Should You Save or Invest in Your Business

No matter where you are in your business or where you are in the world, we are being affected by the Coronavirus. No one knows the lasting impacts this will have on our country and the rest of the world, but one thing is for certain, you have a choice. 

Should you save or invest in your business? 

We answer all of these questions in today’s podcast and more. 

Interested in a 45 minute FREE Strategy Session? Apply here: https://apply.bitbranding.co/ 

[00:00:01] This is the marketing natives providing actual ways to grow, improve and succeed in your business. 

[00:00:09] And now your hosts, Christian and Aaron. So what was the beginning for that? Hello, kiddies. 

Aaron [00:00:20] Hello, kittens. Did she say that you'd be. Hello. Cool cats and kids. Yes, that's that's what we want. So shout out to all you guys. If you're watching the replay, please stick around. Let us know in the comments, say replay. We want to know who's watched afterwords. We know a lot of you guys will probably watching afterwards. But for those who don't know or depending on how we cut this video up and put it on YouTube or podcasts or something else. Just so you guys know, my name is Aaron and my name is Christian. And today, we're gonna talk about something that I you know, I've heard of actually a similar topic across a lot of other like online entrepreneurs, but not really specifically this, which is should you be investing in your business right now or savings should be? Should you be like hoarding money and just kind of waiting this out or should you be investing in your business, whether it's through a course, whether it's a program, whether it's a new service, what you should be doing for your business? So that's what we're going to be talking about today. So are we good? We live everywhere. As far as views. 

Aaron [00:01:26] Cool. Awesome. So, yes, let's roll that beautiful being footage intro. Hello. Hello. All right. 

Aaron [00:01:49] Oh, this is cool. I seen there a little part of the replay. So I was going to pose this question to Christian because he's also a business owner and we may have different thoughts about it. But there's a couple of things we want to cover with you guys and reiterates that each business is probably a little bit different, but maybe there are a lot more similar than we're thinking, which is should you be investing in your business or should you be saving? And we may be a little bit candid with what we're doing with our business right now, too. I don't know. It just kinda depends on where the the conversation goes. But whenever we mentioned it this morning about what we were going to be doing for a life Christian, I don't know. His initial thoughts were what he was thinking. But I'm also curious from another business owners perspective, and then we'll get into some things that I think are good questions to ask. But what do you think should be going on or what? What's your thought process? Ben Christian, as just as a business owner, you and I obviously haven't talked about this. Should you be investing or saving in your business? Like, what's your personal opinion? 

Christian [00:02:50] Well, let me let me answer your question with another question and ask you, what do you consider invest in your business? 

Aaron [00:02:58] Like either purchasing a cause, learning a new skill. Hiring a coach like a consultant, something that's going to move the business forward. But when I say invest in, I mean, more than likely you're going to spend money like you're spending money versus saving money. I think just investment's a better way to use it because if it's done correctly, it should be. I don't know, like it should be an investment, not an expense. 

Christian [00:03:28] So does that change your question? Yeah, kind of. I also think the not units will have to spend money. 

Christian [00:03:35] There are a lot of risk free resources out there and even free trials for software that will potentially help you and your business. How do you manage your customers and your employees? 

Christian [00:03:49] And it's a it's it's something that you don't really have to spend some money upfront. 

Christian [00:03:55] I mean, there are some companies that are doing 90 day trials just so you can kind of user. Obviously, they're being smart about it, right. You're using their product. You're kind of getting used to using their products. So they end of that 90 day trial, hopefully when this all over your business by completely change your pivot into this new thing that you're invested in right now. Right. 

Christian [00:04:15] So I think that the investment part is also the time. And also free resources. 

Aaron [00:04:22] So. Well, before I respond and want to say hi to Jonathan, looks like he's on there. He joined us over there at Brute Force Strategies. And then Julie Godfrey with a barcode in Plano. Hey, guys. And please say hello and let us know you're here. F.Y.I For those who are tuning in or jumping in right now, we're talking about and Christian was giving just giving his perspective to whether or not to save or invest in the business, because we haven't we haven't talked about the specific topic back and forth anyway. And I guess my response to yours, Christian, is that I think that's definitely the first route to go because a lot of people haven't invested in the resources or both that course to take their companies to the next level or something like that. The only problem that I see with like a free resource is that it. Sometimes you don't know the next step to take, for example, us. We've taken so many online courses now or we've done so much online that it's probably a little bit easier for us to do so. 

Aaron [00:05:21] But if it's somebodys first time taking a course, they may be able to get the education, but they may not know how to implement it. Which is why I bring up the fact that like sometimes investing in businesses, hiring a business coach, which was a good investment for us and it's been helpful for these times, but it's also not something that's free. 

Aaron [00:05:41] I don't know any coaches out there that are giving just free advice, but it could be a really good investment to set us up in the right position once we're not in this anymore or, you know, we go back to work or we go back to regular things. So and then there's also businesses who don't have a choice like I want to given an example here we can talk about in seconds. Like yesterday I got a call from a local boutique up in McKinney, Texas. And she was you know, they used to do about a pretty good sized business, 20, 30 thousand dollars, actually, probably more, I think like fifty thousand dollars a month or more. And since people can't go into their boutique, it was just completely shut off. So they're up there. They have to invest in their business to either go online or really I don't know what else they would do, because if you can't have foot traffic and it's always been drawn to foot traffic, like you have no choice, which is I guess my point from the very beginning is like I think the answer is different for each person. So it should always be invest in your business. But to your point, it's like some people have the opportunity to invest for free. Other people may be forced to spend money because there is no alternatives. 

Christian [00:06:48] So really, I think I mean, I mean, the answer to I would say the majority of the businesses is to invest. And I think when I when I think of invest in this particular situation and we've talked about this previously, it's just to take action. 

Christian [00:07:05] You know, whether you know that is changing your procedures and changing policies, adding new software, pivoting services that you offer, condensing the services you offer, niche and down your services. But I think it no matter what. 

Christian [00:07:24] I think every business needs to take some sort of action and not just passively ride the wave of what we're going through right now. 

Aaron [00:07:33] Right. Because you don't know when it ends. I don't know when it's going to end. We may assume that. I mean, and the good thing is that at least at this point, we're not going to get into politics right now, is it? It seems overall things are getting better. What that means timeline wise? We don't know. I do want to because we did leave a message whenever we went live. So like Julie or Jonathan, if you guys are still alive. Can you comment below and just say you're still here? There is an option where we can get you guys. Come on. I would love to ask either one of you guys a question more specifically for your business, because I think that that would add a lot of value for people who are watching even now and for the replay. So if you are a business owner who is live watching us, one of the five people or six people who are on I don't know how many are on necessarily right now, but if you could let us know that you're here. Jonathan, awesome. He said he's here. Would you be interested or okay with coming on here live? And if so. Jack, do you mind sending him commenting the link so that he could come on here as I want to hear his perspective from has-beens and if he's saving or investing or if he's been thinking about this or not? I think that would be a good perspective instead of her at a little bit more value to the people listening. Just because it's his type of business or anybody else's types of business versus us. OK. You said yes. So as you're coming on here, we'll kind of continue on. We've never brought somebody else on before. So this will be an interesting bear with us a moment. But I also want to give an example of a couple of things like somebody who chose there's two, I guess two different types of businesses. Two people I spoke with one two weeks ago and one just yesterday. So the business owner from two weeks ago. Christian, you know him as well, a real estate agent. And she said, you know, business is as usual as like, OK. So you're still going to do open houses, you're still getting leads, you're still growing your business stuff. And he's like, oh, no, it's business as usual in the sense of like he's nothing has changed with what he's doing, but he's not doing anything different in the real estate. We're like he's riding it out. He's not doing anything different. So there's that perspective. 

Aaron [00:09:48] And then I guess it was yesterday was like a couple hours ago today, I spoke to a guy who they're trying to set something up, going to hopefully work with us, that in the next 90 days they want to create a new Web site and a new sales funnel that's going to be positioning themselves very uniquely so that whenever we do get out of this, they have a really good position in place in the marketplace for real estate and investing for people who can help themselves. So it's like two different approaches. One of them was, I'm just gonna ride this out. I have enough deals to kind of sit on and I'm okay. And then the proactive one was like, now this is the time I'm going to invest. I can't go show homes. I can't do anything or I can't teach, but I can build like the infrastructure to kind of sell. 

Aaron [00:10:33] So it's just a different type of perspective. I guess. 

Christian [00:10:39] Yeah, totally. 

Christian [00:10:40] I think it's a part of just looking at the opportunities right and see and again, going back to the same theme of taking action and doing something different to elevate yourself and and get out of this in a positive light. 

Aaron [00:10:58] I think a point I think the I can't remember exactly the word that used, but I mean, outside of the action, I think that's a good point. There is somebody is actually going to do something. How are we doing on Jonathan? Jack, I know you may be able to or I don't know if you can hear if you can comment or not. Let us know. 

Aaron [00:11:27] Oh, OK. 

Aaron [00:11:35] OK. Well, I just we have a question for him. All right, Jonathan, I think what Jack is saying is that we're going to pull you up here in a second. Like I said, bear with us here. This is unchartered territory. So you should be coming up any time now. 

Jonathan [00:11:51] I see me. Well, is it? 

Aaron [00:11:58] Oh, OK. So awesome. All right, so Jonathan, quick question, are you in vesting in your business? Like what? Are actually first off. What's going on in your business? Has it been busier or has it been slower? What's going on in your business right now? Like, have you seen an impact in it in four people? Can you tell them a little bit about what you do? I guess I'll be good perspective. 

Jonathan [00:12:21] Well, so I'm I'm in the health insurance business. So mostly I think it's overall going to net out as an improvement. I am having to do some damage control, helping some people. Make some changes, find some more affordable things. Even helping them, you know, slide payments forward on their health insurance. If they just they've lost their job or whatever. And so it just it's some people have canceled. A lot of people are joining. It's just kind of. But I think in the end, all it's going to be a net positive for me business wise. 

Jonathan [00:13:09] I can't hear you, though. 

Aaron [00:13:13] OK. As far as net positive meaning like, OK. Yes. So there's a lot of people that are leaving jobs and are. OK. So this is weird because we have to have Jack kind of explain, but. OK. To get an understanding, Jonathan, you're saying those who request recap from what you're saying is a lot of people are coming to you because they have to leave their job or are laid off or can't work and they have to figure out a health insurance plan. And so that's got kind of got out of it. Interesting. But was that your perspective, too, Christian armies? Obviously, we don't have much to go off of for that. 

Christian [00:13:51] Yeah. This is not. No, I don't know what was said or I'm trying to listen to both conversations. It's just very hard to. 

Aaron [00:14:01] OK. So, Jonathan, thank you for coming on. But we are probably not ready to have somebody because we can't hear the conversation. So we will try next time and get better part of get another part for that. 

Aaron [00:14:17] So moving on here, I just want to give some people examples of just more of a case study of something that we didn't know what was going to happen. But this lady had no other option. Option. She is over in McKinney or McKinney in Plano and has a brick and mortar business. It's all been foot traffic. And if it wasn't foot traffic, it was hospitality in a sense, like hotels, restaurants, everything like that does. We were like her main customers. If you got a little bit of foot traffic, I would say maybe 20, 30 percent of our business with foot traffic. But the rest of it was like hospitality and like big orders. And when this all shelter in place came into effect and people couldn't go inside or they were weary to do so, they just stopped shopping there. So she took a desperate, not desperate, but like a different action and decided to start running her business online. Luckily, she had an e-commerce site. She just wasn't do anything with it. 

Aaron [00:15:15] She wouldn't spend any advertising dollars, wouldn't spend any money on it and decided to do that. Yesterday we had a call with her and we're like, okay, how are things going? You know, are you getting close to where you were at before? Like, let's hope that you're getting, you know, 60, 70 percent of your sales. We're not expecting anything crazy. We're just trying to basically kind of tow the line and help mitigate any types of losses. And she told us, which was really cool and we're kind of on a trajectory now, but she's making as much as she did last year at this exact same time. And she's not selling anything in store, which is really cool. And it's I think it's just an opportunity for other people more maybe maybe just a little bit more of an encouragement to tell you that it is still possible for you to grow your business right now. I know we talked about this Krishan. I did before, like on the livestream, like things that you could do and opportunities that you could do online for some businesses. But we just didn't have any real stats or real examples. But now we have somebody who's been running it for two weeks and actually longer than two weeks. I've been running it for a while and has the same sales that she had from the previous year. So it's still possible for you to go out there and grow your business. So I just want to use that as an example that, you know, if you're a food vendor or a clothing vendor, somebody like that who could sell something online and may be worth it for you to start investing and potentially change your business, because I'm sure once she starts to sell in person, then it will only help exceed herself because she's got the online going and the in-person going. So I want to give that as an example for you guys that there are still people out there making money. There's still people who are doing well in spite of everything that's going on. 

Aaron [00:17:06] JOHNSON Sorry about the cut off there. I don't know if he left a comment or not. 

Aaron [00:17:15] So my question my my question for you, Christian, as or those people are jumping on live. We don't have the opportunity to bring you on. We're thinking, but if you are alive or even watching the replay now, please leave a comment. We're talking about whether or not you should save or invest in your business. 

Aaron [00:17:37] And my question that I've been asking or that people have been asking me anyway, when I've just been talking to them is do you think things will go back to the, quote unquote, normal right now? And you're doing a lot on the website side of things, Christian. So I don't know if that necessarily changes from your side of the business, but I guess in your opinion, is that going? Do you see that changing the way that you're doing your side of the business or like anybody that you've talked to, like are their businesses going to change or will it go back to normal? Because I know you're working with some construction people. You're working with like all different industries of people who are going on right now. I don't know if they talk to you about like going back to this, quote unquote, normal. 

Christian [00:18:23] I mean, I think the I think it will go back to normal. I don't think this is going to have a deep impact. Obviously, one of the things that might change is the way we have meetings and things like that. 

Christian [00:18:36] And I guess the informal ness of meetings says we're doing this sort of weird video while you're at home in your pajamas type deal. So I think in that in that respect, I think that it might change like that. I think overall, I mean, now I think a lot of businesses are kind of going back to, you know, some of the things that they were doing. Hopefully, if you're a business and you're trying out new applications and new things and new processes, these are things that you hope it will potentially change. But I don't think there's going to be drastic changes in the way we work. 

Aaron [00:19:18] Do you think that's a good thing or a bad thing? 

Aaron [00:19:21] Because I was just thinking. Yeah, I'm just curious, do you think that's. Yeah. Do you think that's a good thing that's not gonna change or is it actually a bad thing? 

Christian [00:19:31] Indifferent. 

Aaron [00:19:33] Well, I'm. I'm thinking. Because you're right. I think that people will go back to a sense of normalcy, but like we're talking about saving or investing right now. So. If they ride it out and they're the people who decided to save and the people who decided not to invest in their business, so nothing changed, and to your point, like it just kind of goes back to normal. I feel like that's kind of a. Like a disservice to like this awakening. You know, whenever I guess the example I'd give is it like if you're getting really close to like you'd like. You almost get into a car accident or you almost run into something and like makes you think like, oh, dang, I need to pay attention to the road more. I feel like this should have been a reality check for for business owners to say, look, I'm vulnerable because my whole business is built on this. And if something ever happens, like let's not assume another Cauvin 19 or something like that's gonna happen. Something may happen in the business and we realize that we're vulnerable. But I think that we have a really short attention span because we're like. Oh, we're back to normal. But they don't do anything with their business, and I think that's. I don't know. I just don't think it's a good thing to just go back to normal, I think we've got to keep data to back a reminder or change the way we do business. We are as a company. I guess change in the way. And we're I guess it's pushed us to do something that we haven't we said we've wanted to do. But it's never we've never really done it because it's never been pushed. That's why that's what I was trying to get at when I was trying to say like that. Back to normal like rain. 

Christian [00:21:05] Yes. I mean, just like, yeah, the way that, you know, you go about finding new business. Sure. A lot of people are probably trying to figure out ways to do that online or through social media or through their Web sites. But I mean, to be honest, I think still the hand-to-hand and the network and word of mouth is something that is never going to slowly die or go away or drastically change. And that's what I'm trying to say. Like, yeah, I think it will, I guess, change businesses in the sense that they will see the opportunity of of, you know, the power of finding leads and customers online. But I think ultimately. They would stay with what they know. You know, I don't think necessarily I guess it depends on how long this goes. So if it lasts like one more month, I don't see businesses completely changing how they do things. If it last six months, then like. Yeah, absolutely. That's definitely a market impact. And and how everyone goes about literally everything day to day in business and everything in between. Yeah, that's a good point. 

Aaron [00:22:19] So it's it's hard because it's I think we're yeah, we're obviously creatures of habit, so we want to keep the same. But for those who I saw, there's a couple more people, more people who jumped in. Thanks. Let us know that that you're you're watching drop a comment below. We're talking about whether or not you should be saving or investing in your business. And if you have something to say or if you have something or a question, go ahead and drop a comment. We were gonna try to bring people up, but we had technical issues. So if you have a comment, drop, drop it below will answer to the question. This is more so. 

Aaron [00:22:56] Now we're saving on. 

Aaron [00:23:02] Oh, well, so, Jack, are black mirror that you guys cannot see here? I was saying like some things that we're saving on. And I think I our proactive to this before anyway, just because. We were trying to figure out something for a system called profit first, which you guys should check out, all business owners should check out. But it was us going line item by line item with an accountant or yourselves or anybody in just auditing like, are we using this? Are we spending money on this? Does it make sense to keep this? Is there a cheaper alternative? And I don't think we've done that ever before, maybe once or twice. But that's a good way to stave. And maybe it's not a matter of say it like to the point of like saving money. Maybe you could use that money to reinvest. So that's just an option for you to do it. But I would say most businesses who have been in business for a couple of years, they're spending money on dumb things that you didn't realize you're spending them on like we were spending on 10 or 20 dollars a month on something. And we're like, oh, we could be spending the $10 option or downgrading because we don't use it. 

Aaron [00:24:06] So I think there's always that option to save. But then I think the smart thing to do with that would be to invest in your business, whether like Christian saying it's in a free course or a cheaper course or a coach or something like that. 

Aaron [00:24:22] BADDAY I don't know. I don't know how you'd necessarily save on there other than applying for the PPV the payment protection program. You should definitely do that. It's kind of a mess, but that's a good way to save money or to get to leave with some expenses at least for a month or two. So that's a good program. We have benefited from it yet, but it seems like a great program. 

Christian [00:24:46] Yeah, and there's companies that obviously have debt. We're lucky the our company has never had any sort of debt, but things like, you know, just asking for a reduction or a different payment plan. 

Christian [00:24:59] Same with rent and utilities and things like that. I know our office building is offering some sort of discount now, but then you pay it later after this is all done. That was kind of a weird thing. Yeah. You end up paying the same amount, but you I guess you get a reduction now and then an increase a little bit later. But I mean, it just helps cash flow. Right. So anything and everything that you can do to to do to help the cash flow and increase that, I would definitely jump on it and try and do it now. Besides actually saving will go back to investing in the business. Something that might not be as a parent. Obviously, when we talk about investing, I think we're talking more in the sense of, you know, spending advertising dollars on social media or Google or MCO or whatever. So beyond that, I think also, you know, reorganizing and restructuring your services. 

Christian [00:25:59] I think that's something that we've been doing for the past six months, that now it's we're clearly seeing the picture that we've needed to do this a long time ago and not offer 20 different things. But niche down and package up some of those services into results based services, essentially. And again, that's been part of a six month process that now we're at the point where we're sort of looking at everything and seeing like, oh, we should have had this done a long time ago and have these quote unquote signature services that we offer and not just say, hey, this is the fool list of 20 different things that we can do for you. Instead, you know, packing these things up into more solutions based services. 

Aaron [00:26:52] I think that's a an excellent point is, yeah, you can reinvest in your business without spending the money like we're seeing with the chorus. But yeah, more importantly, looking at your service offerings, are people buying them? And if not, what can you do to to cater to your market? Julie had a question. If we can pull it up here, I'll read it. 

Aaron [00:27:17] It says, It's interesting that we've pivoted to offer livestream classes just during this time and now we are attracting some customers who otherwise wouldn't come into our studio. That's a good point. I don't know yet if we'll continue once we are back to quote unquote, normal, but we can see now that there is a demand and perhaps should make an ongoing investment. 

Aaron [00:27:37] Julie, that's that's a really, really good point. And, you know, I think that you guys offer something that's much not tied to change to Bashur. I'm not trying to say that at all. 

Aaron [00:27:50] But somebody who's got only an online version is like beachbody coaches. So they they've done on demand. And obviously it's a really successful model. But aside from that, Hosain is like there's crazy demand for that and like Pellington and everything, like let's just have a overall goal to get people more healthy. But I think that you guys could offer an amazing solution for people in-person and online, because like you're saying there, there may be not be people they've wanted to do bar before or they've wanted to go and see you guys, but they just have kids at home or they have like traffic. They can't get to it. And they're like, oh, this is just too far for me. So it may not be your bulk of your business, but maybe it's seventy five percent in a store and then twenty five percent is the online streaming and. Then you have I guess it just you don't have reliance on just making sure that it's in store. And also tears. Curious, Julia, if you don't have to share specific numbers, but like I'm guessing you kept a decent amount of your clients by offering that on demand, who said, like, we we like you, we want to invest in the Berko and we want to keep you guys around. 

Aaron [00:29:00] And you're going to offer the online version like I'm sure that people stuck around with you because of that versus just paying each month where you'd have to return their money back to them. But I was just more so curious, like if you've seen a good chunk of people stay around with you because you did offer that solution for them. That's that's super cool. Especially when you think Christian. He's like he can go to his gym right now. 

Aaron [00:29:22] The 24 hour. You're 24 hour. Right. You can't go to your gym. So there's a lot of people like that that maybe would have found out about you because they're they can't go to their gym or doesn't work anymore. So that's that's a really good point. 

Christian [00:29:38] Yeah. I mean, I think that's a good example of what I was trying to say earlier. Yes. I mean, gyms and fitness studios and things like that are absolutely capitalizing on the fact that everyone's at home. So you have to work out at home. So, yes, there actually probably doing an excellent of really, really well with this. But it's not something that I would put all my chips on. Right. Because things are going to go back to normal and that demand is definitely gonna go down eventually. And people like to go to classes, group classes and have the encouragement of being able to slap some some hands on high fives and all that stuff. So, I mean, that's something that. Yeah, I think right now is definitely changing. And then obviously the future, you will probably be able to keep a lot of these customers on on these online classes. But I still think the bread and butter is still gonna be the you know, that this in-person, you know, type studio. Hopefully it's not the case. Right. I think that's what we all want to do, is be able to, you know, expand your your services and and do these things online, which just doesn't require you as much space in your studio or amount of classes or structures. But I mean, we just had to face a reality that, you know, we will go back to our movil, will go back to going to places working out together and things like that. 

Aaron [00:31:01] Yeah. And so I think that's yeah, that's a good point from both sides. And what Julie said to maybe it's not the bulk like what Christian saying, maybe it's not, maybe it's not starting 5 percent your business, maybe it's only twenty five. And I think that what this is teaching us all about our businesses is that or it just us is people not even business owners is that we really, really want to have interaction with other people. So more so now than ever. I think, Julie, you may have a resurgence of people who are like, I liked doing this in my home, but May and I would love to go and actually make friends and I would love to work out with other people because having my dog jump on me the whole time or have a, you know, a kid like screaming in the background the whole time isn't as fun as probably going there and talking to other adults who are like minded as well. 

Aaron [00:31:49] So, yeah, maybe it's not 50 to 75 percent of your business, but maybe it's a potential part of your business to get people warmed up to you, which, you know, like Kristen said earlier, this is just an opportunity for you to learn about your business and potential other options to innovate. And that's the only thing I think we're advocating here for, is that saving isn't really about saving money. It's more about just sitting back and keeping the status quo versus investing, which is focusing on the fact that you should figure out ways to innovate your business and find ways to grow and thrive. Not that you'd go back to normal completely, because I don't think you should do that, but a better you or a better version of your company so that you can thrive in the future. And that's the investment part that we want to kind of reiterate to people. 

Christian [00:32:38] So this last question here, if this is not something that people are commenting, but questions that we have prepared, it's something like this would happen again or let's say just another recession or something like that. How would you prepare or set up your business differently? 

Aaron [00:32:53] So I think the best thing for us is that we should have had a disaster situation planned. Like you can't plan for a disaster like what type of disaster it is. But you should have a preparedness act that if something happens like a tornado, a fire, a virus. 

Aaron [00:33:13] If something isn't able to happen, these sets of expectations will happen. For example, we have this cash reserve. This is used for payroll so that nobody has to be laid off. This is our next steps for working remotely. If it's a possibility. This is the next step. That happens if you know these things meet, meaning that we no longer have a place to work, how can we still serve our clients? So we need to have those two things in place. One, how can we still provide a service like provides for our employees to continue to help us provide services for our clients and then to how can we still provide service to our clients to grow? And then as long as you and I think we answer those two questions, then you'll still do well, because for us it was figuring out a way to work remotely. And then it was a way that we can still serve our clients online without ever having to compromise the quality of work and still communicate with them. So if anything from us, it's moving our positioning to where we have the option to do things more online. But we saw the flexibility to say, yes, we love to meet with our clients, we love to meet with people in person. It's, you know, we're humans. We want that. But we have the option if something ever did happen. The flexibility to continue to serve people in that audience. And so I think that's what I would say is just a step by step situation, what we would do. We've kind of figured that out. And I think we're still kind of figuring it out. But we've kind of used this as an example. And I think how we, quote unquote, invest in our business now is that we use this as an example for the future to say, hey, look, if it gets as bad as a coronavirus, we know what to do. We've been through this before, so it's documented and make sure that it's smooth and seamless for the future. 

Christian [00:35:01] Yeah, I mean, those were some of the same things that I wrote down. Having some sort of emergency response policy and then obviously having the emergency fund. And then something else that I wrote was nitch and down. That's something that I talked about before. Just making sure that obviously your services are. Or maybe some of your services are recession proof or not, maybe a recession proof, but that you have the ability to identify businesses that would still be running through a recession or economic downturn and that you can take advantage of that and serve those clients like you are serving everyone else right now. 

Christian [00:35:49] So maybe not changing your services, but changing your targeting in order to get to these businesses that are still running, still doing business. Everything is just the same. So I guess I'm not niche and down because if you would niche down and on a. Travel agency, right? Travel, it does. I mean, if you're if we were at a marketing agency for travel agencies like we would be scrambling, looking around like how can we do this differently? 

Aaron [00:36:18] There's an actual example like that's a real example. There's a company. It's a really nice agency. They do. They used to do two hundred thousand dollars a month. Pretty good size business. They went to 20000 and we'll probably go to zero in the next couple of weeks just because their industry is travel. So I think to your point, it's like, yeah, we got to look at what industries are what are our what's our four walls? I think it's what it's called, like our shelter, food, shelter, everything else. Like, you know, that people are going to have to pay utilities. They're going to have to pay for their home. They're gonna have to buy food and they're gonna have to be able to like transport themselves or travel like not travel with a plane, but like, you know, their car. So. Yeah, that's that's something that we I mean, luckily, we've I think we've talked about this way back when like what? 2016, I think you and I were talking in Iowa at least remember like in the solarium talking and saying we needed to diversify the types of clients we serve because if there's any type of recession, what kind of companies are gonna go out? And we tried to say, who can we best serve across the board? So we kind of answered that question, but. Yeah, it's definitely something we can work on even more. 

Christian [00:37:36] Yeah, I think that's because of the circumstances. You know, we were graduating high school. Yeah. You know, the recession. 

Christian [00:37:48] So it has definitely affected us and we've seen how it has affected our parents. So I think that's something that it's always in the back of our minds as far as, you know, how can we make sure that we're prepared for something like this? 

Christian [00:38:00] And it's something the conversations that we've had throughout the years and seeing, you know, what things can we do to stay afloat during something like this? 

Aaron [00:38:09] Mm hmm. So just because of timing purposes, I know there's about five people life. If you're watching after the after watching the replay, please comment and let us know that you jumped in and say you watch the replay, especially if you watch this far end. We have to jump to a meeting here in a second. But more importantly, I forgot to bring my charger for my computer. I feel like we hit on everything I have like 5, 7 percent left. So and let everybody know that. Was there anything else that we needed to hit on? On whether you should save or invest? I just want to be super clear here that we're saying that saving doesn't mean that you aren't saving money. It's more about just keeping the status quo. 

Aaron [00:38:47] And investing is about finding a way to innovate and use your business to help you grow. So after this, you can still continue to grow and thrive. So it's never been about saving money or spending money. It's more about moving and innovating to Christian's point and finding and taking action. 

Aaron [00:39:09] Anything else? No, thanks. 

Aaron [00:39:11] OK. Well, that's perfect timing. That 4 percent lap. So awesome. Thank you guys for jumping in live if you like these. And if you watched and you're still watching live right now, please leave a comment below. It really helps us figure out, you know, shall we continue to do Livestream? So just let us know like, hey, that was a good livestream or like, hey, I like Christian's background or, you know, whatever. Just let us know that you enjoyed this and that you found some value in it. It really helps us for the future. 

Christian [00:39:37] Yeah, that's it. We'll see you guys probably next week. Yeah.