It’s clear now that COVID-19 is having an enormous impact on us all. First and foremost, we’re worried about our health, the health of our loved ones, and for our local community and society in general.
And then we realize the potential impact on our businesses. Not just the direct impact today, but the ripple effect that’s running through the broader economy.
It might have been when the event cancellations started. It might have been when clients started canceling work that had been promised. Or it might have been when the government had to shut down many local businesses.
Regardless of when you realized it, we are now in a state of massive change and uncertainty. Can we stop it from being a financial crisis for us?
Given all that’s going on, Spencer Sheinin is here to share some ideas with you. Spencer is an entrepreneur with an accounting background, and that powers his firm Shift Financial Insights and allows him to provide financial insights for businesses like yours and mine.
In this episode, you’ll hear:
- How to figure out your financial “new normal and get re-stabilized. Or if that’s not possible, a sense of how much time you have to figure out a plan B.
- Some cost savings ideas you might not have already thought about.
- Creative ways to access additional funds to extend your runway.
- When to consider pivots or new strategic initiatives.
- How to shift your business model to further rely on outsourcing options.
- How to rethink your business and your life.
- How to think about the eventual rebound and prepare to thrive in the future.
Links
- Shift Financial Insights
- Entreprenumbers: The Surprisingly Simple Path to Financial Clarity
- Spencer on LinkedIn
- Spencer on Facebook
- Follow Brian Clark on Twitter
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Transcript
How to Survive and Thrive During a Financial Crisis
Jerod Morris: Welcome to 7-Figure Small, the podcast that brings you the stories and strategies that are driving the growing number of solo businesses achieving 7-figures in revenue, without investors or employees.
If you want to discover what’s behind the rise in these 7-figure businesses, then you need to get our free Next Level 7 audio course. In this enlightening course from Unemployable founder, Brian Clark, you’ll hear what’s working right now for attracting an audience, discovering what they want to buy, and building your perfect business.
To sign up for free, go to nextlevelseven.com. That’s nextlevelseven.com.
And now, here’s your host for this edition of 7-Figure Small — serial digital entrepreneur, Brian Clark.
Brian Clark: It’s clear now that COVID-19 is having an enormous impact on us all. First and foremost, we’re worried about our health, the health of our loved ones, and for our local community and society in general.
And then we realize the potential impact on our businesses. Not just the direct impact today, but the ripple effect that’s running through the broader economy.
It might have been when the event cancellations started. It might have been when clients started canceling work that had been promised. Or it might have been when the government had to shut down many local businesses.
Regardless of when you realized it, we are now in a state of massive change and uncertainty. Can we stop it from being a financial crisis for us?
I’m Brian Clark and this is 7-Figure Small. I hope all is well for you and yours, and I appreciate you listening.
Given all that’s going on, Spencer Sheinin is here to share some ideas with you. Spencer is an entrepreneur with an accounting background and that powers his firm Shift Financial Insights and allows him to provide financial insights for businesses like yours and mine.
In this episode, you’ll hear how to figure out your financial “new normal and get re-stabilized, or if that’s not possible, a sense of how much time you have to figure out a plan B, some cost savings ideas you might not have already thought about, creative ways to access additional funds to extend your runway, when to consider pivots or new strategic initiatives, how to shift your business model to further rely on outsourcing options, how to rethink your business and your life, and finally, how to think about the eventual rebound and prepare to thrive in the future.
This episode is brought to you by FreshBooks, easy-to-use cloud accounting software for people like you. Right now they’re offering a 30-day, no credit card required free trial to listeners of the podcast. To claim it, just visit FreshBooks.com/unemployable and make sure to enter UNEMPLOYABLE in the “How Did You Hear About Us? section.
With that out of the way, let’s hear from Spencer.
Spencer, thank you so much for joining us today. How are you?
Spencer Sheinin: I’m great considering the challenges we’re facing. Overall, I’m doing well and healthy and happy, so thanks very much.
Brian Clark: Yeah, I think all of our answers are qualified, but as long as we are healthy and our loved ones are healthy, then that’s more than enough. At least that’s my viewpoint at the current time.
Spencer Sheinin: I’m 100% with you on that.
What Is Your Background?
Brian Clark: Okay. So we know that you’re the founder of Shift Financial Insights. I was wondering if you could tell us a little bit about your background. How did you get to the point where you founded the firm?
Spencer Sheinin: Sure. So my background, I am a CPA, about 20 years ago or so. And more importantly, I think, is I’ve actually been a serial entrepreneur, so I’ve had a few different businesses and traditional bricks and mortar. I had a manufacturing business for 15 years, a construction business, a cold storage business as well.
About five years ago, I made some significant changes in my life, because I actually wasn’t loving my businesses. And I went through a bit of a transition and I ended up starting Shift Financial.
We make accounting not suck for entrepreneurs with the idea that I love working with entrepreneurs. I love the entrepreneurial creative spirit and I wanted to spend more time doing stuff that I loved.
I hate accounting, but I have a team that loves it, and I love being the bridge between accounting and entrepreneurs. So, that’s essentially how I started it. And we’ve been, I don’t know, three or four years now doing what we do at Shift Financial.
Why Were You Dissatisfied with Your Other Businesses?
Brian Clark: So you come by your service of entrepreneurs naturally being one as well. Tell us a little bit about why you were dissatisfied with your other businesses, because it’s such a common theme that we have with guests who kind of grew businesses and then found out that wasn’t what they wanted after all.
Spencer Sheinin: Yeah, I’ll speak specifically about the manufacturing business. First of all, not that this was the make or break, but it was 45 minutes to an hour drive every day. And I remember especially in the winters — I live in Vancouver and it was rainy — and I called it “robot mode — where I got up, I drove to work, I did my work, I drove home and life started when I got home.
Part of it was we actually were very fortunate, we grew quite a bit. I quadrupled the business at different times and we’d grown. I had some contractions, of course, but generally we were growing and the more it grew, the bigger it got and the less free I felt, because there were so many things that I had to do that I didn’t want. And the nature of the challenges of manufacturing just got to really wear over time.
Not to mention, it wasn’t really connected to my core values and who I wanted to be. We manufactured skincare products and I didn’t really use any of them. And I’m like, “Why am I spending my time in an industry I don’t love?
I will say as a caveat that one of the products we made then was hand sanitizer. So if I was still in that business, I’d actually be doing pretty well right now. But I wasn’t willing to trade my life in hopes that there was a pandemic that I could profit off. That just didn’t make sense to me. So, yeah, it wasn’t aligned is the big thing.
Brian Clark: Yeah, that makes total sense. Again, it’s a common theme. I think too often the allure of entrepreneurship is just, “Get big, growth at any cost and then you’ll be happy. And often, that’s not exactly how it works.
Spencer Sheinin: Yeah, there are lots of entrepreneurs that have created a free, amazing life for themselves. But there are a lot of entrepreneurs who own the business, but they’re a slave to it even more than the employees. So, yeah, it’s two-sided there.
Is This the New Normal?
Brian Clark: Yeah. Well, to say we are in a strange situation currently is such an understatement. I hesitate to even elaborate, but a lot of small businesses are in trouble. A lot of bricks and mortar businesses are just shuttered at the moment out of necessity. It’s the right thing to do, but it doesn’t make it any easier. Plus we’re going to have a ripple effect through the economy for some time to come regardless of how long this will last.
So is this the new normal that we have to adapt to or is there a way in which we can just ride this through? What are your thoughts on that?
Spencer Sheinin: Yeah, I’ll stick to the financial side of this. I’m not a health expert. I can’t really comment there other than what I’ve read in the various media. So everything I’m going to respond to in your questions will be through a financial lens.
Like you, I feel like this is bigger and longer. You use the term “ripple effect, and that’s when it really affected me when I started looking at my customers. And it’s not even my customers, maybe not even my customer’s customers. It’s my customers’ customers’ customers that are having problems which are going to roll up the chain.
And so I do think this is quite deep and quite long, and I do call this “a new normal, at least for now. When looking at the business, I would be thinking about this in terms of “This isn’t a month-shutdown, it’s going to take a while. I mean, think about all of the big events that have been canceled for the year.
Take South by Southwest, this massive event that’s canceled for the year. Everything and all the financial benefits related to that are gone for a year. So it’s not just that it got delayed a month. And that’s true with the NBA, with the NHL, with massive conferences around the world.
So there’s a huge ripple effect. I’m not an economist and I don’t want to put a timeline on it, but I’m preparing for at least a year of a different new normal, for sure.
Adaptability and Opportunity
Brian Clark: I’m seeing lots of offhanded advice about adaptability and making the most of it, looking for opportunity. It’s easier said than done. What are you telling your clients on that front?
Spencer Sheinin: My approach might be I agree and I believe in that mindset. And it also came from when I was in the manufacturing business, it actually took a bit of a crisis. Now it was a unique crisis to my business that was out of my control that was sort of the impetus that I made a decision to exit.
The opportunity could either be changes within the business or within your own life. I’m sure people by now have heard the quote by Paul Romer, he was an economist, I believe, and he said, “A crisis is a terrible thing to waste. Even though it’s going to be a tough time for the next while, it’s also an opportunity to either make changes in the business or yourself personally to get to a way better place on the backend.
I’ll ask you a question, Brian. If you look back on your life and you think about times when you’ve grown as a person, as a human, as a family, as a father, whatever your story is, did those growth periods happen when the waters were smooth? Or did that growth happen because you were up against it and you had to really dig down and put in an effort and be creative and find new ways to do things and push through it? Now where did your growth really come from?
Brian Clark: I’ll tell you, there were two pivotal points in my 20-year entrepreneurial career, and both times my back was against the wall. I mean, looking at a month away from bankruptcy, and I thrive when it comes down to…
Spencer Sheinin: A month? That was a lifetime for some people, to be a month away from bankruptcy. You were doing well.
Brian Clark: But I don’t know that everyone else necessarily has the back against the wall kind of grace under pressure. So I’m careful not to just say, “Hey, pull it together, because that’s so easy to say, but it’s not necessarily advice that everyone can follow.
But generally, I agree with you that these are the moments that we can really do amazing things.
Spencer Sheinin: If you think about those two times that you said you really had your back against the wall, would you be where you are now? Would you be the person you are now had you not gone through those two challenges?
Brian Clark: Absolutely not. They made me who I am.
Spencer Sheinin: It’s really hard to see that today. Especially if you’re looking at your business, you’re like, “Okay, I owe this much money. I have these many employees. I have all of these pressures and my clients are going away, or whatever it is. It’s really hard to see that right now.
But I think that the crux of this is — and I had a moment about a week ago where honestly I was just in a terrible space. I was in the dumps, I was busy reading all that stuff on social, and I had a bit of a panic attack myself. It wasn’t until the Friday morning and I saw an innocuous comment that somebody put in one of the chat groups I’m in. It reminded me of that “Crisis is a terrible thing to waste, and it flipped my mindset around.
When we’re in that negative mindset and fear and scarcity mode, we can’t be creative. Our brain can’t do both of those. So that’s why I think it’s just so critical to take that mindset of “Yeah, things are tough, but where are the opportunities in here? Because it’s thinking about where the opportunities are, that’s the only way they’re going to show up. They won’t show up in that scarcity mindset. Our brains don’t work that way.
So whatever you’ve got to do, whether it’s thinking about previous tough times that you’ve gotten through that have made you who you are today, or whether it’s just sitting down with a team and brainstorming, whether it’s listening to a podcast and picking up ideas — and hopefully I can offer a few today — that to me, is where the opportunity is. It’s not going to be in that negative mindset. It can’t be.
Brian Clark: Yeah, I agree with you 100%. And I know that you can help people with these things, with your message and the information that you’ve been sharing with others. So, again, thank you for coming on the call.
Everyone, I just want you to know when I first came across Spencer, he was asking to be on the show, because he’s got a book to promote. And then when we started this he said, “Forget about the book. I just want to help people. But he does have a really good book. We are going to tell you about that as well. So, a good guy, Spencer, he’s already proven it to me.
Time to Cut Back or to Invest?
Brian Clark: Let me ask you this, Spencer. You mentioned scarcity mindset and that is such an incredible point and it can make the difference between success and failure. A lot of inclination at the moment would be, “Let’s cut costs. Let’s slash to the bone. A lot of companies, even large companies, will slash marketing during rough times when that was exactly what they shouldn’t do. Should we be cutting back or should we be investing in our businesses now?
Spencer Sheinin: Well, I definitely think it’s prudent to look for anything that… I think preserving cash and preserving capital enough so that you have a vision. So when you figure out your new normal like, “What do I think?
If I can just take a minute to define what I mean by new normal — really looking at your customers, whether it’s individual customer by customer, or if it’s a little more transactional, your business. Looking at types of customers and categories of customers and really applying a percentage that you think you may lose, or maybe you’ve already lost, to come up with your new normal sales that you think in a lower period you can sustain.
Then doing the same with some obvious cuts to your expenses literally line by line: “What can I reduce? I think that’s a critical thing to buy yourself as much time as you can, because if you go through that new normal exercise and say, “This is my new revenue, these are my new costs, and I’m still in the red, you’re going to have to strategize on creative ways to change your revenue model, to pivot, to do whatever to get through. And so protecting cash, I think, is critical.
10 Ideas to Preserve Capital
Spencer Sheinin: If you’re open to it, I can probably in about two minutes give 10 ideas that I think you can actually preserve capital that aren’t necessarily going to — I’m saying you’re not not investing in your business, but this is where you can preserve capital to buy yourself time, just to have more time to come up with your creative ideas. If you like, I’m happy to go through those 10 real quick.
Brian Clark: Yeah, please do. I think that’s good information.
Spencer Sheinin: Sure. Whether you’re a business, whether you’re a solopreneur, and a lot of these things actually apply personally as well. Let’s be honest, there have been a lot of layoffs, there will be more layoffs coming. And so maybe your personal home situation, if you were a two-income family, now you’re one. A couple of these might actually relate to that as well. So I’ll go quickly here.
Brian, I have a slide deck that I’ve been presenting quite often on this topic, which I’m happy to share if you want to make available to your listeners.
Brian Clark: Okay, that sounds good.
Spencer Sheinin: So number one, this is obviously for suppliers. I’d be picking up the phone and calling every supplier and just being honest with the situation if you have been hit by COVID. And just having conversations about price and/or terms if they can help you.
Some suppliers are going to be really well-capitalized and your suppliers don’t want you going down any more than you want your customers going away. So if they’re in a position to help, chances are they will. I’d just pick up the phone and have a frank conversation.
And don’t forget, for those of you that have a physical space, your landlord is also a supplier. That’s number two. They may be well-capitalized and be in position to maybe give you a few months skipping rent. Yes, they will probably put it on the backend of your lease, but the idea right now is to survive long enough so you can thrive later. Landlords don’t want empty space if you happen to have an office, and they might be willing to work with you as well.
For those of you that have employees, I am not at an HR lawyer, so check with somebody, that’s probably worth it. But I would have frank conversations with my employees: “Guys, this is what’s happening. Are people willing to volunteer for reduced hours, volunteer to leave without pay, whatever it is? And there’s obviously lots of stuff happening with layoffs right now.
I would pick up the phone and have an hour conversation with a HR lawyer based on your circumstance to find the best way, and ideally collaboratively with your employees, to reduce the burn so you have a longer runway.
Again, I would have a quick call with your external accountant. This varies by region, but talk about income tax, your corporate income tax, your personal income tax. We’re in tax season. I know in Canada they just deferred when taxes are due. I probably wouldn’t be paying a lot of income tax right now. You might have some interest if you don’t pay on time. But right now, preserving capital and just seeing what governments are going to do to support from breaks or whatever.
Talk to your accountant, don’t get yourself in trouble. But talk to your accountant about what you can withhold. If you have listeners in Canada, I’d hold back on GST as well. I’m going quickly here. Again, there are a few more.
Payment holidays from other lenders. If you have leases, if you have any equipment that you need in your business, if you have car leases, anything like that — like your suppliers, your landlords, they don’t want you going away either. Talk to them about extending your lease term to reduce the payment, talk about a payment holiday, a principle or interest holiday for a couple of months. They’ll tack it on the backend, but it’ll just give you a break during this tough time.
This is a big one for me. Check your credit card statements for those monthly recurring charges, things that we probably signed up for two years ago and forgot we signed up and it’s just taking away 30 or 50 bucks every month. Make sure to cancel anything you’re not using or that isn’t critical.
More importantly, check your credit card statements from about a year ago, because you might have signed up to an annual subscription. You don’t want to get to April 2nd and there being a big lump taken out. And it’s like, “Ah, I should have canceled that. So just go back, look at credit cards and bank statements for those recurring transactions. Get rid of what you can.
Also, as you’re doing your negotiations with your suppliers, don’t forget they might be struggling too and may not be able to offer you help. That’s okay, because there are going to be lots of other suppliers that are looking for new customers right now. So work with the suppliers you have, build those relationships, and look for new relationships to help get you through on those, whatever you’re spending your dough on.
The other thing that I love doing is just ask staff. Have a staff meeting and say, “Hey, where are we wasting money? Where can we save? If you’ve got a few employees, chances are they know where you’re wasting money more than you do, and throw it out to them. They might come up with things that it’s like, “We can just cut this right now and save us X dollars a month.
So all of those things should be able to help preserve capital, because I really think that’s critical right now.
Creative Ways to Bring in Additional Funds
Brian Clark: On the flip side, how about creative ways to bring in additional funds so that you last longer depending on how far this thing goes?
Spencer Sheinin: I think there’s probably, I’m going to say four or five things that could really do well. If you already have some sort of loan, I would go and talk to the bank about not only a payment holiday, but can they actually top it up for you? Any bank that has a track record with you, and if you’ve done well and then you’re going through a dip now, there’s a good chance the bank will help you.
What I would tell you, and I think there’s two really important things to think about with the bank. Number one, I would go to multiple banks with a pitch. So if you need some money to get through, don’t go to just one. Because the really amazing thing about banks is they all have their own strategic priorities, and they’re looking at their own risk profile saying, “Oh, we’re really heavily weighted in this category, and we want to bring in new clients in this category.
So you could go into one bank and they flat-out say no. You could go into the bank immediately next door with the exact same proposal and they might give you everything you’re asking for. Don’t be afraid to go to more than one source. I would be going to three or four or five with a pitch. And I know everybody’s busy right now. But if you need dough — and secondly, if you don’t need dough — still ask for it right now, because it’s always easier to get when you don’t need it than when you do.
The other thing is there are a lot of government programs that will be coming out and the government doesn’t want you to go down either. I would actually, whether it’s you or assign somebody in your business, I’d be going to the federal and state government websites to see what announcements they’re making.
In Canada, there have already been a couple things (I live in Canada) that have come out where they’re actually giving a 10% subsidy for salaries for all small business owners to try and help them not have to cut as many staff. There are a couple of interesting things that have come out north of the border. So keep an eye out for any government assistance that’s coming.
Then this one I love more than anything is unconventional lenders. Again, if you have a landlord that you’ve got a good relationship with, they could have a lot of spare cash right now and they might be willing to loan you some money on top of helping you out with rent. Again, you’ll need a business that has a track record, but if you did well before this, you’ll do well again.
And unconventional lenders, like a landlord or a supplier or a partner or somebody, could actually come in with some cash. I’ve heard some interesting things. Actually back in my manufacturing days, twice I went to my landlord when I was like you and I had my back up against the wall. And twice I got a fairly sizable loan from my landlord.
I’ll do two more quick ones. Again, same on the expense, I’d ask staff: “Hey, guys, anybody have any ideas how we can raise some dough right now? Maybe one of your employee’s uncles is a billionaire and can float some money, because they just want to make sure their nephew still has a place to work.
Then the last one, which is something I’m doing myself, is what I’m calling “the survive and thrive partner program. As a supplier, I think the way we’re going to get through this is we’re going to get through it together, by supporting each other. And we’re all going to suffer a little bit and then we’re all going to thrive together on the backside.
For example, I’m saying this as an illustration as my businesses outsource bookkeeping and controller services. If I have somebody who needs those services, I’m happy to offer a deep discount to help get them through with the idea on the backend. Everybody’s sales go back up and we all thrive together.
So is there something you can offer in your business that may not be your normal rates or that you could target uniquely that you can put out to the world? And then people who need your service, when things normalize, you can start charging normal rates again.
That’s how I’m approaching it. That’s how I’m adding customers in a terrible time. And it’s not great financially for me today. It’s helping me cover some of my accountants’ costs. It’s helping me grow my future business. And I’m doing this with an eye to the future, because this is a temporary thing. We can also use this as an opportunity to set ourselves up to thrive on the backend.
So those are some things that I’m doing and that I think are some really great ways again to build that war chest, to give you a little more time to sort through the different strategic initiatives you can do.
Brian Clark: I love that — survive and thrive together. It’s not only encouraging, but it’s smart when you think about it. So, we can do the right thing and still end up in a good place ourselves.
Spencer Sheinin: I think it’s critical right now that any of these strategies I’m saying are being done with that survive and thrive mindset. If you owe somebody some money and your business hasn’t been impacted, don’t go and try and grind them now on the guise of COVID. We all need to support each other.
I’ve proactively gone to my clients that I know have been most impacted. I’ve got clients in the events business and said, “Look, I’ll take a hit with you during this time to get out the backend.
I talked to another client and this made me quite emotional. I said, “Hey, I’m willing to offer discounts if you need it. And he said, “Actually my sales are up right now, because he does a lot of sales on Amazon. He said, “I’ll take you up on it if I need it. But from a social karma purpose, give my discount to other people to help them survive.
So this is about being together. It’s not about being opportunistic and it’s not about taking advantage of other people because of COVID. It’s about helping each other make it through. I’m really, really passionate about that.
Additional Advice for Outsourcing
Brian Clark: Absolutely. This audience is pretty much into relying on technology and other freelancers and vendor solutions as much as possible, as opposed to investors and employees and whatnot. Are there additional things they can be thinking about when it comes to outsourcing?
Spencer Sheinin: Yeah, that’s a great question, and similarly I built my business to be 100% remote. We use a lot of outsources in my business, so I’m very much aligned with that. I think if you’re working with contractors, bringing the concept of that survive and thrive theory to them, because they are relying on you too, the same as your employees.
I think about employees and contractors in the same bucket even though they may be legally different. So, yeah, I definitely would have candid conversations with them and get together and brainstorm about what can we collectively do, because we all need to survive through this together.
Of course, outsourcing, there’s the benefits, but if your listeners are already enjoying those benefits — I don’t want to spend time on that right now, other than to say, I encourage you to look at all avenues of the business. What more can you outsource? Because of course, as you ramp back up, you can ramp up with the outsourcers. And if things stay tough, it’s a lot easier to carve down my outsourcers than it is to employees. So I’m just a big fan of the outsourcing.
How Can We Prepare for an Economic Rebound?
Brian Clark: Yeah, absolutely. So, I can’t help trying to think through, what are the permanent changes that are going to come out of this?
I mean, we’re going to move to a more virtual world. We’ve been doing that anyway. But this is a catalyst, and usually that’s what it takes for major change, whether it be more organizations using a remote workforce, rise in virtual reality, augmented reality. All of that stuff is supposed to hit this year anyway, just not quite in time.
What can we do to look forward to when things rebound? We can’t just say, “Go back to normal. I don’t think we’re ever going back to what we used to call normal, but we can go back to the good times, an economic rebound. How do we prepare for that now when it looks like we don’t know where the end is?
Spencer Sheinin: Yeah, I love that question and I wish I had a perfect crystal ball to know where that’s going. I agree. I tend not to think it’s going to go back to normal. The remote culture, I think both individuals and businesses are recognizing the value in it. And I think a lot of your listeners are remote already.
If larger organizations had eight offices, they may go down to four. They may keep some, but I think it’s going to definitely change. So this is where pivoting alternate streams of income or alternative streams of revenue and preparing for a new world — when you’re starting to see those trends, this is where the creativity comes in. It’s like, “Okay, how can we set ourselves up to really flourish in those times?
I’ll give two examples that I’ve seen live happening. Once I was doing a version of this presentation with a live group, and one of the guy’s businesses, they helped companies be more efficient with their office space and actually went into the design and construction of the office space. And in a brainstorming session, it’s like, “Wow, so many people are going to go remote. What if I built remote kits for: ‘This is what you can give your employees for everything they need to do to get set up at home’? And that was just a complete pivot in a conversation, because they were being open to what’s happening in the future.
Another example is I do have more a few clients actually in the event business. One of them, we’ve had some strategy sessions and it’s like, “Okay, my events business, I host events. I have zero events that are likely to happen this year, so that’s 100% of my revenue. What we uncovered is that he has a readership and a distribution network of over 100,000 people who are interested in the trade shows he puts on.
The value that is extracted from the trade shows, we’re talking about “Can that be done in a newsletter form or a subscription model where you’re offering the value for people that would have been in person in the trade shows? And you’re creating those relationships outside of the trade show. And maybe it becomes a subscription newsletter. His business is unique, so there are other connections that can be made and there’s actually a pay per play. And all of a sudden, we’re looking at a completely different business model if the physical events aren’t happening.
So I think it’s staying attuned to those trends. In every problem, there’s an opportunity. It’s like, “Okay, well, if my business was marketing to these types of businesses, how do I change the messaging? Or how do I be proactive in bringing the change or the changes that I’m seeing to a particular demographic? And I start offering free value to them and then maybe I can build my client base, because I’m the expert in marketing to a particular digital work for a particular segment that is changing and try and get ahead of it that way.
There is no crystal ball on that. It’s easier said than done. But I think there are just so many interesting things that can be done in a changing environment like this.
I agree, we’re going to go back to events. I don’t know about you, but I personally find there is a difference between an online event than an in-person event. There’s just all of that connection that happens. That will come back, but it’ll come back and it’ll be a bit different.
Brian Clark: So interesting, the example you gave with your client, because of course he can shift to that model. And he may find that he’s more profitable with that model, and that perhaps even his clients appreciate it more. It’s hard to be optimistic in these times, but that’s a prime example of someone who may go through the hard work of shifting out of necessity and find, “Oh wait, I’ve got a better business than I used to have.
And I agree with you. You can’t really substitute for live interaction, but it’ll change. I think we’ll treasure our live interactions much more than we perhaps did before this happened.
Spencer Sheinin: The other comment I’ll make about when you hear about other people that have pivoted, it’s so easy, and I fall into this trap myself, fully admit. It’s super easy to say, “Oh well, they could do it, because they’re in that industry, like it’s easier for them.
Trust me, the idea of somebody going to zero revenue for the year was one of the scariest things that person’s ever been. And it took a little bit of time to come back into that creative space to go, “You know what? I’ve got this newsletter with about 100,000 readers with a pretty good open rate. What can we do differently?
What are the assets that you have that you can leverage? Do you have a large customer base in a particular segment? “I’ve got a lot of customers that are in this industry. Okay, what’s going on in that industry? How can I serve that industry? “I’ve got more inside information about that industry, because of the number of clients I have.
And you can just start to pull on those threads, brainstorming, again, whatever it is. It always seems easier when somebody else does a pivot, but I promise nobody’s pivot is easy. It’s always hard and they always start with, “This is not possible. So get rid of “This is not possible mindset and come up with, “Okay, maybe there’s something, I just haven’t found it yet. Because somebody in your industry will do it. And then you’ll be like, “Ah darn! I could have done that too.
Brian Clark: Yeah, it’s time to stay calm and get creative. Now, I will say the urge to just work yourself crazy right now because of the uncertainty may not be the best move. Just take a break. This is weird for everyone. You don’t have to be chained to your desk right at this moment, but eventually you’re going to kind of settle into it.
Spencer uses the term “the new normal. Once that happens, your brain is going to click back into creative mode and you’ll find some solutions.
So I love the upbeat message, Spencer. I love that you’re frank about the fact that it’s all going to hurt us. We’re all going to experience some hurt. But if we do it together, there’s a chance that we can come out on the other side in a better position.
Where Can We Find You?
Brian Clark: Thank you so much for all this advice, Spencer. And I do want you to talk about your new book, because it not only sounds fantastic, it’s a reasonably small investment and some really good financial information. So tell us a little bit about the book.
Spencer Sheinin: Sure, thanks. It’s called Entreprenumbers: The Surprisingly Simple Path to Financial Clarity. I am a CPA, but I’m an entrepreneur. I think of myself as an entrepreneur first. I’m just fortunate that I had that background.
So the whole idea of the book is to take a subject that most entrepreneurs hate. A lot of owners are embarrassed about the state of their books. This is really a way to understand how it could be if you approach the accounting differently. It’s not about you getting better at accounting. It’s about figuring out how to direct your bookkeepers and accountants to deliver you information that’s intuitive, simple, quick, and easy to understand.
There are examples in the book. There are some resources on my Entreprenumbers website, Entreprenumbers.com, a lot of free downloads. There are lots of examples and it’s all done in plain English, no accounting jargon, no complex reports. It’s really designed to bridge the gap between entrepreneurs and accountants.
Brian Clark: Excellent. And we will have a link to the book in the show notes. Spencer, tell people where they can find out more about Shift Financial.
Spencer Sheinin: Sure. We’re Shiftfinancial.co, not dot com. And find me on Facebook, Spencer Sheinin. I’m also on LinkedIn. I’ve been putting out quite a few articles recently about the stuff we were talking about. So if you want to dive into more things like the cost saving measures or the funding, I’ve got articles posted. If you find me on either LinkedIn or Facebook, I’ve got links to all of it there.
As well, I’m happy to share a resource link. There are a couple of links that I think are very valuable for people on both sides of the border about what governments are doing right now. I’m happy to share that with you as well. I’m pretty easy to find as long as you know how to spell my last name. You’ll never forget it if you think “She-in-in.
Brian Clark: We’re going to have your name spelled correctly and all these things linked up in the show notes. Please check that out. That’ll be a lot of good information that everyone can refer to.
Spencer, thanks so much for your time. This has been great.
Spencer Sheinin: I really appreciate you helping me spread the word and get people positive and thinking about the opportunities, not just the problems.
Brian Clark: All right, everyone, stay calm, get creative, and keep going.