August 19, 2024 • 34 mins
How can embracing adaptability transform your business in times of crisis? Join me, Jonathan Wagoner, as we explore the critical role of flexibility in business success. I'll share how pivoting from a carpet cleaning venture to a restoration business spurred growth. Through my personal stories and insights, we'll uncover the power of a flexible business plan and proactive strategies to navigate unexpected hurdles, turning potential setbacks into opportunities for advancement.
Reflecting on my journey through the 2008 economic downturn and the recent pandemic, I'll delve into strategic decisions that helped my business thrive, such as reducing unnecessary expenses, making smart investments, and transitioning to a family-run model. We'll also address ongoing challenges within the California insurance market and how we've adapted to meet evolving client needs. To wrap up, I invite you to engage with the show by sharing your experiences and feedback, as we aim to support and guide each other through the ever-changing landscape of business. Thank you for tuning in and being part of the Business Guide community!
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
Hey everyone, what's going on?
It's Jonathan Wagner and I wantto welcome you back to another
episode of the Business Guide.
Today we are tackling a veryimportant topic that every
business owner needs to have intheir arsenal of tools running
their business, and that is howto adapt to change.
(00:21):
It is so crucial as businessowners that we consistently
pivot our businesses when neededto thrive and succeed.
So today's episode we're goingto go over so many different
things about changing pivoting,why it's important personal
experiences that I have dealtwith and why you definitely need
(00:42):
it in your business plan.
So let's jump into it.
For those of you returning,thank you so much for being here
.
I really appreciate yousupporting the podcast.
Seeing the listeners, seeingthe comments, it is motivating
me to put more content out.
So I definitely appreciate it.
(01:02):
And if it is your first timehere again, as mentioned, my
name is Jonathan.
I'm a small business owner inthe beautiful state of
California.
Although the tricky state ofCalifornia I've been in business
a little over 12 years havedifferent businesses, I would
not change being an entrepreneurfor the life of me.
I love what I do, I'm excited,I look forward to going to work
(01:26):
in the morning, so I hope thatthis podcast helps you succeed
and helps you feel the same wayI feel about being in business.
So thank you for being here.
So today's episode we'redefinitely diving into why
adaptability is key to thelong-term success of your
business and when to identifythe exact time you need to pivot
(01:50):
and tips for staying flexibleduring uncertain times.
Now, I say that because COVIDis still so fresh of the big
pivots that us business ownershad to do.
So being able to stay flexiblein those times was definitely
(02:12):
hard.
But this next part I havewritten down after this is and
how to turn those challengesinto opportunities for growth.
And when I share my story withyou, I'm going to share how
taking a step back actually mademe be more profitable and
really expand my business.
(02:32):
So just because you have topivot in a different direction
does not mean you are not goingto be successful, matter of fact
.
You might like it.
So let's jump into today'sepisode.
So let's jump into today'sepisode.
So first up is the importance ofadaptability in business.
Now, when I was relatively new,starting out my business I've
(02:56):
opened up before that I haddifferent mentors, I talked to
so many different people aboutdifferent things about different
things and I started mybusiness in 2012.
2008, and being an employee in2008 of small businesses, I
(03:17):
could really see the destructionthat the recession did on small
businesses and while I wasn'tin the business seat at that
point, starting my business, Iwas very fearful to go through a
recession and, as I took mybusiness and took it from carpet
cleaning into a restorationbusiness, really thinking that I
(03:42):
was a part of a recession-proofindustry really opened my eyes
when COVID hit.
And now a struggle that we arecurrently going through right
now, which I'm helping mymanagement team get through, is
the ever-changing insurancemarket in the state of
California.
So the importance of adaptingyour business to a changing
(04:17):
market or changing trends is soimportant for you to ingrain in
your mind from day one, as I did, because it always keeps you on
your toes.
Now I've talked about theimportance of a business plan.
I am consistently on mybusiness plan.
I'm always looking at mybusiness plan, but once a year I
go in and I really go throughmy business plan and I mark my
(04:39):
next goals for the next year.
I dive in.
If it's, I'm gonna buy moreequipment, hire more employees,
hire more employees, buy morevehicles, whatever it may be.
That plan is definitely there.
But a big part of my businessplan, and that I encourage you
to have, is a what if your phonestops ringing?
What if your customers stopcoming into your store?
(05:03):
What are you going to do andhow are you going to adapt?
So a big part of my businessplan is actually a fallback on
protecting my business if mybusiness customers stop coming
in.
Now you might think it's morbid.
(05:23):
I had a gentleman I spoke with acouple years ago that I had
shared that I have a backup planfor essentially my business
going under, if you will, andprotecting my business, always
(05:49):
planning for a doomsday, andabout a year later he had had
some issues and experiencedhaving to adapt his market and
actually then sat down with meand talked to me about a year
later and said now that issomething that he does every
single year is go in and thinkabout a what-if scenario.
So don't knock it.
If you have been there, if youare a business owner that has
(06:11):
survived the shutdowns of COVID,I'm glad you're here, I'm glad
your business is still thriving.
There are so many businessesthat closed up and were unable
to adapt to such a catastrophic.
Just economy, just the economyjust coming in and everything
was against you.
Everything was against you.
(06:32):
So, yeah, being able to know theimportance of why you need to
be able to pivot is super crazyimportant, I can't stress it.
Be able to pivot is super crazyimportant, I can't stress it.
A mentor that I had years agohe didn't prepare his business
(06:53):
and unfortunately lost it duringthe 2008 downturn.
I had a pretty thrivingbusiness, did not plan for his
phone to essentially stopringing and you know we're
entrepreneurs we bounced backand he did bounce back.
But the lessons I have takenaway from him is you really
(07:16):
really need to understand howimportant being able to pivot
and change in your market is socrucial.
So moving on is recognizingwhen it is time to pivot.
Now, 2020, I'd probably saidpivot 2000 times.
(07:36):
It was consistently evolving,consistently changing.
It was a market pivot afterpivot.
I mean we had a pretty bigfacility.
Our phones stopped ringing.
I mean our sales wereessentially sliced in half.
We were planning on renewingour facility.
(07:59):
We were actually up that year.
We were going to renew foranother five years.
We opted to not renew kind ofpivot, if you will into a new
facility that was much smallerbut a much more manageable kind
of nut, if you will, as far asthe rental price.
(08:20):
When you're building yourbusiness and you've got all of
these wins right, you've setyour goals, you're growing,
you're growing, you're hiringnew people, maybe you're buying
some new equipment, you'rereally on your up and up in
business, if you will, and thenyou have a downturn come and it
knock you back.
(08:40):
You can feel like you failed.
You can feel like maybe youdidn't do something right, and I
know that I definitely feltthat.
But throughout everything thathappened, I am so thankful that
it did, because little did Iknow I was going to make myself
way more profitable and myworkload was getting evenly
(09:04):
distributed throughout the year.
My team, my team that stuckaround then, allowing me to
completely split off from thatside of the business and allow
me to explore other businessopportunities.
So I'm so thankful that we hada downturn.
But being able to recognize, youknow, if things are going wrong
(09:27):
.
You're starting to see yourphones aren't ringing and you
can't just figure out what it is.
I mean, if you're a businessthat solely relies on, maybe,
online advertising and now youcan see maybe online isn't
working for you, being able topivot into maybe more of a
referral-based business wherecustomers are referring you,
different vendors in your fieldare referring you.
(09:50):
Being able to pivot yourbusiness there If you,
unfortunately, are maybe goingthrough some cash flow issues.
Being able to pivot on what'simportant, what's not important,
how you're going to grow, howyou're going to essentially just
get through the time.
So really recognizing when yourtime to pivot you always need
(10:11):
to.
How do I put this?
You always want to make surethat one you're not just
doomsday every single daythinking about it, but it needs
to be front and center of okay,hey, this isn't working out,
this online advertising isn'tworking out, or this particular
referral stream is no longerworking out.
How do I diversify?
(10:31):
But then also recognizing hey,there's actually a bigger issue
here and this is completelychanging.
My market is completelychanging and we need to do
something and get into adifferent service.
So I'm going to give you anexample.
When I started my business I'vespoken about this in the past is
I started the business as acarpet cleaning business and
never in a million years would Ihave ever thought I would have
(10:52):
gotten out of carpet cleaning.
Now I knew that I wanted to addrestoration onto my business
services, but that was going tokind of be a cherry on the top
for the business.
What I mean by that is, myprimary source of income was
going to be carpet cleaning, andif we got a restoration job it
was just going to add a littleextra money to the business,
where maybe we would buy moreequipment or get a bigger
(11:14):
facility whatever it is, maybeput a little bit more money into
my pocket.
But little did I know.
As I started to grow mybusiness, I wanted to really put
a team in place and I wanted toput a skilled team in place
with legitimate players.
I didn't want to have to belooking for new employees, and
so what comes with that iscompetitive wages, and as a
(11:37):
carpet cleaner starting up, Icould not offer competitive
wages, and even when I wassuccessful, I could not have
competitive wages to keep solidpeople around.
For a long time it was reallyseeming for me that my employees
, if you will, were just goingto be high not high school, but
(11:59):
right out of high school,college kids and maybe get them
for a couple years, and thenthey would be on their way and I
would have to retrain, gothrough that process but
nonetheless always having arotating door.
And for me it was importantvery early on to recognize I
didn't wanna be in thatsituation.
I really wanted to be able toset up a management team and
(12:20):
have a business that ran itself,instead of it 100% relying on
me.
So I really thought long andhard.
I pushed it as a priority tostart my restoration service
side of the business and once Idid that, I pulled out of carpet
(12:41):
cleaning.
I recognized that I had a verysuccessful business model on
what I was doing in therestoration world and no longer
needed to be kind of distractedwith the other part of it, which
was carpet cleaning.
Now, carpet cleaning is a veryprofitable side of the business
but for me it added noise for mygrowing business.
So I found it important for meto adapt and move to restoration
(13:07):
Again.
It was a part of my businessmodel and what I had been
planning.
But, like I said, never in amillion years starting the
business would I have thoughtthat I was no longer going to
offer that service andcompletely be in a different
field.
So leave yourself thatopportunity or that option as
(13:27):
you get into business to notjust be in one particular
service.
What I mean by that is, say,you're a bakery and you really
specialize in cookies.
Don't put all of youradvertising out as Joe Schmoe's
cookie shop.
Leave the door open.
Leave a broad name.
(13:48):
Talk to people.
Talk to your customers.
See what they want.
I know somebody that does cakepops.
A cake pop business is theirsole business.
There's no room for them to getinto wedding cakes.
There's no room for them to getinto baked goods.
It is solely focused on cakepops.
(14:08):
So that particular person islocking themselves out.
Now, if they decide to grow andscale their business, they know
that they're going to have toadd on different services and
the branding that they're doingnow and have done for years is
around this one particular itemthat they sell.
So they need to be able toadapt to their business and move
(14:31):
on.
But recognizing that for you asbusiness owners is important.
You want to do it before it'stoo late.
Maybe there's no market forcake pops anymore, maybe there's
no market for cookies anymore.
You really need to leave thatoption for you and your business
Because, right at the end ofthe day, we're business owners,
we're entrepreneurs, we want tomake money, we want to provide
(14:53):
for our families.
We want to be successful andmaybe adding on a different
service.
This is something we can do asentrepreneurs.
So recognize when it is time topivot for you and your business
.
This next section is tips forstaying flexible.
(15:13):
But gosh, I will tell you,flexibility is so hard when
you're actually dealing with it.
So I think you know, for me inmy carpet cleaning kind of era,
if you will, pivoting intorestoration was a strategy move.
It was not something that Ineeded to really be flexible on.
There were obviously issuesdealing with bringing on newer
(15:37):
employees, having to train them,cross-training other employees,
then slowly pulling out of that.
So that was its own kind offlexibility.
But this flexibility one reallystands out to me, which was
during COVID COVID.
Covid beat my business up hardand I didn't expect it.
(15:58):
You know right, we deal withinsurance-related claims.
People are always going to havethat.
Well, I didn't expect thateverybody was going to be at
home catching these things.
I didn't expect that insurancecompanies were going to be hard
to get a hold of because noweverything was remote.
I didn't expect that my saleswould dramatically decrease or
half of my workforce was notgoing to show up for work.
(16:18):
So this was very hard to do inthe time and it's very easy to
talk about it now.
But us business owners, we areconsistently the cheerleaders,
we're consistently themotivators of our business and
we have to stay positive.
But dealing with these times,it is hard to stay positive Now.
(16:39):
Fortunately for me I'vementioned in the past is in my
business plan I have a bigsection of what to do if things
go wrong.
So being able to follow thatplan and execute that was not
pretty but it made my businesssurvive, absolutely survive.
(17:04):
And it's interesting whenyou're growing, you're
succeeding, you're winning inbusiness, and then you've got
this big hurdle that gets in theway and you having to take a
couple steps back.
It definitely hurts, maybe theego, maybe the pride I'd
(17:26):
probably say the pride a littlebit more than ego on my side.
I don't think that's a goodword, but it definitely takes
your pride back and, as youmaybe have employees that have
been there on, hey, I'm growing,this is the company, we're
successful, this is what we'redoing, and then being able to
take a couple steps back andsaying, hey, this is actually
what we're doing and we're justgoing to survive right now and
(17:47):
it is hard.
So staying flexible isabsolutely easier said than done
.
I think being able to have thatplan in place is the largest
tip I can give you.
Right, if you're going in andmaybe you've got a business that
(18:08):
you make slime and sales arebooming because maybe it went
viral on TikTok and now you'vehad to secure that bigger
facility, the more expensiveequipment, being able to jot
down a plan of how do I get outof this bigger facility, how do
I adapt my business to where Ican still handle my workload and
(18:28):
not close down operations,maybe how do I get rid of the
equipment if I no longer need itor there is no longer a demand.
These are important things tohave in your plan of being able
to walk back and saying, hey,things are not working out and I
need to succeed.
And then, moving on, it'sturning challenges into
(18:50):
opportunities.
Now I think that when you'regoing through these downturns
right there's it is very hard,it is absolutely hard.
I think when I got into business, like a recession was super
fresh on my mind.
Right Again, I was an employeethat had saw it decimate small
(19:13):
businesses and now I was in thesmall business world and I was
deathly afraid of a recessionNow, having been through an
economic downturn like thepandemic, having been through so
many different hurdlesthroughout business, if we had a
recession, am I super scaredlike I was before?
No, absolutely not.
I know how to handle it.
I know exactly what I would doand I know how I would be
(19:34):
profitable and continue mybusiness operations.
So it's important to rememberif you're going through a
challenge, it can be anopportunity later, and that is
exactly what happened to me withthe pandemic and, like most
businesses, we were able tofigure out what we needed to do
to survive and thrive.
We needed to do to survive andthrive.
(19:59):
Now, the 2008, I'm going to backup to the 2008 recession and
decimated businesses, right, so,getting into business, I had
met with somebody that was verysuccessful in real estate.
They had owned a ton of realestate.
They had a property managementcompany.
I remember having a sandwichwith this lady for lunch one day
and she had given me a story ofa local company and how they
(20:22):
were able to survive and turn achallenging time into a massive
opportunity, and this reallystuck with me.
It is stuck with me, definitelyduring COVID.
It stuck with me my entirebusiness career and I hope it
sticks with you.
But in our city or our county wehad a pretty prominent fence
company.
That fence company had a lot ofeggs in one basket with general
(20:44):
contractors and new home buildsand unfortunately, in 2008,
their business took a massivedecline.
General contractors weren'tcalling them anymore, new homes
weren't being built and theirsales were absolutely hurting.
Now they necessarily weren'tlooking for new clients.
I mean, every business isalways looking for new clients
(21:06):
but their business approach washow can we take the clients that
we still have and the clientsthat are still using us and
offer more services to them tomake us more profitable and get
us through this challenging time?
So they decided to offer porterpotties.
They looked at their businessmodel and they said, hey look,
we noticed that there are aporter pottie company that we
(21:27):
are always recommending and mostof our clients use them and we
should bring that in-house andadd that onto our business as it
goes hand-in-hand.
Now, fast forward, years later,they are the largest porter
party Porter.
This is such a tongue twister.
They are the largest porterpotty rental company in our
(21:52):
county, with now their fenceservice being second rental
company in our county, with nowtheir fence service being second
.
So they were able to get out ofthat downturn and be successful
, right Adding something ontotheir business that they knew
their clients needed and thenturning it into an opportunity
to grow their business later.
So that story really stuck withme.
(22:12):
Now, during the pandemic for us,I did not expect our clients to
not call.
I did not expect certain thingsto happen, and they did.
Some people had banger years.
We didn't.
We were definitely affected.
We're in California.
Regulations were extremely hard.
It was a very tough time, butbeing able to turn that tough
(22:35):
time into opportunity was hugeand I did not know that at the
time.
So we were able to go in andcompletely revamp our business
model.
We were going for more of acorporate feel.
We went more for a family-runfeel.
That really resonated with ourcommunity.
It really resonated with ourfuture clients and we absolutely
(22:56):
have kept that model to thisday, being a family-run business
.
We've been able to go throughand we were able to just
completely trim the fat.
We got rid of employees thatdidn't show up.
We got rid of employees that weno longer needed just because
of the.
You know, when we were growingwe needed just bodies.
(23:17):
We got rid of all of thosebodies.
We kept all of the skilledpeople, went through the
vehicles.
We realized what our biggestassets were and we downsized our
facility.
So we cut our expensestremendously.
And then we invested in thebusiness.
We got pieces of equipment thatwe needed that we had always
(23:41):
rented.
We bought those after thingswere good.
We bought those cash.
We really focused on completelypaying down our debts, which we
did, and then, moving forwardin 2021, we were almost
completely debt-free.
We had skilled employees thatwe were investing in and the
(24:03):
overall operation was moreprofitable.
So when we have now bouncedback to regular business and
it's all back to normal, ourrevenue is, I'm going to say the
same, if not higher, but ourprofitability is through the
(24:24):
roof, almost double of what itwas before, because we were able
to completely get rid of all ofthe waste and really trim up
shop and make it work for us.
And then that opportunity thatit led for me I was able to move
out of state.
Now, fun fact, I came back.
It was actually a littlechallenging for the family in
(24:45):
the other state, but I was ableto move out of state and
completely focus on otherbusiness ideas and ventures.
So that allowed me theflexibility to truly be an
entrepreneur.
And now, to this day, where Isit, it has allowed me to grow
into other businesses and hasallowed my management team to
(25:06):
thrive on my main business.
So this is so cool how,unfortunately, such a bad time
was able to turn out to such anopportunity for us.
So if you are going throughsomething, there is light at the
end of the tunnel.
I can tell you right now thatour business is currently
adapting to the ever-changinginsurance market of California.
(25:30):
Right now, if you do not knowinsurance companies are not
staying in California.
Not know insurance companiesare not staying in California,
and that is very hard for ourclients, the ones that need to
file claims.
So we are adapting to ourclients' needs.
We are adapting to exactly whatthey need our price points, our
services to reflect a betterbusiness for that.
(25:50):
So where there is a downturn isalways an opportunity.
Now going through it again.
This is this is easier saidthan done.
This is like uh, you know yourfriends in a relationship and
you're telling them to get outof the toxic relationship and
it's just not working.
But you, but you know, you'retelling them, you're giving me
the advice.
A couple years later You'regoing through it and now you're
(26:13):
not listening to your own advice.
This is easier said than done,guys.
It is so hard to stay motivatedwhen you feel like the chips
are stacked up against you.
But I can tell you, get throughit, you will be successful.
You will take it and turn itinto a massive opportunity.
You just have to trust theprocess.
(26:39):
Opportunity you just have totrust the process, and it starts
by working in a backup plan inyour business plan is if you
have to downsize or pivot orchange in your market, what
you're going to do and that isacross the board.
I look at a backup plan onevery single thing I do.
I look at a backup plan onevery single thing I do a
facility what if I need thisfacility and then I don't need
(27:00):
it but I'm still in a lease?
How do I get out of it?
If I buy a vehicle and maybe Idon't need the vehicle anymore?
If I hire an employee and maybeI don't need that employee
anymore?
If my marketing is not workingout on one particular thing, how
do I adapt that marketing?
I have a plan for everything.
So I implore you, please figureout a plan for your business on
(27:26):
every little thing you need andalways have it in your back
pocket, because, at the end ofthe day, I want you to be a
successful business owner and beable to have your business
thrive.
And just because it's notlooking too good in one
particular month doesn't meanit's not going to bounce back
the next month.
(28:06):
I'm just taking some time tokind of reflect, reflecting on I
don't know.
I think reflecting on howexhausted I was during the pivot
(28:29):
.
And this episode is strategic,as us business owners have been
in business the last year, yearand a half.
We've heard an incomingrecession.
If you follow the news, ifyou're like me, I'm always
making sure I'm up to date onmarket trends.
Right, and thinking, gosh, wejust got out of COVID, I had to
(28:54):
pivot, I had to pivot, and nowdealing with the recession, am I
going to have to pivot again?
Now, for me, surprise, surprise, as a business owner wearing a
thousand different hats, we hadto pivot on now, insurance
companies pulling out of thestate and affecting our business
.
So we are always pivoting.
It is something that we do, butI think the reflection that I
(29:16):
was having is how to staypositive during those times.
Right, you've got a plan ofwhat do I do if my business is
not succeeding and I really needto trim the fat.
Right, you have maybe a list ofemployees that you have to
start getting rid of.
You have a list of equipmentthat maybe you're starting to
downsize or refinancing somedebt, whatever it may be.
(29:39):
But actually going through itis a lot different than putting
it together on pen and paper.
So, reflecting on those times,if you're unfortunately dealing
with something that you havefound yourself on this episode
and you are dealing with a pivotof your own right now, I know
(29:59):
it's hard I speak from personalexperience but I want you to
know if you power through it,you will be successful and you
will turn it into an opportunity.
So go out there and get it done.
You're the business owner.
There are hard decisions tomake, but I want you to get
those done.
And I're the business owner.
There are hard decisions tomake, but I want you to get
those done and I want you tosucceed.
And for business owners thathave not had to pivot, I
(30:25):
strongly suggest you get a gameplan together, because you might
not have to pivot this week,this month, this year, this
decade, but at some point youare going to have to pivot your
business.
Every single business has topivot.
Look at Amazon, started as abusiness, or a bookstore, online
bookstore.
You don't think about that withwhat you think of Amazon right
now.
(30:45):
We're always adapting ourbusinesses because we want to
succeed as business owners.
So if you have not had to pivot, I would implore that you go
down, jot down a plan if youhave to and recognize hey, if
things start to go this way,this is when I'm going to start
implementing these things.
Right, hold yourselfaccountable, I think.
(31:17):
Some final thoughts Change in abusiness.
Change is inevitable.
Right, we go through our livesand we have things change in our
lives that we have had to adapt.
So that happens in business,but it's how we, as business
(31:41):
owners, respond to that changethat defines our success.
So remember that Change isinevitable, but it's the way you
handle that change that willdefine your success.
Staying flexible, stayinginformed about your market, the
trends, watching everything andalways being able to adapt when
(32:08):
the wind shifts that is what'sgoing to.
That is what's going to helpyou adapt if you need to adapt.
So thank you for joining metoday on today's episode of the
business guide.
I really hope you found thisepisode helpful.
I am.
I'm doing this for you.
(32:29):
I am.
There's no strings attached.
I know that there has been somany different gurus out there
that promise the world.
They ultimately just want yourmoney right.
As business owners, we havelearned that there are so many
hands out there saying, here,pay me this, pay me this.
This is just a free resourceguide.
I really do enjoy being inbusiness.
(32:51):
I love talking to otherbusiness owners and I love
hearing the successes inbusiness.
And I love hearing thesuccesses in business and I love
helping people through thechallenging times.
So this episode is probably notone of the friendlier ones that
you want to hear.
You don't want to hear if yourbusiness is going through
something tough how to change it, how to deal with it but we
have all been there and we willall be there.
(33:12):
There's a saying when I think,riding a motorcycle, there are
those that have fallen and thosethat are yet to fall.
It's the same thing in business.
There are those that have hadto pivot and there are those
that will have to pivot right.
So just stay on top of it.
(33:32):
Stay on top of your business.
I want you to be successful.
But, with that being said, leaveme a comment.
Send me a text message.
I have that on the description.
Send me a text message in thepodcast.
I would love to hear what youthought about the episode.
I'd love to hear what you'redealing with.
I would love to be able toaddress that on the podcast.
(33:54):
Create an episode for you, helpyou get through whatever
struggle you're dealing with orsuccess you're dealing with.
I'd love to help you out.
So, thank you everyone fortaking the time to listen to
today's episode.
I really appreciate you beinghere and I will catch you on the
next episode of the BusinessGuide.
Hey everyone, what's going on?
It's Jonathan Wagner and I wantto welcome you back to another
episode of the Business Guide.
Today we are tackling a veryimportant topic that every
business owner needs to have intheir arsenal of tools running
their business, and that is howto adapt to change.
(00:21):
It is so crucial as businessowners that we consistently
pivot our businesses when neededto thrive and succeed.
So today's episode we're goingto go over so many different
things about changing pivoting,why it's important personal
experiences that I have dealtwith and why you definitely need
(00:42):
it in your business plan.
So let's jump into it.
For those of you returning,thank you so much for being here
.
I really appreciate yousupporting the podcast.
Seeing the listeners, seeingthe comments, it is motivating
me to put more content out.
So I definitely appreciate it.
(01:02):
And if it is your first timehere again, as mentioned, my
name is Jonathan.
I'm a small business owner inthe beautiful state of
California.
Although the tricky state ofCalifornia I've been in business
a little over 12 years havedifferent businesses, I would
not change being an entrepreneurfor the life of me.
I love what I do, I'm excited,I look forward to going to work
(01:26):
in the morning, so I hope thatthis podcast helps you succeed
and helps you feel the same wayI feel about being in business.
So thank you for being here.
So today's episode we'redefinitely diving into why
adaptability is key to thelong-term success of your
business and when to identifythe exact time you need to pivot
(01:50):
and tips for staying flexibleduring uncertain times.
Now, I say that because COVIDis still so fresh of the big
pivots that us business ownershad to do.
So being able to stay flexiblein those times was definitely
(02:12):
hard.
But this next part I havewritten down after this is and
how to turn those challengesinto opportunities for growth.
And when I share my story withyou, I'm going to share how
taking a step back actually mademe be more profitable and
really expand my business.
(02:32):
So just because you have topivot in a different direction
does not mean you are not goingto be successful, matter of fact
.
You might like it.
So let's jump into today'sepisode.
So let's jump into today'sepisode.
So first up is the importance ofadaptability in business.
Now, when I was relatively new,starting out my business I've
(02:56):
opened up before that I haddifferent mentors, I talked to
so many different people aboutdifferent things about different
things and I started mybusiness in 2012.
2008, and being an employee in2008 of small businesses, I
(03:17):
could really see the destructionthat the recession did on small
businesses and while I wasn'tin the business seat at that
point, starting my business, Iwas very fearful to go through a
recession and, as I took mybusiness and took it from carpet
cleaning into a restorationbusiness, really thinking that I
(03:42):
was a part of a recession-proofindustry really opened my eyes
when COVID hit.
And now a struggle that we arecurrently going through right
now, which I'm helping mymanagement team get through, is
the ever-changing insurancemarket in the state of
California.
So the importance of adaptingyour business to a changing
(04:17):
market or changing trends is soimportant for you to ingrain in
your mind from day one, as I did, because it always keeps you on
your toes.
Now I've talked about theimportance of a business plan.
I am consistently on mybusiness plan.
I'm always looking at mybusiness plan, but once a year I
go in and I really go throughmy business plan and I mark my
(04:39):
next goals for the next year.
I dive in.
If it's, I'm gonna buy moreequipment, hire more employees,
hire more employees, buy morevehicles, whatever it may be.
That plan is definitely there.
But a big part of my businessplan, and that I encourage you
to have, is a what if your phonestops ringing?
What if your customers stopcoming into your store?
(05:03):
What are you going to do andhow are you going to adapt?
So a big part of my businessplan is actually a fallback on
protecting my business if mybusiness customers stop coming
in.
Now you might think it's morbid.
(05:23):
I had a gentleman I spoke with acouple years ago that I had
shared that I have a backup planfor essentially my business
going under, if you will, andprotecting my business, always
(05:49):
planning for a doomsday, andabout a year later he had had
some issues and experiencedhaving to adapt his market and
actually then sat down with meand talked to me about a year
later and said now that issomething that he does every
single year is go in and thinkabout a what-if scenario.
So don't knock it.
If you have been there, if youare a business owner that has
(06:11):
survived the shutdowns of COVID,I'm glad you're here, I'm glad
your business is still thriving.
There are so many businessesthat closed up and were unable
to adapt to such a catastrophic.
Just economy, just the economyjust coming in and everything
was against you.
Everything was against you.
(06:32):
So, yeah, being able to know theimportance of why you need to
be able to pivot is super crazyimportant, I can't stress it.
Be able to pivot is super crazyimportant, I can't stress it.
A mentor that I had years agohe didn't prepare his business
(06:53):
and unfortunately lost it duringthe 2008 downturn.
I had a pretty thrivingbusiness, did not plan for his
phone to essentially stopringing and you know we're
entrepreneurs we bounced backand he did bounce back.
But the lessons I have takenaway from him is you really
(07:16):
really need to understand howimportant being able to pivot
and change in your market is socrucial.
So moving on is recognizingwhen it is time to pivot.
Now, 2020, I'd probably saidpivot 2000 times.
(07:36):
It was consistently evolving,consistently changing.
It was a market pivot afterpivot.
I mean we had a pretty bigfacility.
Our phones stopped ringing.
I mean our sales wereessentially sliced in half.
We were planning on renewingour facility.
(07:59):
We were actually up that year.
We were going to renew foranother five years.
We opted to not renew kind ofpivot, if you will into a new
facility that was much smallerbut a much more manageable kind
of nut, if you will, as far asthe rental price.
(08:20):
When you're building yourbusiness and you've got all of
these wins right, you've setyour goals, you're growing,
you're growing, you're hiringnew people, maybe you're buying
some new equipment, you'rereally on your up and up in
business, if you will, and thenyou have a downturn come and it
knock you back.
(08:40):
You can feel like you failed.
You can feel like maybe youdidn't do something right, and I
know that I definitely feltthat.
But throughout everything thathappened, I am so thankful that
it did, because little did Iknow I was going to make myself
way more profitable and myworkload was getting evenly
(09:04):
distributed throughout the year.
My team, my team that stuckaround then, allowing me to
completely split off from thatside of the business and allow
me to explore other businessopportunities.
So I'm so thankful that we hada downturn.
But being able to recognize, youknow, if things are going wrong
(09:27):
.
You're starting to see yourphones aren't ringing and you
can't just figure out what it is.
I mean, if you're a businessthat solely relies on, maybe,
online advertising and now youcan see maybe online isn't
working for you, being able topivot into maybe more of a
referral-based business wherecustomers are referring you,
different vendors in your fieldare referring you.
(09:50):
Being able to pivot yourbusiness there If you,
unfortunately, are maybe goingthrough some cash flow issues.
Being able to pivot on what'simportant, what's not important,
how you're going to grow, howyou're going to essentially just
get through the time.
So really recognizing when yourtime to pivot you always need
(10:11):
to.
How do I put this?
You always want to make surethat one you're not just
doomsday every single daythinking about it, but it needs
to be front and center of okay,hey, this isn't working out,
this online advertising isn'tworking out, or this particular
referral stream is no longerworking out.
How do I diversify?
(10:31):
But then also recognizing hey,there's actually a bigger issue
here and this is completelychanging.
My market is completelychanging and we need to do
something and get into adifferent service.
So I'm going to give you anexample.
When I started my business I'vespoken about this in the past is
I started the business as acarpet cleaning business and
never in a million years would Ihave ever thought I would have
(10:52):
gotten out of carpet cleaning.
Now I knew that I wanted to addrestoration onto my business
services, but that was going tokind of be a cherry on the top
for the business.
What I mean by that is, myprimary source of income was
going to be carpet cleaning, andif we got a restoration job it
was just going to add a littleextra money to the business,
where maybe we would buy moreequipment or get a bigger
(11:14):
facility whatever it is, maybeput a little bit more money into
my pocket.
But little did I know.
As I started to grow mybusiness, I wanted to really put
a team in place and I wanted toput a skilled team in place
with legitimate players.
I didn't want to have to belooking for new employees, and
so what comes with that iscompetitive wages, and as a
(11:37):
carpet cleaner starting up, Icould not offer competitive
wages, and even when I wassuccessful, I could not have
competitive wages to keep solidpeople around.
For a long time it was reallyseeming for me that my employees
, if you will, were just goingto be high not high school, but
(11:59):
right out of high school,college kids and maybe get them
for a couple years, and thenthey would be on their way and I
would have to retrain, gothrough that process but
nonetheless always having arotating door.
And for me it was importantvery early on to recognize I
didn't wanna be in thatsituation.
I really wanted to be able toset up a management team and
(12:20):
have a business that ran itself,instead of it 100% relying on
me.
So I really thought long andhard.
I pushed it as a priority tostart my restoration service
side of the business and once Idid that, I pulled out of carpet
(12:41):
cleaning.
I recognized that I had a verysuccessful business model on
what I was doing in therestoration world and no longer
needed to be kind of distractedwith the other part of it, which
was carpet cleaning.
Now, carpet cleaning is a veryprofitable side of the business
but for me it added noise for mygrowing business.
So I found it important for meto adapt and move to restoration
(13:07):
Again.
It was a part of my businessmodel and what I had been
planning.
But, like I said, never in amillion years starting the
business would I have thoughtthat I was no longer going to
offer that service andcompletely be in a different
field.
So leave yourself thatopportunity or that option as
(13:27):
you get into business to notjust be in one particular
service.
What I mean by that is, say,you're a bakery and you really
specialize in cookies.
Don't put all of youradvertising out as Joe Schmoe's
cookie shop.
Leave the door open.
Leave a broad name.
(13:48):
Talk to people.
Talk to your customers.
See what they want.
I know somebody that does cakepops.
A cake pop business is theirsole business.
There's no room for them to getinto wedding cakes.
There's no room for them to getinto baked goods.
It is solely focused on cakepops.
(14:08):
So that particular person islocking themselves out.
Now, if they decide to grow andscale their business, they know
that they're going to have toadd on different services and
the branding that they're doingnow and have done for years is
around this one particular itemthat they sell.
So they need to be able toadapt to their business and move
(14:31):
on.
But recognizing that for you asbusiness owners is important.
You want to do it before it'stoo late.
Maybe there's no market forcake pops anymore, maybe there's
no market for cookies anymore.
You really need to leave thatoption for you and your business
Because, right at the end ofthe day, we're business owners,
we're entrepreneurs, we want tomake money, we want to provide
(14:53):
for our families.
We want to be successful andmaybe adding on a different
service.
This is something we can do asentrepreneurs.
So recognize when it is time topivot for you and your business
.
This next section is tips forstaying flexible.
(15:13):
But gosh, I will tell you,flexibility is so hard when
you're actually dealing with it.
So I think you know, for me inmy carpet cleaning kind of era,
if you will, pivoting intorestoration was a strategy move.
It was not something that Ineeded to really be flexible on.
There were obviously issuesdealing with bringing on newer
(15:37):
employees, having to train them,cross-training other employees,
then slowly pulling out of that.
So that was its own kind offlexibility.
But this flexibility one reallystands out to me, which was
during COVID COVID.
Covid beat my business up hardand I didn't expect it.
(15:58):
You know right, we deal withinsurance-related claims.
People are always going to havethat.
Well, I didn't expect thateverybody was going to be at
home catching these things.
I didn't expect that insurancecompanies were going to be hard
to get a hold of because noweverything was remote.
I didn't expect that my saleswould dramatically decrease or
half of my workforce was notgoing to show up for work.
(16:18):
So this was very hard to do inthe time and it's very easy to
talk about it now.
But us business owners, we areconsistently the cheerleaders,
we're consistently themotivators of our business and
we have to stay positive.
But dealing with these times,it is hard to stay positive Now.
(16:39):
Fortunately for me I'vementioned in the past is in my
business plan I have a bigsection of what to do if things
go wrong.
So being able to follow thatplan and execute that was not
pretty but it made my businesssurvive, absolutely survive.
(17:04):
And it's interesting whenyou're growing, you're
succeeding, you're winning inbusiness, and then you've got
this big hurdle that gets in theway and you having to take a
couple steps back.
It definitely hurts, maybe theego, maybe the pride I'd
(17:26):
probably say the pride a littlebit more than ego on my side.
I don't think that's a goodword, but it definitely takes
your pride back and, as youmaybe have employees that have
been there on, hey, I'm growing,this is the company, we're
successful, this is what we'redoing, and then being able to
take a couple steps back andsaying, hey, this is actually
what we're doing and we're justgoing to survive right now and
(17:47):
it is hard.
So staying flexible isabsolutely easier said than done
.
I think being able to have thatplan in place is the largest
tip I can give you.
Right, if you're going in andmaybe you've got a business that
(18:08):
you make slime and sales arebooming because maybe it went
viral on TikTok and now you'vehad to secure that bigger
facility, the more expensiveequipment, being able to jot
down a plan of how do I get outof this bigger facility, how do
I adapt my business to where Ican still handle my workload and
(18:28):
not close down operations,maybe how do I get rid of the
equipment if I no longer need itor there is no longer a demand.
These are important things tohave in your plan of being able
to walk back and saying, hey,things are not working out and I
need to succeed.
And then, moving on, it'sturning challenges into
(18:50):
opportunities.
Now I think that when you'regoing through these downturns
right there's it is very hard,it is absolutely hard.
I think when I got into business, like a recession was super
fresh on my mind.
Right Again, I was an employeethat had saw it decimate small
(19:13):
businesses and now I was in thesmall business world and I was
deathly afraid of a recessionNow, having been through an
economic downturn like thepandemic, having been through so
many different hurdlesthroughout business, if we had a
recession, am I super scaredlike I was before?
No, absolutely not.
I know how to handle it.
I know exactly what I would doand I know how I would be
(19:34):
profitable and continue mybusiness operations.
So it's important to rememberif you're going through a
challenge, it can be anopportunity later, and that is
exactly what happened to me withthe pandemic and, like most
businesses, we were able tofigure out what we needed to do
to survive and thrive.
We needed to do to survive andthrive.
(19:59):
Now, the 2008, I'm going to backup to the 2008 recession and
decimated businesses, right, so,getting into business, I had
met with somebody that was verysuccessful in real estate.
They had owned a ton of realestate.
They had a property managementcompany.
I remember having a sandwichwith this lady for lunch one day
and she had given me a story ofa local company and how they
(20:22):
were able to survive and turn achallenging time into a massive
opportunity, and this reallystuck with me.
It is stuck with me, definitelyduring COVID.
It stuck with me my entirebusiness career and I hope it
sticks with you.
But in our city or our county wehad a pretty prominent fence
company.
That fence company had a lot ofeggs in one basket with general
(20:44):
contractors and new home buildsand unfortunately, in 2008,
their business took a massivedecline.
General contractors weren'tcalling them anymore, new homes
weren't being built and theirsales were absolutely hurting.
Now they necessarily weren'tlooking for new clients.
I mean, every business isalways looking for new clients
(21:06):
but their business approach washow can we take the clients that
we still have and the clientsthat are still using us and
offer more services to them tomake us more profitable and get
us through this challenging time?
So they decided to offer porterpotties.
They looked at their businessmodel and they said, hey look,
we noticed that there are aporter pottie company that we
(21:27):
are always recommending and mostof our clients use them and we
should bring that in-house andadd that onto our business as it
goes hand-in-hand.
Now, fast forward, years later,they are the largest porter
party Porter.
This is such a tongue twister.
They are the largest porterpotty rental company in our
(21:52):
county, with now their fenceservice being second rental
company in our county, with nowtheir fence service being second
.
So they were able to get out ofthat downturn and be successful
, right Adding something ontotheir business that they knew
their clients needed and thenturning it into an opportunity
to grow their business later.
So that story really stuck withme.
(22:12):
Now, during the pandemic for us,I did not expect our clients to
not call.
I did not expect certain thingsto happen, and they did.
Some people had banger years.
We didn't.
We were definitely affected.
We're in California.
Regulations were extremely hard.
It was a very tough time, butbeing able to turn that tough
(22:35):
time into opportunity was hugeand I did not know that at the
time.
So we were able to go in andcompletely revamp our business
model.
We were going for more of acorporate feel.
We went more for a family-runfeel.
That really resonated with ourcommunity.
It really resonated with ourfuture clients and we absolutely
(22:56):
have kept that model to thisday, being a family-run business
.
We've been able to go throughand we were able to just
completely trim the fat.
We got rid of employees thatdidn't show up.
We got rid of employees that weno longer needed just because
of the.
You know, when we were growingwe needed just bodies.
(23:17):
We got rid of all of thosebodies.
We kept all of the skilledpeople, went through the
vehicles.
We realized what our biggestassets were and we downsized our
facility.
So we cut our expensestremendously.
And then we invested in thebusiness.
We got pieces of equipment thatwe needed that we had always
(23:41):
rented.
We bought those after thingswere good.
We bought those cash.
We really focused on completelypaying down our debts, which we
did, and then, moving forwardin 2021, we were almost
completely debt-free.
We had skilled employees thatwe were investing in and the
(24:03):
overall operation was moreprofitable.
So when we have now bouncedback to regular business and
it's all back to normal, ourrevenue is, I'm going to say the
same, if not higher, but ourprofitability is through the
(24:24):
roof, almost double of what itwas before, because we were able
to completely get rid of all ofthe waste and really trim up
shop and make it work for us.
And then that opportunity thatit led for me I was able to move
out of state.
Now, fun fact, I came back.
It was actually a littlechallenging for the family in
(24:45):
the other state, but I was ableto move out of state and
completely focus on otherbusiness ideas and ventures.
So that allowed me theflexibility to truly be an
entrepreneur.
And now, to this day, where Isit, it has allowed me to grow
into other businesses and hasallowed my management team to
(25:06):
thrive on my main business.
So this is so cool how,unfortunately, such a bad time
was able to turn out to such anopportunity for us.
So if you are going throughsomething, there is light at the
end of the tunnel.
I can tell you right now thatour business is currently
adapting to the ever-changinginsurance market of California.
(25:30):
Right now, if you do not knowinsurance companies are not
staying in California.
Not know insurance companiesare not staying in California,
and that is very hard for ourclients, the ones that need to
file claims.
So we are adapting to ourclients' needs.
We are adapting to exactly whatthey need our price points, our
services to reflect a betterbusiness for that.
(25:50):
So where there is a downturn isalways an opportunity.
Now going through it again.
This is this is easier saidthan done.
This is like uh, you know yourfriends in a relationship and
you're telling them to get outof the toxic relationship and
it's just not working.
But you, but you know, you'retelling them, you're giving me
the advice.
A couple years later You'regoing through it and now you're
(26:13):
not listening to your own advice.
This is easier said than done,guys.
It is so hard to stay motivatedwhen you feel like the chips
are stacked up against you.
But I can tell you, get throughit, you will be successful.
You will take it and turn itinto a massive opportunity.
You just have to trust theprocess.
(26:39):
Opportunity you just have totrust the process, and it starts
by working in a backup plan inyour business plan is if you
have to downsize or pivot orchange in your market, what
you're going to do and that isacross the board.
I look at a backup plan onevery single thing I do.
I look at a backup plan onevery single thing I do a
facility what if I need thisfacility and then I don't need
(27:00):
it but I'm still in a lease?
How do I get out of it?
If I buy a vehicle and maybe Idon't need the vehicle anymore?
If I hire an employee and maybeI don't need that employee
anymore?
If my marketing is not workingout on one particular thing, how
do I adapt that marketing?
I have a plan for everything.
So I implore you, please figureout a plan for your business on
(27:26):
every little thing you need andalways have it in your back
pocket, because, at the end ofthe day, I want you to be a
successful business owner and beable to have your business
thrive.
And just because it's notlooking too good in one
particular month doesn't meanit's not going to bounce back
the next month.
(28:06):
I'm just taking some time tokind of reflect, reflecting on I
don't know.
I think reflecting on howexhausted I was during the pivot
(28:29):
.
And this episode is strategic,as us business owners have been
in business the last year, yearand a half.
We've heard an incomingrecession.
If you follow the news, ifyou're like me, I'm always
making sure I'm up to date onmarket trends.
Right, and thinking, gosh, wejust got out of COVID, I had to
(28:54):
pivot, I had to pivot, and nowdealing with the recession, am I
going to have to pivot again?
Now, for me, surprise, surprise, as a business owner wearing a
thousand different hats, we hadto pivot on now, insurance
companies pulling out of thestate and affecting our business
.
So we are always pivoting.
It is something that we do, butI think the reflection that I
(29:16):
was having is how to staypositive during those times.
Right, you've got a plan ofwhat do I do if my business is
not succeeding and I really needto trim the fat.
Right, you have maybe a list ofemployees that you have to
start getting rid of.
You have a list of equipmentthat maybe you're starting to
downsize or refinancing somedebt, whatever it may be.
(29:39):
But actually going through itis a lot different than putting
it together on pen and paper.
So, reflecting on those times,if you're unfortunately dealing
with something that you havefound yourself on this episode
and you are dealing with a pivotof your own right now, I know
(29:59):
it's hard I speak from personalexperience but I want you to
know if you power through it,you will be successful and you
will turn it into an opportunity.
So go out there and get it done.
You're the business owner.
There are hard decisions tomake, but I want you to get
those done.
And I're the business owner.
There are hard decisions tomake, but I want you to get
those done and I want you tosucceed.
And for business owners thathave not had to pivot, I
(30:25):
strongly suggest you get a gameplan together, because you might
not have to pivot this week,this month, this year, this
decade, but at some point youare going to have to pivot your
business.
Every single business has topivot.
Look at Amazon, started as abusiness, or a bookstore, online
bookstore.
You don't think about that withwhat you think of Amazon right
now.
(30:45):
We're always adapting ourbusinesses because we want to
succeed as business owners.
So if you have not had to pivot, I would implore that you go
down, jot down a plan if youhave to and recognize hey, if
things start to go this way,this is when I'm going to start
implementing these things.
Right, hold yourselfaccountable, I think.
(31:17):
Some final thoughts Change in abusiness.
Change is inevitable.
Right, we go through our livesand we have things change in our
lives that we have had to adapt.
So that happens in business,but it's how we, as business
(31:41):
owners, respond to that changethat defines our success.
So remember that Change isinevitable, but it's the way you
handle that change that willdefine your success.
Staying flexible, stayinginformed about your market, the
trends, watching everything andalways being able to adapt when
(32:08):
the wind shifts that is what'sgoing to.
That is what's going to helpyou adapt if you need to adapt.
So thank you for joining metoday on today's episode of the
business guide.
I really hope you found thisepisode helpful.
I am.
I'm doing this for you.
(32:29):
I am.
There's no strings attached.
I know that there has been somany different gurus out there
that promise the world.
They ultimately just want yourmoney right.
As business owners, we havelearned that there are so many
hands out there saying, here,pay me this, pay me this.
This is just a free resourceguide.
I really do enjoy being inbusiness.
(32:51):
I love talking to otherbusiness owners and I love
hearing the successes inbusiness.
And I love hearing thesuccesses in business and I love
helping people through thechallenging times.
So this episode is probably notone of the friendlier ones that
you want to hear.
You don't want to hear if yourbusiness is going through
something tough how to change it, how to deal with it but we
have all been there and we willall be there.
(33:12):
There's a saying when I think,riding a motorcycle, there are
those that have fallen and thosethat are yet to fall.
It's the same thing in business.
There are those that have hadto pivot and there are those
that will have to pivot right.
So just stay on top of it.
(33:32):
Stay on top of your business.
I want you to be successful.
But, with that being said, leaveme a comment.
Send me a text message.
I have that on the description.
Send me a text message in thepodcast.
I would love to hear what youthought about the episode.
I'd love to hear what you'redealing with.
I would love to be able toaddress that on the podcast.
(33:54):
Create an episode for you, helpyou get through whatever
struggle you're dealing with orsuccess you're dealing with.
I'd love to help you out.
So, thank you everyone fortaking the time to listen to
today's episode.
I really appreciate you beinghere and I will catch you on the
next episode of the BusinessGuide.
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