290 - How I Survived a Tough Year in Business

If you listened to the episode prior to this , I mentioned that the next couple episodes would be kind of a part one and part two of a solo episode mini series here , where I'm just taking some time to chat with you about some lessons learned from in the previous episode .

Hitting seven figures , hitting a million dollars in my business Very , very cool landmark and milestone . But at the same time , it has been the most challenging and , quite frankly , tough season in my business over the last about year or so . So in this episode I want to share a little more about that and I'm not going to take this into a negative turn .

But what I want to do in this episode is just share with you personally some things that I've learned from going through tough season in business but , most importantly , give you some actionable advice that will get you through similar seasons .

And the reason I'm doing this episode now , and why I feel good about doing it now , is because I feel like I'm at the very tail end of the most challenging parts of this tough season . Now there's still plenty of things that I'm kind of working through as an entrepreneur , as a business owner , but I'm definitely far enough along now .

Where I can , I feel comfortable with sharing what I've learned , because I've actually learned quite a few things , even the last couple months here , that I think would really benefit those of you who are either in a tough season in business right now and you're looking for some advice to get through it , or maybe things are going swell for you right now but you

know , at some point the roller coaster ride of business you're going to have a tough season . Hopefully it doesn't last a year , maybe it's just a month or two , but things happen .

And as an entrepreneur , as a business owner , another reason I wanted to share with you a little bit about this stuff is because I feel like we often see the highlights and we see the wins on social media and the communities we're in .

But unless it's like your aunt who's always bitching about something on Facebook or something , it's very rare that you see people open up too much of like really open up about their revenue , struggles or challenges .

So I wanted to do that as well , just to share with you and to make sure you know you're not alone if you're in a tough season or if you go through a tough season . And if you've been an established business owner and web designer for a while , you know that it is seasonal Again the roller coaster effects .

So all that to say , that's what led me to want to talk with you about this . Now I figured what I'd like to do is kind of just share about personally the things that I've kind of gone through , just to set the stage here and give you the foundation for this , because I do have 10 tips . I'm a 10 tip guy .

I always try to do like five that I'm like I got more to say . Of course , I could do a hundred tips very easily , but I boiled it down to 10 for you that I've found to be the most impactful to help me get through this tough season .

I was going to do this episode months ago but I felt like I was too far into it still to where it was kind of more about venting and not complaining but just like sharing my heart , where I was like I really didn't have too much value because things have not quite turned around yet .

I hadn't stopped the bleeding , as an analogy but I feel really good about where things are and I've seen the numbers revenue wise for me increase here of the past couple of months . So I felt like , okay , let's talk about this and then I'm done . I'm done feeling negative about the past year because I'm ready to rock and roll .

So what led me here is a mix of quite a few things , and if you've been listening to the show for a while , you may have known that last year was a big year for my family , starting with us moving into a new home . Those of you who have moved with toddlers know it is absolutely no joke , and my wife was very , very pregnant at the time of us moving .

So I took a little bit of time off of work . I actually did an episode about how I barely worked at all last jane or July in the summer , just due to moving and getting settled in , and quite frankly , I really didn't take much of a break up to that point .

So I felt like it was a good time to take my foot off the accelerator , which I think is important . I do not regret that decision at all , but I did lose a little momentum in that season . I found that it was kind of hard to get back into the swing of things and I didn't stop working completely . I still ran my membership , did this podcast .

I just didn't do anything new . I didn't do any launches , I didn't really push for anything and it was a it was over two months of that kind of taking the foot off the gas and that did lead to a little bit of decrease in revenue , but that was expected and I was fine with that .

I had prepared for it and I had kind of planned on taking the summer of 2022 , just light , just have a light summer , and then I was going to ramp it back up in the fall .

Now , what I did not anticipate happening in the fall a lot of you who have followed me for a while know about this is my sweet daughter , bria , my oldest , who is a special needs kiddo , who we have a lot of challenges with Bria , just in the way of therapies and she's poor thing .

She's been through surgeries for her cleft , lip and palate and she's just a rock star , but anyway , she had a prolonged seizure that really threw us for a loop . I did a whole episode on that a while back , because this week it's actually interesting . This week I'm releasing this as a year out .

From when that happened we found her in the morning having a what we found out was a seizure . She looked completely fine on the monitor and then , when we wondered why she wasn't waking up , we went in and it was just an absolutely traumatic life changing experience for us and we called the squad .

Luckily they were here in a couple of minutes and zipped us up to children's and they did . They were able to stop the seizure when she got to children's hospital . And then what happened was we were hoping when she woke up all would be fine .

We had no idea how long she was having a seizure throughout the night , but we were hoping she would just wake up and it would be fine . And but it was not . She did wake up very , very slowly and we discovered that the entire left side of her body was essentially paralyzed .

She was extremely weak and , like her left side of her body , her arm , her leg , even her facial muscles were just not popping , like not coming back . Now , as the week progressed , she started getting a little bit better .

She started opening her eyes and coming to and her face kind of started making the usual movements and stuff , but she was still having a lot of weakness in her core and her left side as a whole . So you can imagine how stressful that was . I was mainly at children's hospital with her all day , all night .

My wife was back and forth between our home and then my middle daughter . If you don't know , I now have three kids , which you'll find out , but back then I too , and just our two . Our two daughters and Annie , my middle child , was at home wondering what the hell was going on , because we just disappeared after the squad came and mom's coming back and forth .

I was only home a couple of times within the span of a week and then grandparents were stopping in , neighbors were helping out and stuff and eventually , only four days into my daughter being in the the the NICU there's not the NICU but the children's hospital there my son , jackson , who was only a few weeks out from being due anyway , decided with the stress of

everything especially that my wife was going through . He decided he was ready to come . So while Brea , my daughter , is at children's recovering from this prolonged seizure , jackson comes , and we had also all got COVID at that same week . So we did not know that was was in the cards for us .

But day one of us being at children's we all started showing symptoms and we're wondering if that's potentially something that led to her having that prolonged seizure in the first place . And we had never got COVID this whole time of the pandemic and stuff we had been out and about and we had never got it .

And anyway we had to have Drachston while we were in like the COVID lockdown rooms in another hospital in Columbus . So he's born . I'm bouncing back between children's hospital and and being with my wife and then my daughter at home Absolute lifetime story script .

Just wild week and a half and then eventually eight days in Brie was far enough along where they felt she was comfortable to go home and start to recover , knowing that she was very well taken care of and she had 24 seven support . So we were able to get her out of children's and come home . And then Jackson got home a couple of days .

Luckily the birth went great and everything , and I'm sharing this because this is what led to a very , very tough season for me , by the way . And then my wife had a very , very serious episode with preclampsia and , for those who don't know , it is very , very serious and can happen with certain women at any given time after childbirth .

Typically , it could happen within hours of that , or it could happen with days of that . So she did not feel right . We rushed her to the hospital and they rushed her back and we're like how are you even standing up right now ? Rushed her back , ivs , the whole thing .

And then I was trying to take care of my little man while he was brand new and we didn't have any milk supply built up then . So , and I was really worried about what was going on with her . So we were in the hospital for another couple of days with that . So all that to say . And then , when we got home , we started the recovery path with Bria .

All that to say , a two week period completely rocked me personally and completely rocked my family . Now , looking back on this a year later , this story does have a happy ending in the way of my wife's doing great my little man is awesome . Annie , my sweet little daughter , is doing great . And then Bria , the one who had the prolonged seizure .

It is still a very , very long road to recovery . However , she has been doing amazing . She is getting strength back , week by week , month by month . She is walking again . She's even running when we try not to have her run working on her balance .

She's moving her arm a little more , caring stuff , still working on dexterity with her fingers , but her facial muscles are back . Cognitively she's back . And then we just recently had an MRI and had a good report of signs of healing and stuff .

So we don't know how long recovery is gonna be , but we hope and pray that eventually it'll be a hundred percent recovery . So recovery , so always accept your well wishes , thoughts and prayers for my little sweetie who is continuing to do therapies and to really work through this .

After having that seizure that we don't know how long it could have been , it could have been all night . So I rehashed that story and I share that to say that is what happened after taking a bit of the gas off of my business and , as you can imagine , once we kind of rebounded from that , I was completely zapped .

So I ended 2022 with , I mean , really it was like last year was almost like a part-time job , just with everything that happened to me and my family . Now , fortunately , this will come into play here with these top 10 tips . Fortunately , I did have enough savings in the business and personally to be able to get through that season .

So there's a good lesson to account for as a business owner is make sure you have some savings for when life happens . Hopefully it's not that type of situation , but even if you break your arm or you have a loved one that needs help , life does happen .

But I say that to say like when I planned to get back to work , I was mentally just spent and then , not only when we got home , we were going through that . We were adjusting with life with a newborn . Now we're a family of five , but my daughter , bria , was doing two to three therapies and appointments a week , so it was extremely time intensive .

I was doing every one of those with my wife recovering from everything she went through and having a newborn . So it started the journey to where we are now , which is in a much better place .

But I share that personal story with you and just wanted to open up about that because it really it started from there to be the biggest challenging thing for me , because once 2023 came around , I got excited again about really really diving back into business in a way that I was ready to launch new stuff , ready to look forward , and what happened is 2023 , as

we've talked about on the podcast a couple of times recently , and as I found out from a lot of colleagues , there was a lot of businesses , particularly in the coaching and course world , that did struggle this year , in 2023 , not all of them , but from literally just about everyone I've talked to .

Most course creators saw quite a big dip in their numbers this year . Now what's interesting about that is for web designers . I'm coaching web designers all over and web design itself building websites for clients is the opposite , which is thrilling . I hope you're excited about that . Web designers are killing it Like it's more needed .

The opportunity is better than ever . Even with AI and everything going on right now , the need for web designers is continuing to boom . So it's why I'm so excited still about being a leader in the industry and a coach for you to help you grow your web design business , because there's truly no better time .

But it was kind of interesting because I was coaching and I'm coaching a lot of people who are having their best years ever and are slammed with work . Meanwhile , I'm used to seeing certain number of revenue and numbers come in with courses and everything that's going on , and that was not the case for me .

And then , even when I started really working like putting the gas back , the accelerator back down and really going for it what the results that I was seeing was not like what I was used to seeing for the past few years with building this brand .

Now , fortunately , I still make enough to cover our basics or the basics , but , as I mentioned a few episodes back with Daniel Hayden and when we were talking about well , we got into this a little bit . When it comes to like , like spending expenses and everything else , I did have to be really , really careful about our spending in both business and personally .

We had things we wanted to do as a family to our new home and stuff that we had to put the brakes on and put a hold on some stuff .

So it was like all those things kind of culminated to be a very , very challenging year for me and all the areas I just mentioned , just between a lot of life changes and then a traumatic experience that we went through as a family and then a road to recovery for my daughter which is extremely time intensive , and just the culmination of this year , 2023 ,

particularly , for course , creators . In fact , I'm gonna make sure we link this in the show notes . But my friend Julia Taylor with Geekpack as I'm recording this , just today , the day of recording this , she released a video on her YouTube channel on the Geekpack YouTube channel about how to get through tough times .

So Julia and I are on the same boat , so she's got some tips that I'd recommend that you check out as well . Some are actually reflected from here that I have as well , so we'll have that linked in the show notes . Go to Geekpack , go to their YouTube channel to see that video .

But , all that to say , it has tested me as an entrepreneur and a business owner . So I'm about to get into these 10 tips that I've learned from all this , because I have had some down moments this year and I've had some points where I didn't know means , but I did . I ever think about giving up , but I did have some worries and anxious feelings .

I even lost my appetite for a few days , which is not common , because I like me some bagels and pizza and all the good goods , but I felt so stressed at one point about seeing the numbers in the low months I was having ongoing and thinking about . We got a bigger mortgage . Now I've got more responsibility . This is not what I was anticipating .

We got medical bills coming in good Lord , all these things . Yeah , I really I actually had like the most stressful time I've had in the way of like , if things don't turn around pretty quickly , we're gonna have to make some changes .

And then what would that look like with my family of now five , three kids , like I had some of these feelings and what I did , and I'll just tell you I don't have this on the list here , but what I learned in that situation , when I had those like really down moments and those anxious feelings and even honestly , I like I literally lost my appetite .

I mean I ate , but I was I just like was not my normal self I really really felt that stress and weight of the world .

I felt like you know , when people say like I feel like I got the weight in the world on my shoulders , I never really quite felt or understood that term until this happened , and that happened in June this year , when I had the lowest month in my business since I started it . I was like what in the heck Now ?

I didn't launch or anything or do anything big , and at that time I was still revamping my business course . So all the work I was doing was going into this , the new version of the business course , which came out the next month .

So , again expecting a down month it was summertime but it was such a low month that I was like you know , sometimes you get used to seeing certain revenue numbers and then when you see one that's like well below what you're used to , it really gets your juices flowing . It's like , oh my gosh .

And I think that's what kind of triggered some of the pressure I felt and the anxiety about that . But here's what I learned you really , when you get in that type of situation , there's kind of two paths in my mind you can take .

You can curl up in the corner and just start blaming people , blame the market , blame everything that happened , look up to the sky and shake your fists and wonder why this is happening to me and my family . Or what I tried to stop myself and to do really quickly is just keep going , move forward .

As Don Draper and one of my favorite shows , mad Men , says just move forward , just keep going . So I did not let myself stay low .

That's really the big thing is , yes , I had some , some of those feelings and anxiety and the pressure on my shoulders , literally , um , but what I really caught myself was like forced myself to smile and just think about the positive things that were going on , because there was actually a lot of positive things from this year still which is a point here coming

up . Sorry , this is like the longest foundation intro to do an episode , but I think this is important and I just kept going . I did little things that did end up helping turn the numbers around and I really tried to focus on the good things that were happening in my business . And there were good things there .

Despite having struggles with core sales as a whole and some other stuff , there were still a lot of amazing things happening and I've and you've heard a lot of you've been listening to the podcast . You've heard some of my students who have been getting results . Like I could not . I actually caught myself thinking like am I meant to do this ?

And then I thought , like look at all these students who are getting these results . Of course I'm meant to do this .

I'm just in a season , I'm in a tough season with where I'm personally at , but I really just I learned to move forward and take it day by day and , yes , if I have those feelings and there's realistic expectations with this and I really do need to do a better job at looking at the numbers and preparing and planning and adjusting but I did not let myself

stay down . I did new things , did some live calls this year , did continue with the Q&As and the coaching and pulled success stories and brought on students on the podcast to share what's working . I did the things that kept moving me forward and that is what started with the .

Where we're at now , which is the tail end of the biggest challenge , I really feel like I'm at the light at the end of the tunnel . So , all that to say , I have 10 tips that I've really really learned from this . We'll get through these here pretty quickly .

Oh , and the other thing I meant to mention too is like there were some things that were like my business directly related , but there were some stuff that I was I was not anticipating that we're out of my control , like my YouTube money , my YouTube absence income that was coming in .

I talked about this in the last episode , but I was used to having at least $1,500 a month come in on YouTube , which is a nice little . You know it's not the end of the world , but it's a nice little additional income for me and my business .

That covered most all my team costs right there , and last month , in September 2023 , would you like to know how much came in ? $171 . Last year it was over $1,500 in September . So that's the kind of thing where it's like I don't have any control of what YouTube's doing .

I could do more on YouTube , for sure , but even if I do the same strategy , I don't know what's going on with that . I don't even know if there was a reason I was it's declined that much . But all I have to say , those things really all culminated for me in this really really challenging year , but I kept moving forward .

In the past few months have shown me , if you stick to you know what works and the results that you're getting people and you stick to your mission , you can get through it . It might be painful in some ways and you might need to be really tactile with your spending and expenses and be really strategic with what you're doing , but you can get through it .

So that leads me to these 10 points . Let's go through these here . Number one don't panic and do stupid stuff . And this is based off of kind of moving forward , because one thing that I kind of got trouble in a little bit with is like just trying a bunch of stuff which is , I think , in a way that that can be a solid .

You know , I understand that and I might even advise it in some ways . Like the worst thing you could do is just stay stagnant and not do anything , because then the feelings of anxiety are really going to come . You really could damage your business if you just don't do anything . But you don't want to do stupid stuff .

And when you are in a panic state we all know if you're in a panic state generally , your actions or behaviors are not going to be the best . So what I learned to do is to literally like take a deep breath and like chill out in whatever way you chill out , but look at your actions and your behaviors , especially your behaviors .

And what I thought about over the past couple of months in particular is what would my behaviors look like day to day if I was not in this challenge ? If , like , business was hopping and booming , what would I be doing ?

I'd be delegating more I would be , which you know , when you're cutting back on expenses , that can be tricky , but I still would not be in areas of my business that I know are low level tasks are going to keep me from my high level tasks . What would I be doing ? What would I be focusing on ?

I would be focusing on my best clients , getting them the best results , doing all the things , like we've talked about recently actually in the last episode that help move the needle in your business , and I found myself for the last few months working on things that were not needle mover activities and content .

So quick tip there is to just don't do stupid stuff . Catch like , catch yourself , sleep on it , don't panic . Do the things that you would still do if things were absolutely slam for you and hopping Now .

You may need to adjust some of that , but don't change your behavior and revert back to you from like five or 10 years ago when you were just starting , just because the numbers are down , because that will likely put gas on the fire and make things worse .

If you're only focused on low level things that are not revenue boosting activities and they could potentially like you could be spending two or three times the amount of time that you're used to spending on stuff but you're actually doing like the least amount of activities that are actually going to work for you . So don't panic , don't do stupid stuff .

Keep moving forward , but don't do the stupid stuff . Number two this kind of goes into that and when it comes to well now it's like well , thanks , josh , but like okay , don't do stupid stuff . What's the stuff I do ? I'll tell you what you do . Number two Whatever is working . Double down on that .

And I needed to hear this from my good buddy , jason Grasya , who I'm in a mastermind group with . He's coming back on the podcast here in a couple months . I'm really excited to introduce him to you .

If you haven't heard from Jason , who's been on the show in the past , but he really more recently , kind of helped me with this idea because every month we do , we get together and he we kind of go through the business and he's much more established as an entrepreneur than I am , so he's kind of used to seeing these patterns .

And he was looking at all these ideas and I had all these like kind of stupid idea , not stupid ideas . But I was like should I change my business model ? Should I have my courses be cheaper . Should I do just like super low monthly payment plans ? I start a free Facebook group so I do everything .

I did a while back and he asked me is like what's what is working in your business ? And it was such a great question and for me what was working really well was Web designer pro , my community , my membership . Now earlier this year , my , my recurring revenue and my membership through web designer pro was a big part of my business , but not the biggest part .

Courses were Still the biggest part , but because the downturn and one-off course sales that I've experienced Very quickly , web designer pro became the main thing for me and he was like what's working ? I was like well , actually , that is . I was like that's the one area my business that like it's awesome members are getting great results .

I love showing up every day in there . I love coaching the people when there are second to none . It's the pest little corner , the internet . That is what's working well . And he was like double down on that .

And it was a great reminder for me that To avoid doing the stupid stuff , whatever is working in your business , double down on that , because that's what's working . You don't need to waste a bunch of time doing a bunch of things that may or may not work .

They might work but you know , in my case , if I were to do a bunch of like free little lead generators , that may take way longer than just doubling down on on web designer pro my community that is working so well and just getting better results for for folks in the community , along with everything I'm doing publicly as well .

But I've really worked at doubling down on that and most practically what I've done more recently is decided to cap Web designer pro and I might be like that doesn't seem like it's it would work . It would work or double down on that .

But I had a membership goal of 200 members for 2023 and what I came to realize is that with the amount of coaching that I do in pro Because every member gets to DM coach me and we do loom videos back and forth and doesn't mean that 200 people are emailing me every day or DMing me but it is time-intensive for me I've realized that the most people I can

serve with this setup is 250 people really well , and I decided that we're gonna make that the cap because I know that's what I have bandwidth for . My goal was still 200 this year , but I might , might stretch . Goal is 250 because that is what I'll be able to serve well , without Risk of that community becoming too big for for what we have .

And then , once we get to 250 , then we're moving to a wait list and then we'll reevaluate and we'll look at what it would look like if we were to have a lower tier for People starting and a higher tier for those who want more intensive coaching with me .

But for right now we're double down double don't doubling down , excuse me on what's working , which is web designer pro . So for you , if you get into a tough season , ask yourself what is the one service that's working for you really well , that's my challenge to you . Whatever is working , double down on that .

Because as soon as I started doing that , I've seen a big boost . We've actually , since recording this , we've had like the biggest influx of membership in the past two weeks , just by announcing the cap and just by just putting the gas on Web designer pro and making that the thing I'm talking about and doing everything towards that .

So already that Single act of doubling down on what is working , that has changed things around for me and I know it will for you to win . And if you get into a tough season , there is something in your business that will still be working . Double down on that , particularly if it's a profitable thing or the most profitable thing .

You don't want to worry about a bunch of stuff . It's not very profitable . And then you have , like these $5,000 web design packages that you're just sitting on . So double down on that . Now number three some of these are a little faster . Just as just a quick note . I actually Julia Taylor from geek pack , who shares this in her video .

It reminded me I wanted to relay this to you because she's she opened up about a tough year for her business as well , and she said this , and it's a reminder for me and for you that nothing is permanent , that this is temporary . This too , shall pass .

As the old saying goes , nothing is permanent , and this is a great reminder for me that as I think about myself and being a business owner eventually , like an Established entrepreneur who looks back and I think about the seasons of my business , I think I'll look back at this past year and Realize how much farther I've grown and learned and just become a more ,

just , a better business owner , a better entrepreneur , somebody who is stronger and knows how to anticipate these things and is a little more Detailed with the numbers and all the downfalls that I have as I become a better business owner .

I think I'm really gonna look back at this year and look at it as like the biggest growth period I've ever had as a business owner . You know , we all know , when things are going really good you never grow .

In those , those seasons , it's the hard times that you get through that really make you who you are and really build the Entrepreneurial muscle inside of you . So nothing is permanent and this is a great reminder for me , for you who are in a tough season Maybe , or who might go through a tough season .

Just remember it's not permanent and if you do everything that we've talked about so far and what we're gonna continue to go through here , I know you'll be able to very quickly see the light at the end of the tunnel as you get the momentum going , which momentum is a big one now I already kind of talked about this number four , but it is to have not a

disaster plan but at least some preparation for these tough seasons . Now , as I mentioned , there was for me there was kind of three things that caused the biggest challenge here for me , and that was life just changing a little bit and planning on a revenue drop , because I kind of took it easy last summer .

Everything that we went through as a family with my daughter and everything else , and then you know the 2023 thing with courses as a whole . Those were like the holy trinity of challenge for me this year . But I did at least have some savings in my business and us personally to be able to weather a three to six month period .

So for you , make sure you get to work on that today . Don't be frivolous with your spending , because I did get slightly fruit . I wasn't like spending like crazy , but I got like a new desk and some add-ons and some stuff from my office that I could have done without . It would have been fine . I got some .

I don't shop for myself very much , but I've got some clothes . Last year I got a little comfortable in the good times and I Again , we didn't overspend like crazy . My yacht wasn't that expensive , but I did buy some stuff . I was like I didn't need to do that . So now , as I think about being more mature as a business owner , I am .

Even the next season , when I know things are going to be booming , I will be much more Reserved in spending and being much and I actually like way overspent on some team costs this year , knowing it really wasn't paying off , I just kind of went for it and I just wasn't as careful with with the spending .

And as I get to another place in business in the next season , when I know things are going to be completely different , I will be a much more Mature business owner . I'll put it that way . So make sure if you don't have three to six months of savings personally and for your business , ideally to that's the goal you want to get there .

Three months is ideal and it doesn't mean that you're never gonna make money at all for those three to six months . It just means that you have a cushion for , like , if you're just covering the bare bones , you can still get by . That's , that's the biggie .

So yes , make sure ideally that to get that going , and if you don't have any savings for both of those , let's start on that today . Just be careful with your spending and raise your rates . I Now number five is kind of what I alluded to there , which is to not get too comfortable in those good times .

Like I mentioned , I didn't overspend drastically or anything , but what happened is I did get a little comfortable . I just kind of expected that the numbers would stay the same just because they had the past couple of years leading up to that .

But I had a chat with one of my friends who's going back on the podcast soon and he's an established entrepreneur as well , doug . He owns a video company called Magnify , which is the tool I use for video testimonials . He's going to come back on the show soon too , but we had just a casual chat about this and we talked about that .

I told him I feel like I got a little comfortable , like things were going so well on such a trajectory for quite a few years , that I did find myself just a little too comfortable . And he's like I've been there as well . It happens it's a dangerous place to be in , so heads up when your things are going really well , don't get too comfortable .

Now I want you to enjoy the fruits of your labor and I want you to go on vacations and I want you to take it easy when you're feeling too stretched . But being comfortable is very , very dangerous , and this is for all athletes . It's the same thing for anyone doing something worthwhile . Comfort is death . Isn't that the old like ? I think that's a .

I think that's on the bluejackets my hockey team , I think that's in their , their team , or their changing room , the locker room . Comfort is death , so don't get too comfortable in good times . It kind of leads me to number six here , which is when it comes to being comfortable and expecting things to be the same .

You need to expect fluctuations and changes in the market , and this was not something I was anticipating this year , in 2023 . Now , like I mentioned , I'm not going to blame the market or anything , but I certainly wasn't expecting the changes in online core sales in particular .

Now , I do try to keep a pulse , which that's actually number seven , which is to keep a close pulse on the industry . I did learn like I try to keep an eye on what's going on . For web designers , it's really , really important to keep an eye on what's going on , which is why I do what I do .

I view that as my main job , but also not to expect things to say the same . Now , it's easy for web designers we're used to things changing frequently , but we're not always used to things changing in the market as a whole or in , like certain certain industries Now this is probably most notable , like when everything with the pandemic happened .

There were entire industries that were completely frozen or people were leaving their jobs or losing their jobs or couldn't work . So I'm not really talking about those type of fluctuations , but I'm just talking about subtle fluctuations to kind of expect changes , and it's kind of a vague point .

But one thing I've learned that I'm going to do moving forward is I am not going to expect everything to stay the same and that , honestly , one of the big things for me was my YouTube channel . I just kind of expected , okay , I got at least 1500 bucks a month coming in on YouTube . My plan was to double that and I was like that'd be sweet .

I'd love to bring in a few K a month for my YouTube and I didn't really do too much to change that over the past couple of years . But I just kind of expected that I would get a roughly that amount in YouTube adsense every month . As you found out , not the case . I was not expecting a nearly what was that ?

Like a 90% drop over 90% for me was not expecting that . But moving forward . I am not going to expect things to stay the same no matter what the case is , so I am going to expect fluctuations and changes in the market and adjust to those accordingly . Which leads me to number seven , like I just mentioned , which is to keep a close pulse on the industry .

The reason I do what I do , one of my main jobs , is to help you see what is going on right now . I really what I do with this podcast . One of the biggest goals of my podcast is to show you what's working . I do that through expert interviews , what I'm learning , what I'm seeing with my students .

As you know , I love bringing members of Web Designer Pro who are killing it on and we open up about the strategies that they're employing that are working right now , and I have a lot of colleagues who are really have a good pulse on the industry .

A podcast that I listen to is Creator Science , which is hosted by my friend , jay Klaus , who's also a Columbus Ohio , and I've known him for a few years now and I've really seen him take the reins and be a leader in the space , in the creator space on what's working with social media , with marketing , with memberships , with courses , with newsletters , with email

, all these things that I'm actually doing most day to day . I keep a cosine in his podcast and what he's putting out , because he's a trusted person that is learning every day and is relaying that information . So think of me as the Jay Klaus of Web Design . I'll make sure to relay that to him . He'll like that .

I am keeping a very , very close eye on everything that's going on with Web Design and I'm trying to relay to that to you as close as possible , with the focus being on the business side , because that's my true mission and my true interest is the business side of Web Design and for all those areas that I'm not an expert in , like speed or optimization or

accessibility , even some stuff that I just don't have , I'd say my interest in , but I just like I don't know how far I want to go along with that I have guest experts in Web Designer Pro to do trainings and additional resources on that stuff to fill the gaps . So learn from those who are keeping a pulse on the industry .

That is , by the way , why I'm here for you and that's why what are the reasons why you probably listened to this show ? All right , the last few here . Take care of your current clients . This is number eight . It is when we talked about stupid stuff in the beginning .

One of the easiest things to do when you're in panic mode and I see this with a lot of students who have a dry pipeline of no new leads or clients is they just want to do everything new . They're like oh my gosh , should I start an Instagram and do real ? Should I do this ? I do that , and you just want to do everything .

But my first bit of coaching advice is always well , how many clients do you have right now ? And if they're like 15 clients like , all right , those are 15 clients who have already paid you , who know , like and trust you and guess what ? They will buy from you again and again and again and again .

You just need to offer them something and hopefully you're doing hosting and maintenance plans those of you who are in my maintenance plan course , which is also in Web Designer Pro . You're doing this so good on you . Get that recurring income going and circle back around with them . Offer new things to them up .

Sales value add strategy is one of the big things you can offer now your current clients . Friends , in times of tough seasons and business and challenges . Do not neglect your core good clients in your current clients , because they are the ones who will help you . And practical example is what I do with Web Designer Pro . I'm like you know what .

I'm not going to do anything new . I'm not going to like just like open up a whole new wing of my business or make a new product .

I am going to take care of my members of Web Designer Pro and make this even better , and that's what I've been working on personally over the last few months After I got my new business course launched is having that inside a pro and really , really boosting the value of pro for all the members .

And our churn rate has gone way down since that churn is , by the way , when you have a subscription , people leaving , which is going to happen in the membership . I don't take that personally . I know people . There's a time and place to be in the membership in the community .

But as a big thing I learned is to take care of your core clients , your current clients , and resist the urge to just try to do new stuff and try new things Unless it's something that has a high guarantee of working out . It's not that I say to do the same stuff .

But just reevaluate your attention to the really good people in your sphere already and just double down on what's working . It's already working . They're already paying for you , so they'll pay you more . So that's a biggie .

That was number eight , number nine , a couple of last quickies here this is kind of an overall thought and this is something I've learned is that the mission doesn't change , but the tactics might . And I learned this with my courses because , yes , it's a bummer to see a drop in course sales .

For me , those were the core of my business up until Web Designer Pro really became its own thing . But what I realized is I'm actually so glad that I have the courses now included in Pro , because that has changed tactically how I sell things in my business .

Now my courses , as you know , are still available for those who just want on-demand access and access to the curriculum , but if you want coaching and community , that's why I have Web Designer Pro , because it is the whole thing and it's the trifecta of everything that's gonna help you the most .

So what I've realized I say that to say I have a goal of helping web designers build their dream web design business . That's my mission . Now , how do I do that ?

Those are the tactics , those are inside of Now Web Designer Pro with all of it , or helping people one off with the courses as needed as they are able to through other methods , like the podcast , like my YouTube channel . The tactics are gonna change and there's some seasons where you'll do more of certain things , but the mission doesn't change .

So what I did not wanna do was change my mission . I did not let myself change my mission this year because I had certain there was I mean , people were giving me advice left and right , which is also what I don't have written down . But beware of too much advice .

By the way , sometimes you can get a lot of good advice but then now you got like a hundred different strategies and you don't know what to do . You're paralyzed , even worse . But I did have a lot of people mentioned like , well , you could do this , you could do this . I'm like , oh yeah , I could .

But that's gonna take me away from what I'm loving right now and why I'm so glad I decided to double down on what I'm loving and what is working . So same to you . Don't change your mission just because the current battle is a tough one , as you will . So that's a big .

And then finally , number 10 , do not overlook the amazing things that are happening in your business . One more time do not overlook the amazing things that are happening in your business because , even going through a tough time , you still have amazing things happening .

You're getting client results , people are loving working with you and , as we all know , one negative outweighs 10 positive . So you could have a new shirt on and nine people say you look good in that shirt , that looks awesome . And then one person's like I don't love the shirt , I don't love it . Now , suddenly , your day is ruined .

And same thing in business , and I literally learned this this year . I've got students who are crushing it . They're making their most income they ever have with their web design businesses . But because I'm personally going through a hard season and I saw a drop in the revenue , it was so easy to focus on that and I had to catch myself and say you know what ?

This is seasonal . I'm gonna be smart about this . I'm not gonna freak out , not gonna panic . Gonna stop doing some stupid stuff I'm doing not gonna change my behaviors as a business owner .

Look , focus at the good things that are coming out of what my work is doing and I really had to learn to not let one little negative outweigh the 10 positives , which are the results I'm getting for my students and my web members and web designer pros .

So for me , that was the most important lesson was to not overlook the amazing things that are happening in your business , because you may go through a tough season soon , or might be going through it now , and you feel like I should get a job . What am I doing ? Do I need to close up shop ?

Meanwhile , you've got clients who are loving working with you , who would totally refer you out if you asked them to and would buy more from you if you offered it , and they're getting a great results and I don't want you to overlook that because it's so easy to do . So there we go . Those are the 10 .

Again , over half of the episode was dedicated to setting the foundation of my personal challenging year . But yeah , that's some of the takeaways that I learned . Number one don't panic , do stupid stuff . Number two whatever's working , double down on that . Number three remember nothing is permanent . Number four ideally prepare your business for these tough seasons .

Three to six months , if you can . Five do not get too comfortable when those good times come . Number six expect fluctuations and changes in the market . Number seven make sure to continue to learn from those people who are keeping a close eye on the industry to help you . That's why I'm here for you .

Number eight take care of those core clients , especially in times of tough seasons . Don't just keep on chasing new ones . Number nine mission keep your mission eye on the prize . Mission never changes , but the things you're doing might change a little bit . Number 10 , don't overlook those amazing things Like what a shame , what a shame .

Don't let that tough season and business rule you and beat you . I don't want that to overshadow the amazing things that you're doing , because you could go through a few months or even a year of a tough season and completely lose track of all the amazing stuff that your hard work has done for people . So there we go , friends .

I hope this helped those of you in a tough season right now . This list is here for you . Bookmark this episode . Go to joshallco.290 . That's the episode link for this one . Show notes and the link I mentioned with Julia Taylor's video . Hers is a lot shorter . Hers is only five minutes .

Not a shocker that mine's 50 , which is why I didn't make this a five minute video , but I love the podcast .

This is one thing too Like I'm gonna be doing a lot more on my YouTube and I have a bunch of stuff in the works right now on it , but I still I really enjoyed chatting with you in this way and getting in depth on this stuff and I hope you find it valuable . I really do . I'd love to hear your thoughts from this episode in particular .

Drop me a note at joshallco.290 . Leave me a comment . I read all the podcast comments . I would love to know if there was one of these tips that really helped you out , especially those of you going through a tough time . I will get back to you on there . You can tag me on the socials .

I'm active on Facebook and Instagram currently at JoshHallCo , my YouTube channel really really active there , boosting that backup . Where else ? Just go to joshallco and hit me up there . I would love to hear from you and hear again what tip of any of these were helpful for you . So if you are going through a tough season , my friends , move forward .

Have this list at your disposal For those of you who are going to head into a season eventually . Come back to this episode . I sincerely hope it helps . Cheers my friends to this is my personal ending thought on this . I am done feeling like I'm in a challenge , like a tough spot . I'm done with it . Things are going really well with Pro the cat .

We're at 143 members right now . The cap is gonna be 250 , so we've had over a dozen just in the past couple of weeks joined . That train is moving , my friends . So come join us . Join us in Web Designer Pro . You will get a DM coaching line with me .

I will literally look at your business , your services , your pricing and give you advice on what you can do to boost up your revenue . I guarantee , even if you try it out , one month of Web Designer Pro will be worth tens of thousands of dollars for your business . Guaranteed . I guarantee it because it happens for so many people .

There's no coincidence that so many people on Web Designer Pro are slammed right now , which is actually why I'm working on my next course about scaling , which I'm super excited about too , and I hope you are as well . So all that to say , come join us .

I would love to look at your business , welcome you into the community and help you have awesome years , just like so many of my students have had , because you're a Web Designer and the need is greater than ever . So there we go , friends . I hope you enjoyed this .

This is gonna be the last time I'm talking about the challenges of this year , because things have already turned around and I'm freaking pumped for the end of this year and 2024, . I really am so bright times ahead , friends . All right guys , thank you so much for joining . I'll see you on the next episode .

We've got some really , really great interviews lined up and I'll see you in pros soon . Go to joshallco , join us and I will send you a personal welcome video when you join and we'll get going . Bye , friends , talk to you and cheers .