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All Businesses Will Fail In a Couple Of Months??

ZF Lee

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  • Organize a courier service for deliveries to people who are quarantined
  • Create sourcing routes to get hard-to-find medications that people need to survive, such as anti-seizure medications or heart medications or even anti-depressants, once the supply from China runs dry
Speaking of courier...I've been delivering lots of stuff as well. And shopping online more often than usual.

I've got this fun electronic locker box at my apartment.
You know how frustrating it is for you to be not in time to receive a parcel delivery at home- only to have to trudge miles to grab it from the post office?

The locker takes care of the problem.

Here's how it works:
The postman just drops it there, and then messages me a special code, and the number of the locker that my parcel is in.

When I finally arrive home from work or whatever, I go down to the locker, key in the code, and the locker with the number opens.

And I get my parcel.

Done.

It has some drawbacks though:
- The locker units can only store small-sized items. So, no, it can't take in furniture delivery or 5-kg boxes.

-The REVERSE doesn't seem to be available...I can't drop the parcel with sender's address AT the locker, and have the courier come over to pick it up and send to delivery centre.

I guess these gaps can be remedied though.

Start taking real action based on a long term plan that you control.
For some reasons, this reminds me of a conversation amongst my friends at dinner the other day:

Person A: Oh, you sold off the airline company shares from your portfolio?
Person B: Yeah...but maybe I shouldn't have done it so fast. I sold it near my original price when I first bought it.
A: See, you should look at Person C. Even though the market is tanking, he's just so calm and nice...he already studied his companies and he'll hold on to them as long as fundamentals are right.

I knew there were still caveats to value investing, but I couldn't help but wonder about the similarities, in regards to business and investing.

You're obviously a successful entrepreneur, probably net worth in the 8 digits, retired, and coming onto here under a made-up identity of "copywriter" to while away time by providing advice.
Come on, Xeon...you missed the Summit thread? Or her past posts?:hilarious:

On the flip side, isn't selling- be it by words or speech supposed to be an innate skill for entrepreneurs, successful or not?
 
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JAJT

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I still think most people are still underestimating the situation.

Huh?

It's not that we're underestimating the situation - it's just that nobody is treating it like an excuse. Those are two very different things.

You're saying "virus, virus, virus" and we're saying "virus, got it, so.... business, business, business".

This virus clearly has the potential to shut down various things for various lengths of time. People on this forum have had their business interrupted by the virus. The attitude from the successful among us, however, has been to adapt, overcome, and improving future planning.

Walk outside - are people panicking and rioting? No? Then they are spending money. Go sell something to them. If the virus shuts you down for a few weeks or months - adapt, overcome, plan better, and do what you can until the storm passes - like everyone else will.
 

Fox

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^ exactly.

This thread:

You: “virus”

Forum: ya don’t worry about it - make a plan that you control and get to work on that

You: “virus”

Forum: am okay... then make a plan around the virus and get to work on that instead

You: “virus”
 

Sayd OG

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Lol I´m definetly not trying to make excuses. But you guys are right the only thing to do is to look for solutions and that´s exactly why I created this thread. Like a brainstorm between likeminded people...

Anyway if any of you have some ideas or good resources feel free to share.
 
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becks22

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My idea-- Top of the line school bus industrial cleaning. Not just because of the coronavirus but just annually during flu season. Just thinking about all those kids and all their germs -- ahh gross!
 

Lsm87

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What do you guys think how the world will move in a couple of months and how it will effect our lives?

When you don't follow the hype, nothing will change. I was this year already in Thailand and came back with a cold (7 days ill). Two weeks later I was in the US and got the flu (apparently, fever and coughing, 10 days ill) one day after arriving back home in Germany.I went to two docs, both made jokes about Corona, but I was not tested, they just said rest, sleep and drink a lot. Thats what I did and I am fully recovered. Since then, nothing has changed.
 
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bibbysoka

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The starting phase of most businesses are bumpy and exactly in these situations you don´t want to take too much risk and let me tell you - I love taking risk haha.

In general I believe most people do not realize the seriousness of the situation. The cases in Italy, South Korea or Iran can happen out of nowhere any time anywhere. Right now everybody saying the flu is worse and everything - the flu causes more deaths at the moment but the potential the Corona Virus has is on another level in comparison to the flu. In China right now 750 million people are quarantined - 1/10 of the world population is under quarantine.

Every Battle Is Won Before It Is Ever Fought - Sun Tzu

At the moment preparation and strategy is key!!

Exactly why I didagree...the statistic of 750 million people quarantined shows that they are already on top of slowing it down. I still think it’s overreacting to not work anymore/lose the desire to start a business out of fear of a virus. I’d rather go out swinging
 

MHP368

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Once in pandemic though itll be business as usual with well stuffed hospitals

2% lethality is roughly twenty times as lethal as the average flue season. Average flue season kills...12k to 61k annual since 2010 , lets call it 30, so by that metric a full blown pandemic leaves 600k dead.

Or we could backtrack from total population , 2% of 327 million is about 6 million dead.

Thats not good but its not collapse of industrialized civilization bad , and once we have no hope of containment (pandemic)then its sort of business as usual by definition (more hopelessly useless masks though im sure)

As for making money in bad economic times. Dont even let that cloud of bullshit into your mindspace , yons of folks make a killing in bad times. Your headspace should be succeeding regardless of the economy or whivh party wins an election or any of that nonsense. If a recession shakes your confidence work on your confidence not the countries economics.
 

G-Man

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When in human history has there not been some kind of catastrophe either happening or looming on the horizon?

Really glad our collective ancestors didn't live in a perpetual state of waiting for the crisis or threat of crises to wane before they built anything.

We'd all still be living in mud huts and sacrificing animals to try to ward off bad weather.
 
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BizyDad

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When in human history has there not been some kind of catastrophe either happening or looming on the horizon?

Really glad our collective ancestors didn't live in a perpetual state of waiting for the crisis or threat of crises to wane before they built anything.

We'd all still be living in mud huts and sacrificing animals to try to ward off bad weather.

This reminds me a story told by Ben Franklin in his autobiography written in 1793. He had a friend who admonished him for buying a house in Philadelphia.

The market was going to crash. The friend thought he should have waited. Several years later, Ben bought another house, and the friend was still waiting. Philadelphia couldn't possibly keep up that rate of growth.

Long story short, the friend ended up buying his first house 15 years later and paying something like three times what he would have paid if he had just bought it at first.

There's always some impending disaster.

There is always a reason to be scared of starting.
 

Xeon

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Come on, Xeon...you missed the Summit thread? Or her past posts?:hilarious: On the flip side, isn't selling- be it by words or speech supposed to be an innate skill for entrepreneurs, successful or not?

Nah, haven't been following the summit thread. I'm surprised because her level and depth of thinking far exceeds what I would expect to come from a copywriter working at a day job. If I didn't know her background beforehand (e.g: overworked, stressed copywriter on the verge of breaking down at one point), I would have thought it was a veteran businesssman who is easily on MJ's level, which makes me very pissed off and angry, because why is a talent like this working at a day job?!....
 

ZF Lee

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Nah, haven't been following the summit thread. I'm surprised because her level and depth of thinking far exceeds what I would expect to come from a copywriter working at a day job. If I didn't know her background beforehand (e.g: overworked, stressed copywriter on the verge of breaking down at one point), I would have thought it was a veteran businesssman who is easily on MJ's level, which makes me very pissed off and angry, because why is a talent like this working at a day job?!....
Xeon, copywriters need to know about markets and their opportunities. And very well, if not better than the clients.

Otherwise, how would they know what angle or info to assemble for the copy?

A copywriter doesn’t have to be a ‘day job’.
There are many ways to put a Fastlane spin in it, like royalties and commissions. Or even productivised service
 
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Rabby

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The real opportunity revealed by Corona virus is that people who keep doing the normal things that obviously need to be done will reap the many rewards. The people who hesitate, hem and haw, and let yet another disaster change their course because uncertainty scared them into inaction will just fall behind. It will be another day in the story of the world, sad to see because we could have so much more quality of life if entrepreneurs would just keep moving and do the job they're supposed to be doing. Which is improving their environment, the world, and the quality and utility of various things. Go do that.

And no, I don't think people will stop going to the dentist because some people are getting a virus. Yes, it's an unpleasant virus, but unless you know more than all the pandemic scientists and economists and statisticians and psychics (heh) on the planet, you don't know what it will ultimately do, or how many people will die, or whether or not there will be economic repercussions. It could be the start of a Bulgarian real estate boom for all we really know about crap like this.

And the 750 million people who are "quarantined" are under travel restrictions. They're not locked in an all-white sterile facility staffed by government workers in biohazard suits. They're not being experimented on in the lab that starts the zombie apocalypse. Concerned old men with PhDs are not rubbing their hands together wondering what to do about the 750 million medical prisoners. How do I know? Because no such facility exists, and no nation on Earth has the power to herd 750 million people into one place and keep them there. Those people are walking around in their streets buying vegetables. The big difference is they're traumatized by news, so they are taking probably-ineffective measures like wearing paper masks on their faces while they buy vegetables. Be accurate when you think about what's going on... anything else is just gonzo language and mental masturbation.

Next step: go sell some dentistry to concerned parents with kids who have craggy teeth.
 

BizyDad

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*Googling "real estate laws in Bulgaria"

*Googling "what language is spoken in Bulgaria"
 

Rabby

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@BizyDad remember to shake your head for "yes" and nod your head for "no" in Bulgaria. Language includes body language, so be sure to study it before your great venture. Good luck ;)
 
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loop101

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You could look at which companies prospered during the 1918 Spanish Flu pandemic:


Hundreds of small businesses also had to close due to staff shortages and bankruptcies were common after the pandemic.

Interestingly, one industry flourished during the flu outbreak—the liquor industry. In Baltimore, Maryland, saloons were spared restrictions other businesses faced due to the alleged medicinal value of liquor. In Charleston, South Carolina, dispensaries were set up so citizens could receive a rationed quart of whiskey, which many waited hours in line to get. Alcohol, it seems, brought Americans relief, however temporary.


In our times, probably alcohol and marijuana.

I also think anything that helped people avoid each other. Robots, drones, VR, remote work, living off-grid, wilderness survival, etc.
 

WJK

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So we know that the Corona Virus is gonna hit hard - very hard. On the other hand we await the recession and now with Corona it probably will speed up. I think we will probably see the start of the recession still in 2020.

Now I´ve been thinking:
- What business can thrive in a recession + Corona?
- Is there even a business that can thrive?
- What is the best economic/business decision one can make?
- Is the best option to just survive or is there a way to still take action?

What do you guys think how the world will move in a couple of months and how it will effect our lives?
We've had a lot of dangers over the last many years... I remember when AIDs became a problem in the early 1980s. We didn't know what to do about that. Contracting it was a death sentence. When I was a kid, there were no antibiotics for things like a kid's ear infection. The only thing they used to put people to sleep for surgery was ether. Yuck! Recently we've had flesh-eating illnesses. So, this is another challenge... What's new? Life goes on.
 

Kung Fu Steve

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@Sayd OG not to be judgmental... but my assumption is you're younger?

Correct me if I'm wrong... but if I'm wrong then you should know that the "world is going to end" like a bagillion times in the last ten years... and we're still here.

If you just want to talk about "viruses that will kill all humanity"

You have mad cow disease, the avian flu, the swine flu, H1N1, and literally dozens more...

Not to mention wars in the middle east (a bagillion times), wars in Africa, war with Iran, Brexit, etc. etc. etc.

Dude, this list goes on forever and ever...

These people are right when they say you're letting stupid shit get in your way.

Don't think about the outside world. Provide value to the business community and you can make an income.

Provide MORE value than anyone else... and you'll make a huge fortune.
 
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Sayd OG

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@Sayd OG not to be judgmental... but my assumption is you're younger?
Haha good guess yes I‘m 21. Like you guys said there is no room for delaying everything because of this event and action will be taken again.

For anyone who also struggled with virus, business this and that. I analyzed 2 days everything and it didn’t bring me further to anything. Taking action and thinking ahead will get you through the pandemic and afterwards you‘re back stronger than ever.
 

Andy Black

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A client selling office supplies has noticed more sales for office chairs recently. I'm guessing for people working at home.
 

G-Man

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A client selling office supplies has noticed more sales for office chairs recently. I'm guessing for people working at home.
Correct. I've been getting larger than normal orders at higher than normal prices. Distributors are telling me that customers are making "office in a box" packages of computers, displays, printers, etc to send to their people to work from home. It's a boom market for anyone that has ready to ship stock inside the USA.
 
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Rabby

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Pretty sure people who are home for work are taking online classes to update skills.
 

MattR82

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I feel like even the businesses that are hit hard over the next few months have a huge opportunity when things start to recover. Take the forced time off to make those changes to your biz you were only dreaming of, then come back hard, more efficient, with a better biz, and probably with less competitors..
 

WJK

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I know I have plenty of chairs both in my office and my home office... Who knows why there would be an uptick in sales? I do know that I went to the grocery store for my weekly shopping trip. Many of the shelves were empty. I was telling my friends and my husband that it may have to do with young women not knowing how to cook -- since they can't go out for their meals. How do they know what to buy and how to prepare it when they get it home?

The shopping experience was head-scratching. All the pasta, beans, rice, canned veggies, and toilet paper was gone off of the shelves. So were the fresh milk, bottled water, and eggs. I live in rural Alaska and we've had one case of the virus here in the whole State -- and he came in on a cargo plane and tested positive. What are these crazy people thinking when they buy all this stuff? Don't they have food on their shelves at home? We have almost 4 feet of snow on the ground. Who needs to stock up on bottled water when we have this very deep snowpack that's free for the taking? And, by the way, my water wells are doing great. I can turn on a faucet and get all the water that I can use. None of this mass hysteria makes any sense to me.
 
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Johnny boy

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My lawn care business is good.

All customers are on 12 month contracts and auto pay with their cards. You can bet I’m running their cards each month.

90% of my costs are variable. If shit really hits the fan I can fire my employees and do the work myself. Larger profit margin just on a smaller scale.

As long as my customers’ cards work, I’ll be okay.
 

Andy Black

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None of this mass hysteria makes any sense to me.
I don’t think it’s hysteria. I think a lot of people want to take a bit of action.
 

Benedict

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@Sayd OG - few weeks have passed. Situation has changed A LOT in those days (in terms of the virus).

What's your current state? What did you take from this thread and the many replies?

If it was "business as usual", no Virus-madness, what would be your next step in your business?

If you are in the starting phase, then you probably won't be out of it when all this virus madness is over.
 
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Sayd OG

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@Sayd OG - few weeks have passed. Situation has changed A LOT in those days (in terms of the virus).

What's your current state? What did you take from this thread and the many replies?

I decided to take it slow first and not go all out. For now it´s just University and next to it I try to only focus on Webdesign and let out the Ads part. As for what I have taken from this thread: No matter what take action somehow, even if its learning a new skill - just doing something is good.
 

Andy Black

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My lawn care business is good.

All customers are on 12 month contracts and auto pay with their cards. You can bet I’m running their cards each month.

90% of my costs are variable. If shit really hits the fan I can fire my employees and do the work myself. Larger profit margin just on a smaller scale.

As long as my customers’ cards work, I’ll be okay.
Maybe it’s unfounded, but my worry would be that keeping lawns cut might be one of the first things to go if money is tight for a household.

Would your clients also be in the market for simple handyman services or grocery deliveries?
 

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