally went into. If you listen to the different steps that I’ve taken, I have no doubt that they’ll apply the same way to any business or anything that you’re looking to start and grow the same steps to apply to you. Now, one of the biggest things about starting a side business, a second business, a new business, excuse me, is consistency and pushing through hard times. That’s what I’ve been really pointing out at home and talking to my wife about. I said, “Jeez, in these times right now where I am exhausted, putting in longer days than normal and doing twice as much work as normal, and you hit the points where you think, ‘God, I don’t know if I can do anymore.'”

I’ve been fortunate that every one of those times, when I push through, on the other side is a big reward. Some of it’s just keeping the momentum going that I’ve already started, but the other part is, I think I’m being rewarded for hard work, and I love it. I love it. It makes me feel good. It makes me feel a little more comfortable at home. It makes me realize that I can obviously make all of this happen and everything’s going to work out, and in tough times we can make more money. There’s a lot of security that goes with that.

I want to urge you if you’re having tough times right now and you’re struggling, like I think they said 25% of Americans are out of work. Another probably 10% are going to file for unemployment this week, if not more, and we’re probably going to have one of the biggest recessions that we’ve ever seen. That’s just to be expected right now, but if that’s the case, I want you to figure out, “Where can I push harder? Where am I seeing resistance?”, and therefore now’s the time to push. That’s what I’m telling everyone. A lot of times when you hit that resistance, that’s just the universe showing you or life showing you it’s time to push harder, push through, and really make things happen for yourself.

That’s what I’m going to leave with today. I want you guys to just know that there’s a light at the end of the tunnel, and 100 percent if you push through this hard time, you’re going to see some amazing results. This is the time that the best businesses are born. This is when the best ideas come out. This is when those who truly persevere are going to be rewarded. I know that, because a lot of people are going to be at home, and they’re going to feel bad for themselves. They’re going to find it hard to push through these times, and I think a lot of people aren’t going to try. They’re just going to throw their hands up in the air and say, “Oh well. I lost my job,” or “I’m just out of work. What can I do? That’s that?”

For the other people out there, the ones who are listening to this podcast, I feel that good things are on the horizon for you. I want to leave you with that. The good things are there. The hard times are real, and I get it. Everyone out there, I’m feeling it the same way that you guys are, and I feel for everyone. If you need help, and if you think that I might be able to help you in any way, email me. Matt, [email protected]. If I can help you out in any way, I certainly will. Let’s push through this and make sure we’re all okay and we come out on the other side of this. All right, everyone. Have an awesome day. It’s Wednesday. Let’s push through, and let’s get through this whole thing. I’ll talk to guys again soon.

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