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To help you all in this challenging time, we wanted to share the amazing ideas of a recent Insider Training (a webinar training only for our Insider and Lab members) for free.

This tactic was just too good to stay behind the paywall. That's why we took this training out of the lab and the video and transcript here so you can watch it and get ideas!

Watch the video or keep scrolling to read more!

Complete transcript

Maya Hughley:

Welcome insiders and members of the DigitalMarketer laboratory to your insider training, also known as office hours. This is Maya Hughley, for the first time on video, that's how I look. I am the content coordinator here in production and I will be your host. Our community manager Michelle Dalton also joins us. She is in the chat and ensures that your questions are answered. Jenna is helping us today with our speakers. Jenna used to host DigitalMarketer insider training and office hours, and now I am. I'm glad Jenna is helping here. If you are new to the clinic / insider training, we cover a variety of specific marketing strategies with new experts. Sometimes they live like today and sometimes they don't, but they are always recorded. If you are a paying laboratory member or an insider, this recording will be on your laboratory platform within 24 hours under the Insider Training tab.

Maya Hughley:

If you are there live, you have the additional advantage that your question will be answered live by our guest. We have a very special training session this week. I will interview founders and entrepreneurs who have found amazing ways to run their businesses during a global crisis. Each interview lasts only a few minutes and at the end has time for a question or two. Please ask your questions in the chat when you think of them so Michelle can bring them to me. It looks like I'm not in front of the camera right now, so let me fix it so you can see me. Just take a look. Well. Can everyone see me? In my opinion. Put it in the chats if you can. Oh, perfect. I was already in front of the camera. Thanks Robert. I appreciate that.

Maya Hughley:

So we'll jump in here with some of these interviews. I am sure you are so excited to hear and get new strategies for your business. We all experience this really strange time and these people we are going to interview have become really creative in how they do their business. First, we have Abigail Gilman from Wantable, as long as … sorry, and Tiffany Cooley. Thank you for being here. Wantable does amazing things. You work for a company that does personal sales, right? Personal shopping and styling and now make masks and supply masks. Can you tell me a little bit more about it?

Tiffany Cooley:

Yes, Wantable is a … hello guys. I'm Tiffany Cooley, the marketing director at Wantable. It is desirable to give it a try before buying a personal styling company. We primarily serve a demographic group of women, but we also added a male one, and we turned our business fairly quickly after listening to everything going on in the world and in the country with COVID-19 and our platform was really offering a really simple solution for us to be able to oust customers who can sell … customers or people who just wanted to help and get involved and make masks. We have a great proprietary shipping platform that can pick up these shipments and then resend them and redistribute them to healthcare workers and frontline medical workers. So it was a really successful campaign.

Maya Hughley:

Absolutely. I mean, it's amazing to hear. You are doing such a wonderful thing and I am sure that everyone at the front appreciates it very much. Before the global pandemic, how did you normally do business? I can imagine that drop shipping for medical personnel at the forefront was not included in the business plan at all.

Tiffany Cooley:

No, I mean, we were probably very similar to a lot of traditional e-comm players or other people in our room. We have a warehouse in Milwaukee. We mainly worked in a large shift, mostly from Monday to Friday. Some of the things we did to protect our employees were to split these shifts into several and over the weekends just to limit the contact people would have with each other. And then we separated some of the workflows that come from customers from the way we deal with the So Good campaign with the masks, etc.

Tiffany Cooley:

So the good news is that we were actually able to use many of the same technologies and tools that we had when we made this change and added the last piece to our business. So we didn't have to change much there. Frankly, the other operational teams within the organization have changed a lot more. Our photo team, for example, since we're talking to a group of marketers here, this was a really big change for us. We were in the studio, turning products on models, touching products with our team of dealers and having this hands-on experience. Getting it digital was one of the biggest changes among many. On this point, we currently rely on a lot of organic and UGC content.

Maya Hughley:

That makes sense. That makes a lot of sense.

Abigail Gilman:

Yes, to go over what Tiffany said, and I think a lot of people in marketing can refer to it, but we plan a lot and have strategies for what we're going to do months and quarters in advance. And it's hard to say, "All right, we'll put it all in the background and maybe hopefully one day we will make it, but we will all change gears and be. The content we are sharing is really graceful and a bit more forgiving of the aesthetics we have, and we're shabby and imaginative in the way we source and share images. “In fact, it was a lot of fun working cross-functionally with different teams and finding ways to create content from our home offices.

Maya Hughley:

Absolutely. It's so good to hear. I am sure that many of our viewers feel the same. I know that DigitalMarketer feels the same way. We have a video that is trying … A video team that is trying to make videos without access to people, which is difficult. So have you noticed that some of your new strategies have been successful and is there anything you think you will continue to do for this reason?

Tiffany Cooley:

I'm just saying that we started … So before COVID, I think it will be a period of time. Before COVID, we started to work on the next development of our brand. I mean, we're about seven years old, so we've been working on the same foundation for our brand for some time now. We really wanted to find out why we exist for customers and it was our brand purpose to go back to the roots. That is all before everything happens. What we found and what I think was really successful for us is to lean into this news faster and more consciously now to go back to the true roots of our company, to go back to the core values, to simplify, there are a lot of things to do do Abi's argument that we had in the works and on the table, but I think it was extremely helpful just trying to go back to your core business, your core values, and all the reasons why your customers come to you and love you.

Tiffany Cooley:

And just like Abi said, we have a lot of grace in our news, in our photography, in dealing with employees in the company and so on. Leaning into time with empathy and friendliness and knowing that every single employee that we have behind the other screen during our work during this period also applies to our customers. That's why we really made sure that we hug every single customer, every single employee, know that something unique is going on in their situation with them, and our business model with all the tools we need to best help people, flexible way possible.

Maya Hughley:

Absolutely. I think that makes so much sense and I think that a lot of people use this time to reconnect with what they were going to do in the beginning. It's a great time to do this. So we have an interview question before we open it for chat. So our last question is: what are some of the first steps you would recommend to a similar company, or maybe a company that is only on the rise if it wants to do business in a similar way?

Tiffany Cooley:

Yes, I think I'll take a few and then Abi, I know you have a lot of really great thoughts on the subject too. Back to what we said, just to repeat that we really focus and simplify on your original branding purpose and treat our employees well too. I can speak of the leadership team level. We responded and knew we had to cut back for a while, and even proactively turned it off to protect our employees for about a week. Just to know that we value our employees and their safety and health above all else.

Tiffany Cooley:

It was important to us to make sure that we set up or set up everything to be successful but also safe. We were able to do some of the roles that might have less work as we slowed down a bit, used each other, and trained in other areas. They had this really cool learning experience, but we were able to make a number of changes when we turned down our earnings without firing anyone and without having to take someone off, just by being creative and bringing teams together. They were incredibly resilient, flexible and nimble throughout this process.

Maya Hughley:

It is spectacular.

Abigail Gilman:

One tip I would have is to mute when your neighbor's dog barks.

Maya Hughley:

I appreciate that, it's a great tip.

Abigail Gilman:

I keep reminding ourselves that we are people who serve people. We all work with the best to provide the best service and experience to the customers we serve, and we only maintain close relationships with all cross-functional teams. I think it was a really unique and interesting experience to work together to hear all of the customer stories, whether they are our So Good Campaign sourcing masks and whether they really make a difference in our community and across the country, the response of some of our customers, how they are influenced and how we can use this experience to create a really strong loyalty to them. And make sure you understand that we are there for you too.

Maya Hughley:

That's nice. People who work with people are at the core of everything. I really like that. Absolutely. Let me see if we have any questions about our questions and answers. It doesn't look like we have any additional questions for you. However, if someone has a question to cling to or wants to know more about Wantable, where should we send it?

Tiffany Cooley:

You can send them to one of our email addresses. I think they're in the meeting guide. Otherwise we could enter them in the chat if this is also helpful.

Maya Hughley:

Absolutely. So we have Abigail at [email protected] and Tiffany at [email protected]. If you just want more information about Wantable and want to support their concerns about bringing masks to frontline employees, you can visit them at wantable.com. Thank you for being here. That was so cool.

Tiffany Cooley:

Thanks a lot.

Abigail Gilman:

Thank you very much Maya.

Maya Hughley:

Absolutely. Next up is Alisa Dusan. Alisa Dusan is a dietician who works in the Austin region. She had to focus her entire business on being online. As you know, if you've ever been to a dietitian who is usually a personal office experience. It was a great transition for her. And I'm very happy to hear from her about the changes she needed to make and some things she needed to do to achieve it and make it work for her. So let them in here. One second. There you are. How is Alisa, can you hear me? Oh, and I don't think I can hear you Oh, maybe I can now.

Alisa Dusan:

How about now

Maya Hughley:

Yes. Perfect.

Alisa Dusan:

Yay.

Maya Hughley:

How are you?

Alisa Dusan:

I'm fine. How are you?

Maya Hughley:

I am fine. Thank you very much for your time. I really appreciate that you are here.

Alisa Dusan:

Yes, my pleasure.

Maya Hughley:

Absolutely. So first question before all COVID-19, before this pandemic, how did you normally run your business?

Alisa Dusan:

Right, I have an office just outside of Austin, Texas. And so almost a hundred percent of my customers only had one-on-one meetings in our office. It's super cozy and personal. I really enjoyed interacting with them one-on-one and sitting down and really doing things with them. We also cook together sometimes, so a lot of personal things before COVID-19. I always had a tele-health option as a backup. I've always considered it the last resort when someone just couldn't make it or children from school were sick at home or something. So I had that in my back pocket, but I never saw it as a primary way of doing business.

Maya Hughley:

Caught. What exactly are you doing now that none of this can happen?

Alisa Dusan:

Correct. So we had to … Well, I quickly switched to tele-health. I was really grateful to have an EHR, an electronic health record that enables HIPAA-compliant telehealth. So I had that set up. When we ordered immediately at home, I just sent a message to all of my customers and said, “Good news, we can continue to do business. You're good. From here we meet online. Here are your instructions for your next appointment. "I was just trying to be really positive and change my mindset and see it as a backup or a last resort, as a really effective tool for my customers that we didn't have to slip completely during this time. So yes, we are right now switched to Tele-Health. I did my best to put it this way: "This is great. We are so happy that we can go on like this."

Maya Hughley:

How did the customer react? I am sure that they all had the same order at home. But have you had any setbacks or really positive reactions to going fully online?

Alisa Dusan:

Yes, I would say about 75% were okay with the transition ready to go. I got a pushback. People who are less familiar with technology don't like the idea of ​​doing things on a screen. So I definitely had a pushback. The requirement that these platforms have to be HIPAA compliant for a particular season has been suspended, which has allowed me to change some people. To be able to use something as long as they know that it is not a secure platform like FaceTime or anything else. In that first session, the goal was always to go to a more secure platform, was a nice thing for people who are not, I'm not used to it.

Alisa Dusan:

I had some, only a very small percentage of customers who were very nervous, and one in particular didn't think she wanted to do it. I kind of said, "Let's stay tuned and try." And she was so excited afterwards because she realized that if she could, she could meet me at work at lunch in the future and wouldn't have to take off half a day to visit me. And so in the course of the one meeting she actually switched to: “From now on I only want to do this. It is so much more convenient. “It was a nice surprise when some people really thought it was better. And I think in the long run the power to do it well and learn tele-health really well will be an added benefit for customers in the future. And for me it is not just the last scenario, but something that I can actually offer as a further service in the future. It has forced me out of my comfort zone in this way.

Maya Hughley:

Yes, that actually led to my next question: Are there any facets of it that you think you will continue after the pandemic? But it sounds like you've learned a lot of new things that you can continue to do as part of your business, even after your stay at home is canceled.

Alisa Dusan:

Correct. So I think I definitely learned some skills. I have a lot of teenage clients, so it was a challenge to really brainstorm with other people who work in telemedicine and other dietitians and get their advice on how to keep them, especially with younger clients who are for them Time was busy on a screen. But that's how I learned a lot. It also really forced me to learn the laws on telehealth and insurance compliance, all of these things better. So it was a forced growth for me that I think will benefit practice in the future.

Maya Hughley:

That makes a lot of sense. It is spectacular. Everyone learns so much about how their business is doing and what things they can do to make it better in general. So the last question here is which one of the first steps you could recommend to someone in a similar industry or someone who is used to meeting customers in person if they want to pivot online?

Alisa Dusan:

Correct. Something that was invaluable to me was some private Facebook groups, of which I am one, that were specifically designed for private practice nutritionists to really work these things out. And so I was so grateful to people who are business coaches in this area, or to other people who we can really brainstorm with: "Hey, that doesn't work for me. What works for you?" We belong also specifically to one of the groups that I have for private health insurance for dietitians, a table that we have all shared, in which we enter information for different insurance companies, what codes work, things like that. So I would say network, find these places, hire a business coach who was there, and not try to do it yourself because the resources of the people in front of me understand these things better and being able to ask questions and really share them so that we all get up together in this situation was invaluable to me.

Maya Hughley:

Absolutely. This is amazing advice. It makes a lot of sense for me to network with your colleagues and ensure that you support other people in your industry. If people get in touch with you, ask you some questions, or just want to learn more about your business, your website is alisadusan.com, right?

Alisa Dusan:

Yes. And you can send me a message from there.

Maya Hughley:

All right, thank you for being here, Alyssa. I really appreciate that.

Alisa Dusan:

You are welcome.

Maya Hughley:

Well. Next we’ll look at this. I have to have my list in front of me. Justin. Hello Justin.

Justin Bajan:

Hello.

Maya Hughley:

How's it going?

Justin Bajan:

Look at me, I'm on time.

Maya Hughley:

How are you? You are indeed.

Justin Bajan:

I'm fine.

Maya Hughley:

If you are good, we can answer some questions here.

Justin Bajan:

For sure.

Maya Hughley:

Absolutely. How did familiar creatures, above all else, do their business?

Justin Bajan:

We have run our business by building relationships with brands that we have been interested in, through our own connections or through connections of connections if that makes sense. And if they then had a need and the time was right, we would conclude a contract and work for them. Start with the strategy, go over what we call advertising-like objects, and then do the work that you will actually see in the world. And then we would actually get a production company to shoot and direct it, edit it, all of these good things.

Maya Hughley:

Absolutely. I'm sorry, I know I skipped a step here. You work for Familiar Creatures, an advertising agency based in Richmond, Virginia, right?

Justin Bajan:

Mm-hmm (affirmative).

Maya Hughley:

Hey, let's go. Perfect. The reason we got in touch with you is because we saw that you created a Richmond website that helps small businesses and restaurants get their name, delivery options, and roadside options known do. Can you tell me a little more about how you're doing business now?

Justin Bajan:

How we do business is a little more proactive and how should I put it, much better responding to the COVID situation and the fact that brands are now in a crisis. And being a little less cold and sales-oriented and being a lot more respectful of the moment and only approaching brands if we are really relationally close to them and then on the other hand do the work that is available on the market, like on our website, and we have some other things in the works that only demonstrate our expertise and quality, thereby laying the foundation for it.

Maya Hughley:

Absolutely.

Justin Bajan:

Yes.

Maya Hughley:

How was the decision process for your pivot? Was it just a lot of meetings to talk about what's next or how it went?

Justin Bajan:

It was … So we are a small agency, we are four people strong. And we're in a cool area in Richmond called Scott's Addition that grows and blows up with breweries, hipster restaurants, restaurants, grocery stores, and other things. And we just thought it's like March 14th or 15th. We're down in Virginia, where you know COVID kept hitting the north and the west, and then we went south.

Justin Bajan:

So it became real for us in mid-March. So we just said, "Hey, you know what? All these places, what the hell will happen to them? "And we just started thinking quickly on the spot. So we do everything, we think about something and then we just do it. So we thought, how can we help these restaurants and breweries, what is a good URL “We thought of a couple, Keep Calm and Nom On, who were stuck, and luckily it was available.

Speaker 1:

It's great for a reason.

Justin Bajan:

And then we started working on it on a Friday, and we got half of it done at the weekend, and we started it seriously on Monday. It certainly did.

Speaker 1:

Absolutely. When you found some sort of transition and search for new ways to do business and things like that, have you had any success with new strategies that you think will continue after the pandemic ends?

Justin Bajan:

Yes. I think we're still assessing the damage from the upcoming economic downturn. And our value proposition, if I could put it that way, has always been that we bring you great agency experience and expertise, but much more efficiently and not so expensive.

Justin Bajan:

I assume that this is an even greater desire to develop brands further. So it's just about making sure that this affects the way we communicate on our website, which we're currently completely redesigning, how we talk on Instagram, how we talk on LinkedIn, and so on.

Speaker 1:

That makes sense. That makes a lot of sense. Our last question here if anyone has any questions in chat for Justin let me know and I'll put some of them in here. However, our last question on our site is that we have some members of our audience, our laboratory members, our certified partners, who have agencies. What steps or ideas would you recommend to create such a pivot?

Justin Bajan:

I would say it's like an intrinsic thing, it's courage. Together they have to have the courage to choose a track and walk on it like the X-Men Juggernaut and try to eliminate processes and old ways to do business as quickly as possible. And be as smart as possible, but if it feels right, just do it. And that sounds like something from an eighties movie or something, but it's just about accepting the mindset of the challenger brand that we have. We see ourselves as a challenger brand, even though we are an agency, and you just know how to do things and you just do them as soon as possible.

Justin Bajan:

There's so much to gain, now that marketers are retiring and stuff, a captive audience is waiting all day for fun things or good news. So you need to figure out how to give them things that attract their attention and eyeballs and things.

Speaker 1:

Absolutely. It makes a lot of sense, and you know that films from the eighties are the truest films, so it only makes sense to me. Thank you for being here, Justin. To see the website Familiar Creatures created for Richmond, keep keepcalmandnomon.com. To learn more about familiar creatures, visit familiarcreatures.com. And thank you for being here. I appreciate your time.

Justin Bajan:

Yes, thank you for inviting me. Nice to meet everyone.

Speaker 1:

Absolutely. All right, I'm sorry. It looks like we might be a little out of order there, but we'll be raising our next guest. We're going to keep things moving because there is so much great content that I want you to hear about and so many great pivots that we do. Next up is Jeremy Gabrysch, and I hope I'm saying that correctly from Remedy Urgent Care. Jeremy, how are you? Oh, he was there for a second and then he disappeared on me.

Jeremy Gabrysch:

Can you hear me?

Speaker 1:

Oh I can hear you There you are, perfect.

Jeremy Gabrysch:

Good deal, hi.

Speaker 1:

Hello. How are you?

Jeremy Gabrysch:

Good Good. Thanks for the invitation.

Speaker 1:

Absolutely. I appreciate that you are here. You are the man of the hour when it comes to healthcare, and what is happening right now, I think everyone wants to hear what emergency care is doing, what the emergency room is doing, and the whole healthcare industry. But how was Remedy doing business regularly before the pandemic?

Jeremy Gabrysch:

Yes, we are a unique case in the sense that we have not changed our business model significantly. So we are a home visit service, a virtual video visit service. We have always been a huge fan of medical care outside the four walls of the clinic. We always did it that way. And if anything, the COVID-19 thing shed light on the way we do things.

Jeremy Gabrysch:

And yes, I mean, at least on the Austin market, we had a walk-in clinic that we don't actually operate during COVID-19, and instead switched to a drive-through test facility. So we changed a little bit about the things we did, mainly about the need to make more volume. So we had a lot of people who wanted to be tested for COVID, or maybe didn't think they had COVID, but they might want to be tested for strep, flu, or something else. And so we needed a way to do a lot of it efficiently. For this reason, we started up the journey through locations.

Speaker 1:

Absolutely. That makes a lot of sense. I'm grateful for that because I'm in Austin. When the time comes, I'm sure I'll look you up. Wie war die Entscheidungsfindung in Bezug auf diesen Dreh- und Angelpunkt? Als Sie beschlossen, die Walkup-Klinik zu schließen, als Sie beschlossen, sich auf die Lautstärke zu konzentrieren, gab es ein ganzes Team, das sich damit befassen musste?

Jeremy Gabrysch:

Ja, das gab es. Wir haben also ziemlich früh eine COVID-Task Force eingerichtet und Führungskräfte aus allen Funktionsbereichen des Unternehmens angezogen. Wir hatten also einen Vertreter des Pflegeteams, wir hatten einen Vertreter des Laborteams, wir hatten einen Repräsentanten der Operationen und eine Person aus dem Marketing. Und so hatten wir im Grunde wie ein 10-Personen-COVID-Schrank, wie wir sie nannten.

Jeremy Gabrysch:

Und so begannen wir uns regelmäßig zu treffen, anfangs war es bevor das Tierheim begann, also trafen wir uns persönlich. Dann kam der Tag, an dem wir sagten: "Okay Leute, wir müssen das auflösen und das alles von zu Hause aus tun." Aber ja, ich meine, wir mussten eine Entscheidung treffen, um uns darauf einzulassen. Ich meine, einiges davon hatte mit PSA zu tun, und wenn Sie die Nachrichten gesehen haben, kennt jetzt jeder PSA, was für mich lustig ist, aber persönliche Schutzausrüstung ist ein Akronym, das wir im medizinischen Bereich verwenden.

Jeremy Gabrysch:

Und wirklich die Gedanken darüber, wie Sie es mit Bedacht einsetzen. Wir haben immer Hausbesuche gemacht, aber das Problem bei Hausbesuchen mit PSA ist, dass Sie es nehmen, anziehen, ins Haus gehen, herauskommen, abnehmen, wieder ins Auto steigen, das haben Sie um es wegzuwerfen, wegzuwerfen, ins Auto zu steigen und dann für jeden Patienten eine neue PSA zu verwenden. Das hat uns wirklich dazu gebracht, die begrenzten Mengen an PBE nicht effizient zu nutzen, wenn wir uns an Hausbesuche halten. Daher führen wir derzeit nur sehr wenige Hausbesuche durch, und stattdessen verlagern wir das gesamte Geschäft auf unsere Fahrt durch Standorte.

Sprecher 1:

Das macht Sinn.

Jeremy Gabrysch:

Yes. Und auf diese Weise können unsere Leute irgendwie gekleidet bleiben, und sie werden gekleidet bleiben, sie haben ihre Maske und all das Zeug. Und dann kommen die Leute einfach in ihren Autos durch und rollen das Fenster herunter. Sie tun, was Sie tun müssen. Wir können jedoch die Menge an PSA sparen, die wir in dieser Situation verwenden.

Sprecher 1:

Correct. Das macht sehr viel Sinn. Haben Sie Schwierigkeiten gehabt, mit einem Anstieg der Nachfrage im Allgemeinen für Ihre Dienstleistungen umzugehen?

Jeremy Gabrysch:

Yes. Ich meine, unser Volumen ist um tausend Prozent gestiegen.

Sprecher 1:

Oh Junge.

Jeremy Gabrysch:

Seit letztem Jahr. Wir haben es also mit einem enormen Volumenanstieg zu tun, aber eines der interessanten Dinge ist, dass viele traditionelle stationäre Kliniken und Einrichtungen weniger beschäftigt sind als früher. Und einige von ihnen mussten leider einige Leute beurlauben. Und wir konnten einige dieser Leute dazu bringen, sie wieder für die medizinische Versorgung an vorderster Front zu gewinnen, und zwar nur per Video, anstatt wie sie es taten.

Sprecher 1:

Absolutely. Also noch eine Frage hier. Und für jeden, der in einer ähnlichen Branche tätig ist, also sagen wir, die Gesundheitsbranche, die versucht herauszufinden, vielleicht ein wenig von dem, was Sie tun, zu emulieren oder vielleicht eine Online-Option zu haben, was sind einige Schritte, die Sie tun könnte empfehlen?

Jeremy Gabrysch:

Yes. Ich meine, es gibt einige Software von Drittanbietern, die Sie verwenden können, wenn Sie sich darauf einstellen möchten, Patienten virtuell zu sehen. There are several out there that are good, and you can provide your patients with a link that they can click, and then go in and be talking with you virtually.

Jeremy Gabrysch:

I mean, the thing that I keep coming back to is, what is the new normal going to be after this? And so I’m really encouraging medical providers to think about, don’t think about this temporary video solution as, “Okay, we’re going to do this. And then after this is over, we’re going to go back to business as usual.” A lot of patients are trying this and they really like it. I mean, they need to have their medicine refilled or they need something easy and the doc gets on and sees them by video, and it gets taken care of. And the patients are going, “Hey, that was pretty cool.” And so, I’m really advising people, think about how when this is over, maybe you do half of your visits virtually and give people the option. They can come in the office if they want, or they can do it like this.

Speaker 1:

Yes. And I think that’s such good advice, even for the people out there that aren’t in healthcare, is to think about what the strategies they’re doing now can help them in the future. Make some great decisions now that you can kind of keep doing, even after this is over. That’s excellent advice. Thank you so much for being here Jeremy, I really appreciate it. If people want to check out more about Remedy Urgent Care, the website is myremedy.com, correct?

Jeremy Gabrysch:

That’s correct.

Speaker 1:

All right. Well, thank you so much for your time. Ich weiß das wirklich zu schätzen.

Jeremy Gabrysch:

All right, you’re welcome.

Speaker 1:

All right, I’m having a great time. This is going… I hope you’re taking notes on some of the great advice we’re getting. Next up we have Donnine Souhrada from We Are Teachers. This, if you’re not familiar, is a website for teachers that really helps provide resources, and now they’re helping teachers with resources for teaching online, which is new to a lot of people. So they’re doing some great work, and I’m so happy she’s here to talk about it.

Donnine Souhrada :

And it looks like my video camera (inaudible 00:35:45) there. So let’s see if we can fix that.

Speaker 1:

No worries, can you see me?

Donnine Souhrada :

Hello. Thank you for having me.

Speaker 1:

Perfekt. Thank you so much for being here, I really appreciate it. So we can hop right into some questions if you feel okay.

Donnine Souhrada :

Yeah, ready.

Speaker 1:

Genial. So before all of this, what was We Are Teachers normally doing business wise?

Donnine Souhrada :

Yes. So We Are Teachers, we are an agency and media brand. So we work with customers that want to expose their brand into schools. And so a lot of things that we were doing were really connecting brands to the school calendar, and what was going on in schools at the time, and making their products, or service, or causes relevant to the school market at that time. And that all shifted, because (inaudible 00:36:42) schools closed, and the school calendar became very different when school became at home. So a big shift overnight when everybody was schooling at home.

Speaker 1:

Absolutely. So what was the decision making process like, for changing up the business?

Donnine Souhrada :

Yeah, we pivoted quickly. The working style was great because we’re already a remote team, that’s across the US, so there was just a couple of people that were used to working in an office that we had to send home when buildings closed. And the immediate thing we did is we got our creative director, our editorial director and our program managers together, and we pulled everything that was planning to launch in market over the next 90 days, and just paused it.

Donnine Souhrada :

And we went through each communication strategy for each program, and figured out how to tweak to make it relevant, to make sure we weren’t tone deaf, that we weren’t talking about schools, but instead we’re talking about learning at home. So it was a lot of content switching, and just kind of vocabulary on how we are relevant to the current situation that everybody is in with educating at home. Some of the customers that we are working with, we had to pause their program, because it’s just a classroom or school site solution that can’t be done virtually. So we just paused those. And I think that the key is being super flexible as a company to all your customers, your readers, et cetera, to adapt to the situation, and still be relevant to them and their services.

Speaker 1:

Absolutely. And it sounds like you guys were honestly just a really great team kind of making that happen. As far as the pivot that you guys made, are there any successes that you’ve seen from that, that you think you’re just going to keep rolling with in the future?

Donnine Souhrada :

I think that what was interesting is that we really, I think in working with the customers and the clients and the programs, there was just this kind of leaning and trust. We were in such an unknown period, and I think that really talking through, you know, before when you’re working with clients that are thinking about their product launch and when they want to hit the market, and all of the things that are kind of company, product-centric. At this point, you really had to know your users, and how they were going to consume these messages and use what you were offering in this new way. So I think that it gives us more leverage to put the customer first, customer messaging first, and be a little bit less product-centric, and have that validity with the customers when you’re talking about that.

Speaker 1:

Absolutely. That makes a lot of sense to me. It looks like I have one more question for you. If there’s anybody who has a question in the chat for We Are Teachers, let me know, Michelle will get it to me. But for anyone who’s in sort of a similar spot as you in a similar business, do you have any recommendations, or just kind of what’s the first step if they’re looking to make a pivot in their business?

Donnine Souhrada :

Yes. I think the first thing is just, it’s not business as usual. And to be super flexible in adapting to the environment, and that’s both internally and externally. So really taking care of your team members, you know, people aren’t used to working with their significant others in the same house, and having children schooling in the room next door, and so there might need to be some modifications there. And then just taking a look, obviously many live conferences weren’t happening, so you see a lot of digital media is big right now, and lots of innovation happening so quickly, it’s very exciting. So just coming up with ways to serve your readership and your target audience in ways in this environment, and being able to make those pivots very quickly.

Speaker 1:

Absolutely. Being sensitive to your customers and to your people and your staff, that makes so much sense. It looks like we do have one question from the chat for you. This question is from Robert, and he wants to know if you can give a specific example of what the end user is getting now.

Donnine Souhrada :

So one of the things that we pivoted and put together really quickly, we have a lot of media on the topic of education on weareteachers.com, but we quickly built a microsite called Learning At Home, because that’s what was happening. And we sent out, we put all of the learning at home resources that our editors can find, and did a call out to companies that were giving free resources to families and educators, that could be online done virtually, that they could be included in our Learning At Home microsite.

Donnine Souhrada :

So that was something new, we went through kind of a lot of existing content and just kind of changed language for classroom use to home use. And now we’re thinking about when we go back to a environment where we can be face to face, and students can be in buildings, how that can again be leveraged for over summer students who may need to work at home because of health issues, et cetera. I think that there will be many purposes for this type of content in the future.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, I mean that makes so much sense, and I’m hoping that it builds a more inclusive, more diverse for all businesses, as they come out on the other side of this.

Donnine Souhrada :

Absolutely.

Speaker 1:

Thank you so much for being here, Donnine, I’m sorry, am I pronouncing your name correctly?

Donnine Souhrada . That’s fine, yes.

Speaker 1:

Perfekt. Sorry, I didn’t want to get that wrong on camera. Thank you so much for being here, Donnine. We super appreciate your time. If you guys want to learn more about We Are Teachers, you can check that out at weareteachers.com.

Speaker 1:

All right. Next up we have Fillip Hord from Horderly. Horderly is an organizing company, and before this you guys were doing in house in home organizing, correct?

Fillip Hord:

Yep, exactly. Go into homes and help them get their kitchens, pantries and closets all in order.

Speaker 1:

I could certainly use that. How are things working now?

Fillip Hord:

Well we’re not in homes, that’s for sure. That was the biggest change for us, and pretty traumatic, we have about 30 employees and we work in (inaudible 00:44:24) so going from casually, a ton of billable hours and our organizers working full time in people’s homes, to not being able to go into clients’ homes and it being an hourly function and an hourly service, where we charge by the hour and we pay by the hour. It was really devastating, that when the government said no more in home, and just before that even happened, it was the health of our clients and employees was that risk. So we started pulling back and doing certain protocols to be extra safe. But then even that, everyday things changed, and then all of a sudden we had to pivot, make a big shift.

Speaker 1:

Right, absolutely. What was the decision making process like for making a pivot? Because you pivoted to doing online consultations, correct?

Fillip Hord:

Yes. So decision was really quick. It happened before we, before all in home organizing was canceled, and before we shut that down. Just because we saw it was happening and trending, and there was scare of, you know, once China fully shut down and Italy fully shut down, it’s coming to the West coast of America. So we kind of figured, we’re in New York City, the biggest hub of people right now, in America at least, and we decided to pivot to virtual organizing. And it’s more like coaching and consulting, so if you’ve ever seen the Marie Kondo Netflix show, where she comes and kind of coaches, then leaves and comes back a month later, that’s like what virtual-

Maya:

Got it.

Fillip Hord:

It makes sense, and it’s great for us because now we can reach a much broader audience and we’re working worldwide instead of just in the seven states that we actually have physical organizing. So it was a pivot that needed to be made but kind of pushed us over the edge to expedite it.

Maya:

Absolutely. So, it sounds like this is something that you’re probably going to continue doing even after the stay-at-home orders are lifted.

Fillip Hord:

Yeah, I mean if you can be optimistic in this time and see something at the end of the tunnel that is going to brighten your day, this has forced us to create an entire additional service to our company. So if we can thrive and create it and expedite making it a solid service, the right price, the right amount of protocols, and having the right effect on clients during these however many months. Then when we come out of this, we have a worldwide audience and clientele that we never had before. We have a service that when, say our California team has a recession, but our New York team doesn’t, well, we can virtually organize from anywhere. So, now our team that has less hours are going to get more virtual sessions because you can do it from home.

Maya:

Absolutely.

Fillip Hord:

So it’s just going to make our company more helpful towards our audience and clients moving forward.

Maya:

That’s spectacular, and when you talk about taking lemons and making lemonade, I think that’s the definition of that.

Fillip Hord:

Yes. It’s making big service adjustments in your company during times like this. It can only boost the morale from your team because this is a worldwide pandemic and it’s affecting everyone and especially small businesses. So, if you can make your team smile and look forward to something, I think that’s really helpful.

Maya:

Yes. If anyone in our audience has questions for Fillip, you can throw those in the chat. Michelle will get them to me. But we do have one more question for you and it’s, for anyone in a business that might be kind of similar to yours that is now having to transition online, do you have any steps or recommendations you could make to them?

Fillip Hord:

Yeah, well, I have two recommendations just for small business owners or people with small business or as an entrepreneur, we’re like busy body people. First off, something like this happens, a recession, take a breath, read a book, relax, take time for family. That’s step one, because people are freaking out, I’m not making a bunch of money right now. It’s like, that’s all right. Survive. You’re going to get through this. We’re all going to get through this. That’s step one, which has no action item.

Fillip Hord:

Step two would be, move social. Go virtual, even if you have a small following on Instagram, focus on putting out content. There’s three different tiers of people. You might have three different tiers of clients or customers purchasing what you need. A very large audience is the free clientele. If you help the free clientele, the people with little money and more money to help support your business in the future will come along, but why don’t you build up your social media following? All you can do is sit home and make folding videos, if you’re professional organizing, put them on YouTube. If you’re a contractor, do some DIY videos, put those out right now, you’ll see the return down on the road with a new audience and clients that appreciate the free content now.

Maya:

Absolutely. That is such good advice and I hope our audience out there will listen to that and take it and run with it. Thank you so much for being here, Fillip Hord. I so appreciate your time. If people are looking to find out more about Horderly, horderly.com is the website.

Maya:

All right, so thank you so much, guys, for being here. I know we’re running a little behind, but we’re going to keep it moving. Next up, I’m so excited because we have Fae Gershenson. I hope I’m pronouncing your last name correctly, Fae. Fae is a member of our DigitalMarketer lab audience, just like you guys, and she had an amazing pivot with her business, so I’m super excited to hear about it. Thank you for being here, Fae.

Fae Gershenson:

Yeah, totally. Woo-hoo.

Maya:

Woo! Can you tell me a little bit more about Happily Ever Laughter and what you do?

Fae Gershenson:

Yeah, I am the girl that got to be a fairy princess when she grew up. That’s right. I have a staff of 50 wacky entertainers and we travel all over California and perform at hundreds of birthday parties and things every week, but not anymore.

Maya:

Oh, you got to laugh to keep from crying, right? Just a little bit. Just a little bit.

Fae Gershenson:

Yes.

Maya:

Happily Ever Laughter was all in person, all children’s parties, events before all of this happened and now what does your business look like?

Fae Gershenson:

Now, well, I don’t know because I can’t see anyone, but no, now it’s unbelievable. We are doing virtual shows with children around the world.

Maya:

That’s beautiful.

Fae Gershenson:

We never thought we’d ever leave California. We’re getting bookings every 10 minutes and have ever since we released one video ad. So it’s definitely hitting the right tone for people, which I’ve heard all of you say, and that is number one. Just listen. Listen to what people need.

Maya:

That is spectacular. So, as far as moving this online, what was your sort of decision making process for that?

Fae Gershenson:

It was, okay, we got to figure out how to perform with children, but like double spaced, and then we’ll put them on a towel and we’ll call it a magic carpet. Oh wait, oh the next day. Oh, no more parties at all? What are we going to do? What are we going to do? And I called my co-fairy and said we have to change everything right now. All of it.

Maya:

I mean, yeah.

Fae Gershenson:

It was really an aha moment. There was no, I’m sure everyone’s kind of had this similar thing, it wasn’t a subtle thing. It was like bam, you’ve got to move now.

Maya:

You’ve got to do it right this second. So it sounds like it’s been really successful for you. Is this a new opportunity for you? Are you moving to online parties for the future?

Fae Gershenson:

Yeah, I’m never going to kill this. This is awesome. I mean, the cousins and things that never got to see each other, they finally get to party together. So awesome.

Maya:

Oh, that’s so nice.

Fae Gershenson:

Yeah, I’m stoked, and I’m also excited to fight with worker’s comp more to figure out how we can not pay as much since the girls will just be Zooming.

Maya:

Yes, absolutely. So, how has that, you mentioned the girls, the other fairies. How has their response been as employees? Is this something that they like doing or how has that been?

Fae Gershenson:

Oh, man. Communicating with people that you cannot see. I don’t know how everyone else is doing it, but my company has always been kind of distant. The performers are all over California. So, we have had a really strong Facebook group since the day Facebook came out with groups.

Maya:

Wow.

Fae Gershenson:

We fill it with memes and crazy silly stuff all the time. So when I had to shift the whole message of like, hey y’all, you’re out of work today. Oh, weird. All of a sudden you have work again. But we have to subtly roll this out. So some people are still at home wondering why they don’t have shows, anyway, that’s my own thing, but…

Maya:

But it’s difficult and as a business owner, it’s one of those things where everyone’s experiencing this for the first time. We’re all in this boat just experiencing all of this at once, which makes things difficult. But I’m sure there’s business owners out here that appreciate hearing that. Even with the success you’re having, there’s still some struggles there, so I super appreciate that. If anyone has any questions for Fae, throw those in the chat, but we do have one more question for you, which is, for someone who also has a business that was fully person to person interaction before this, do you have any suggestions that you would give them for discovering an online opportunity or moving their business online?

Fae Gershenson:

You know how you’ve probably seen somebody else in your industry attempting it, oh, maybe you’re too late or something, or you can’t do it as great as they can. Don’t listen to that. Just be prepared to work your tail off, harder than you’ve ever worked before, and you will totally be fine. You’ll be fine. It’s incredible. Everyone in my industry is doing this. Not one of them is getting any bookings. So, it’s all about messaging.

Maya:

Absolutely. Well, that’s all we have, Fae. Thank you so much for being here.

Fae Gershenson:

Bye.

Maya:

Thank you for bringing your DigitalMarketer experience. If you want to reach Fae, she is in our engaged Facebook group so you can talk to her directly there and if you want to learn more about Happily Ever Laughter, the website is happilyeverlaughter.com.

Maya:

And next up, we have Patrick McCarthy. Patrick McCarthy is the owner of Inish Free Irish Dance. That’s an Austin based dance studio and we’re super excited to have him here to talk about his experience. He’s had to deal with St. Patrick’s Day getting canceled, which is a huge thing for the Irish dance community. So I’m excited to hear some of the pivots he’d made in his business as well. We’re going to give him one second. It looks like he might need some tech help. Patrick, can you hear me?

Patrick McCarthy:

I can. Hello.

Maya:

Oh, there you are. Hello there, how’s it going?

Patrick McCarthy:

Yeah, good, good. Oh, I’ve gone again.

Maya:

Well, good thing I can still hear you.

Patrick McCarthy:

Yeah, I’m here. I think I’ll pop back up.

Maya:

Keine Bange. While that’s happening, can you tell me a little bit more about the Inish Free Irish Dance and your dance studio?

Patrick McCarthy:

Yeah, so we predominantly just teach Irish dancing. That’s kind of our thing. We’re not like those regular down studios that do ballet and tap and stuff like that. So we’re kind of a niche market. On our day to day, we are in studio teaching kids ranging from four years of age up to adults. So I teach in Austin, Texas, and San Antonio. And over the space of a week, I probably see 200 children-

Maya:

Oh, wow.

Patrick McCarthy:

In blips and doing private lessons and teen dancing, lots of different things.

Maya:

Absolutely. So, as soon as the pandemic hit, it kind of meant that St. Patrick’s Day, which I’m sure is a pretty big event that you guys are normally doing things for, was canceled. How did that go? How did you guys handle that?

Patrick McCarthy:

Well, we do a lot of steady contracted work for St. Patrick’s Day parades, lots of retirement facilities and they were one of the first kind of groups to cancel everything. I’m a physical therapist by trade, too, so I work in some of those settings. So, it was tough. It was tough because it’s one of the busiest time for the kids. We train a lot of performance time up to that point of the year and it was kind of quite quick that everything canceled. So, just for morale for the kids and stuff like that, it was tough for them not to be able to do any of their performances and have everything closed down at the same time.

Maya:

Absolutely. What is business looking like now? What are your plans for the near future?

Patrick McCarthy:

So, we’ve gone predominant, we’re pretty much done everything online now, so different platforms for doing classes online, doing private lessons online. We have a bit of an issue with, we obviously need to use the cameras but we’re using music, too, so one of the biggest things in dance is timing. So, it’s hard to have that perfect connection between the timing in the music and what you’re getting across lines. So we’re just doing as best we can. The kids are getting, one of the things we did was have them video all of their material and send them to us, and we just sit down and write notes about them. So we’re not having to do a two way conversation back and forth and not mess with the timing. But we also do Zoom classes, too. So, it’s worked good, and there are some definite benefits of doing it online.

Maya:

Absolutely, and I didn’t even think about the unique challenge that is of trying to cue up music and a live stream video at the same time. A lot of people are-

Patrick McCarthy:

Yeah, and then there’s also spacing on top of that because you have to have enough space to dance and a lot of these kids have maybe, I don’t know, live in apartments or have a garage, but it’s filled with all different types of junk, so…

Maya:

Absolutely. Well, as far as moving to video lessons and kind of moving your business that direction, do you see bringing any of the new things that you’re doing into your business for the future? Has any of it been so successful that you’re going to kind of keep up with it?

Patrick McCarthy:

So, at first I thought it was going to be a total nightmare doing this and I thought the parents, what we really did try to implement at first was to go above what we would normally do in classes. So, our classes are Mondays and Wednesdays and we knew that parents were being furloughed and parents were having to work from home, so they were going to have their kids at home with them all day and they’re having to do school work and then the parents had to do their work and then the parents have to try to do dance stuff on top.

Patrick McCarthy:

So, we give them lots of fun things that they could do, all the different levels and give them like Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday work that they could just spread it out. The parents knew that if they had conference calls they could give their kids this to watch on the iPad and then go learn on their own. So, I think we kind of just inundated them with more than they would be used to, just to kind of help out because we understood that everyone’s kind of in a top position with us. And then with the furloughed people, we also told them, if you can afford this, send your kids to these classes anyway and it’ll all come out in the wash in the end.

Maya:

Absolutely.

Patrick McCarthy:

The Zoom classes are good. One of the really good things is getting the parents to video them, send them in and us giving them written notes because they can then pop them up on their wall, read the written notes before they start, and they’re getting that visual feedback straight away before they start.

Maya:

Absolutely. So, I have one last question for you. For anyone out there who has a business, and I know there’s some members of our audience that have things like karate studios, dance studios, in person businesses like that. Do you have any suggestions to them about how to implement this kind of video lessons in their work?

Patrick McCarthy:

Well, my biggest piece of advice would be to ask other people for advice that are doing this. I think in this time, everyone understands that we’re all under a lot of pressure. Things are not going well for lots of businesses, and I’ve had friends that have reached out to me and asked what we’re doing and I’m happy to help them. You realize its everyone’s livelihoods and people are having to pay bills for their families. So I think there’s a lot of goodwill out there to help people. So, ask for advice, look for resources. There’s plenty of resources popping up everywhere. We have an Irish dancing resource with 600 teachers on it, all giving different ideas, and then the last thing is you just have to adapt to it. That’s all there is. We’re all in the same boat. Everyone understands. You’re not going out and just changing your business totally, and people are wondering why you’re doing it. They know that you’re doing it, and you’re trying to do the best for your business, best for your customers, and they’ll be responsive to that and they’ll appreciate it when it all comes back to normal.

Maya:

Absolutely. Thank you so much for being here, Patrick. Ich weiß das wirklich zu schätzen.

Patrick McCarthy:

You’re very welcome. You’re very welcome.

Maya:

And if you’re looking for more information about Inish Free Irish dance, you can find Patrick’s studio at irishdanceaustin.com.

Maya:

Next up, we have Candace Wendt from FoodHead Catering and Sandwiches. Candice’s business has been actually working with the City of Austin to provide care meals to young students and their families in Austin. So, she’s doing great things with her business and I’m super excited for her to tell you guys about it. So, let’s see here, if we can pull Candace in.

Candace Wendt:

There we go.

Maya:

There we go. How’s it going, Candice?

Candace Wendt:

It’s going great. How are you today, Maya?

Maya:

Doing good, doing good. So, just to hop right in here, can you tell me what FoodHead catering service would normally be doing if there were no pandemic? What would business look like?

Candace Wendt:

Okay, so we are a cafe and a catering service. So we have a cafe close to UT campus and probably, our catering is 50% of what we do though. One of our biggest customers is University of Texas, and in all their different departments and so when they went down, we kind of went down, and started to have to reinvent what we do and how we do it.

Maya:

Absolutely.

Candace Wendt:

We did do some online ordering already, but we have expanded that. We’ve also started some, honestly, our community has been what’s kept us going and actually kept us reinventing ourselves. We do this one thing called, Lunch Bunch, and it was a friend of mine, and at the beginning of this, I felt like I was being told, listen to people’s ideas. You don’t have to do them, but listen and keep an open mind, and she came to me and said, “What if just start doing this lunch group in our neighborhoods and people can post it on Next Door and you can have a point person as a host and we pick up food at their houses.” And I was like, “Okay, let’s figure it out.” Well, the first week we did it, it was I think close to $2,000 worth of business.

Maya:

Oh, wow.

Candace Wendt:

Just on that one day and for that one group, and so we’ve been doing that weekly ever since, and just the response of people wanting to help small business, and from that it’s inspired us to want to keep busy but also help others. So, the Texas Restaurant Association has a program that you were referring to that is the comfort care packages and those are also part of the Texas Network of Family and Youth Success Programs. And so, basically what they’re doing and not just us, many restaurants are doing this, they are connecting with families that have children at risk and that need help. And so, in turn the restaurants are also providing meals for them and the restaurants get to work and we also get to provide a nice meal for these families. Plus, we also add paper goods or something that might be helpful for them because right now, you can’t get toilet paper, you can’t get some paper towels. So, that is helpful.

Maya:

Right, that’s spectacular. What was the decision making process like for some of these pivots that you’ve had to make? You mentioned listening and listening to other people’s ideas even if you don’t do them, but what was your process like for deciding what to just listen to and what to do?

Candace Wendt:

Well, basically you had to do something and you needed do it quickly, and things were changing drastically or every day rather, and you were like, okay, so this is what’s safe for our community and for our employees. So, how do we change this? How do we implement this? How do we keep our community but distance ourselves in the way that we’ve been asked to do? So, implementing online, ordering curbside, which we do, still keeps us working, keeps us seeing our customers and also just the connection, of being able to do that. And the other programs we’re doing, we’re also doing some things with meeting healthcare workers and that’s another way we’re keeping involved in our community. I think the biggest thing, and I know I keep on talking about this is, just the opportunity that we’ve had to be involved just beyond ourselves, and if we didn’t do that, I honestly think that, if I couldn’t focus outwardly, that just focusing inwardly would make me crazy. Uh oh, I’ve lost you.

Maya:

There we go. Sorry. Dogs barking in the background. That is a really good point, is we’re all stuck here, you might as well kind of look outwardly and see what you can do for your community and help your business at the same time if you can. Have you seen any specific successes that you think you’re going to continue on in your business even after we can kind of start meeting in person again?

Candace Wendt:

Ich glaube schon. I think we’ve always wanted, it’s two things. We’ve always wanted to do things where we gave back a little bit more and always have tried to figure out how that was going to work, and I think that we’ll probably implement more of those programs because I think not only, it brings your community together because you have a purpose-

Candace:

I think it’s just it brings your community together because you have a purpose. The other thing is that we were doing that lunch bunch and what right now we’re trying to do is come up with some more family meals and hot entree kind of things. It’ll be cold when it gets to your house, but you’ll heat them up. So that might be something that we can still keep those lunch bunches going because people will have evening meals.

Maya:

Correct.

Candace:

They won’t probably have the daytime that they would use it, but they would have them deliver to their home and they’d be in an insulated bag and waiting for them as a convenience type food, but a healthy one.

Maya:

Absolutely. One last question here for you, unless someone in the chat has one, we’ll slip it in, but this is the last question for me. What are some steps or maybe suggestions you could recommend to people in a similar spot or a similar industry that are looking to find new avenues for their business?

Candace:

Like I said before, listen, flexible, being flexible. One day something right now, one day something works the next day it doesn’t seem to work. So being flexible with your plans and realizing that you might have to change weekly, daily, monthly what you’re doing. But we are going to make it through this and it’s going to be okay. Just rely upon your community, your social media community, but more importantly your personal community. Reach out to them, let them know what’s going on with you. Communication is huge-

Maya:

Absolutely.

Candace:

I think that those things are a good direction.

Maya:

Absolutely. Well, thank you so much for being here, Candace. If people are looking to find out more about your business and what you do, the website is foodheads.com right?

Candace:

I agree.

Maya:

Absolutely. Well, thank you again. Super appreciate your time. Next up here we have Grace Nicholas from Crux Climbing Center. Crux is a climbing center based in Austin, Texas and it’s an in-person climbing gym where people go to climb. So you can imagine they’ve had to make a lot of changes considering everything that’s going on. So I’m super excited to hear Grace talk about some of the new programs are instituting and some of the changes that they’ve made to their business in this time. So let’s see if we can get Grace in here. One second and thanks for being patient to the audience and to our speakers as we work our way through this. 10 people is a lot to handle so I appreciate you being patient with us and working through it. Let me see here.

Jenna:

It looks I can’t bring Grace up but we do have our next panelist Kendall ready?

Maya:

No problem.

Jenna:

Kendall just let me know if you feel good about me bringing you up right now? Just put it in the chat. All right, she is ready to go. Here we go.

Maya:

Thanks Jenna. All right. We’ll give (crosstalk 01:12:31) Hi. How’s it going?

Kendall:

Hi, Maya, hanging in here. Thank you Jenna for getting me on. I currently have children literally corralled in my house. I’ve now been booted outside. There’s dogs barking, construction, so there’s a lot going on.

Maya:

We’re all experiencing the same thing. I just had to mute myself because my dog was growling at someone walking past. So I feel your pain. Thank you so much for being patient with us.

Kendall:

Yes.

Maya:

So I am-

Kendall:

Hope that’s okay. That’s just, it’s 3:00 on COVID time whatever.

Maya:

It is always okay. 3:00 on COVID is the constant state of being. I am so excited to talk to you and about Antonelli’s Cheese. Also, so is all of DigitalMarketer. We’re based in Austin. We know Antonelli’s and if you could just tell our audience a little bit about what you guys normally do.

Kendall Antonelli:

Sure. We are a cut to order cheese shop. We just celebrated our 10th anniversary in February. I clearly made too many jokes about, “Yay! We hit 10, we can retire.” Because then COVID hit and were like, “No wait.” (crosstalk 01:13:37) “Let’s hang on.” So what does it cut to order cheese shop? It’s like an ice cream shop but you can come in and taste everything for free and fun. Then if you something we cut it to order, which keeps the cheese better. We support smaller producers from around the United States and globally. Then we, in addition to our cheese shop, which we do cheese, and meat, and beer, and wine, and honeys, and preserves, we also have an events house across the street where we do about 200 to 300 cheese tasting classes per year and private events.

Maya:

Oh wow.

Kendall Antonelli:

We have a third location, which is our warehouse. Out of there we do… We supply artisanal foods to about 150 local restaurants or central Texas restaurants. We run our e-commerce out of there as well. So we have three physical locations so we have four revenue lines.

Maya:

Absolutely. So you mentioned that you have the live event, so you have a couple of locations. How is business working now that the stay at home order is in place?

Kendall Antonelli:

Oh my goodness. Just we were hearing some of the other speakers, it’s like reliving it and I already have tried to bury that. But around that March 20th, 19th day, 20th day everything became real in Austin when South by Southwest was canceled. So for us (crosstalk 01:14:54) was canceled, it doesn’t bring a lot of traffic to our retail, but it canceled all of our wholesale program. So all of our restaurants, which had, had us ordered for them, of course it was hundreds of thousands of pounds of cheese that was canceled on and we can’t hold them accountable to it. They’re in the same boat we are. So we lost half of our business revenue overnight. Quickly had to start making some pivots there. Then we just looked at other area’s we’re in Seattle, we tried to quickly stay ahead of the game and make a lot of quick adjustments before.

Kendall Antonelli:

So one of the things we did strategically is instead of saying, “What could happen? Or let’s wait until shelter in place and then we’ll put something else.” We just said, “Here’s the five different zones and levels of what Mayor Adler, our mayor might declare.” We started moving through those and then we said, “Heck with it, let’s jump to five and already be working through these systems.” So before it was ever mandated, we kicked customers out of our shop. We launched online orders, we set up a call center, which we’ve never done before. Which sounds easy and is actually really challenging as a small business and you have to pay labor for somebody to sit there on a phone and hold it. Curbside delivery into trunks really quickly.

Kendall Antonelli:

Then one of our quickest moves was then all of our events got canceled. I heard some other folks talking about this. So we did tastings where we take 50 people out to a farm and we couldn’t all get on a bus and do that. So we transitioned all of those virtual tastings right now. Instead they have skyrocketed, they always sold out and now we have doubled down in retail, and we have doubled down and events. So both of those programs are really real well. Which is good because it’s making up for our huge lost revenues. So in the end we’re saying we’re working four times as hard for a quarter of the money. At the end of the day we’re just hoping we break even. But we’ve been luckily able to hold on to all of our team.

Maya:

That’s spectacular. I have to say the online tastings kind of set this whole call in motion because one of my teammates did an online tasting, and told all of us about it. We all want it to do one. So that honestly is what inspired us to look at how businesses are getting creative with how they do things. So I was going to ask if it was successful, but it sounds like yes.

Kendall Antonelli:

Yes. I don’t know we’ve been asked what will we keep after when things go back to normal? There’s never a normal in entrepreneurship.

Maya:

Correct.

Kendall Antonelli:

I have a guest who might walk in front of the screen okay. He has decided not to. Homeschooling is not going well today. So I don’t know, we’ll never be able to… I guess if I’m looking on the bright side what has been great is a lot of stuff was in our business plan. We eventually wanted to launch Cheesemonger Live. We’ve had that domain for five years. It’s basically for people who can’t access and come into the shop that they could still experience cheeses the same way.

Kendall Antonelli:

So you call in and visually see the case and we talk you through the tastes and flavors and you can select it that way and we’ll still cut it to order. So we just went ahead and launched that. The classes, I don’t think we’ll ever take back people now… I guess one of the cool things, sorry that was distracting-

Maya:

You’re fine.

Kendall Antonelli:

Out of all of this, I know everybody, my plumbing is out, which is why the plumbers are here. So I just watch my child run into my front lawn and go to the bathroom and run back and I’m trying… They don’t need to know, but now you all know I have no secrets. The amazing thing is we have always, our goal has been to spread joy and it just so happens that we get to do that through cheese. We launched the virtual tastings as a way to just keep that program afloat. We could not afford to give back all that revenue. That was cash we’d already received. So we went to it because we had to. But now the amazing part is people are saying “I have nothing else to do and I just got to celebrate my 50th wedding anniversary with you guys, so thank you for giving us something to do. Thank you for breaking up the monotony.”

Maya:

Absolutely.

Kendall Antonelli:

So we’re getting to still see (crosstalk 00:09:55). Then it’s the part I don’t think we can ever take back because it’s connecting people across the United States. So now this weekend, this week we shipped out cheese tastings in a box to 20 different locations across the United States and they’re all celebrating the fact that one woman just finished her chemo cancer treatments.

Maya:

Oh that’s amazing.

Kendall Antonelli:

(crosstalk 01:19:15) lead a live tasting for her, but they’re all in different places across the United States. So we’ve just now found a new way to bring it all together. It’s just been exhausting like everybody else said.

Maya:

That’s spectacular though. You guys were doing amazing. I do have one question from the chat from multiple people who asked, how do you do a virtual tasting? So if you could just break down what that means.

Kendall Antonelli:

Yes, that is a great question. Because we’ve been doing these Facebook Live events and I’m like, “If you’re just tuning in, no people are not just sitting here watching me eat cheese. So locally in Austin you buy your ticket and then you come and you still pick up a cheese plate and so you pop your trunk. We don’t ever touch each other. We put it in the back of your trunk. You go home and you tune in at a certain time and we will guide you through the tasting. So we’re talking about the makers and how they made it, how it’s a labor of love. Our American cheese makers and all of our artists and producers are really hurting. It’s really commodities that are thriving right now and we’re losing a lot of farms through this.

Kendall Antonelli:

So now telling your story is more important now than ever. So people are getting a taste through it with us and we’re giving them science behind the cheese. We’re giving them theories on how to pair, and most importantly we’re just trying to connect with people in these isolating times. So virtual cheese tasting class is that you have a physical plate in front of you. Then you tune in with us and we’re talking you through a tasting. So now that’s why we’ve launched the 2.0 version where we will ship it to you and then you can join in on a tasting as well.

Maya:

Got it. Absolutely. Well Candace… Oh I’m sorry not Candace. Candace was before you.

Maya:

It’s fine. Kendall, we have one last question for you if no one else in the chat has anything to say. But for people that are looking to do a similar pivot, it’s the same question we asked everybody. Do you have any suggestions or any advice?

Kendall Antonelli:

Sure. This is not exactly answering your question, but I’m always off script.

Maya:

Go for it.

Kendall Antonelli:

I think any business should be doing right now is I am trying to intentionally support locally owned businesses, but if you don’t have your website updated, or your Instagram or… So for instance on our Instagram we just changed our profile and it just says open daily 11-6 pm here’s how to support us. So right now I think there’s a lot of people out there, there are a lot of people out there who want to support you, but if they don’t know how you just have to make it as easy as possible. So putting that, we created a whole tab on our website that says COVID-19 and on it, it just has how you can support us. It’s literally the information you find anywhere else on the website. It’s just bullet-by-bullet by this box, join this class, order online here.

Kendall Antonelli:

So making it as clear as possible to people and then staying… I’m so sick of my phone and my computer, but… And we don’t have a fancy marketing company, but I’m staying glued to it and responding to every inquiry and request I have right now. So that’s just people want to support you and trying to make sure that your messaging is out there in a way that they know how to support you. I think my biggest advice is giving ourselves a lot of grace. It doesn’t have to be perfect. We are repeating to ourselves this mantra which we read in a book, the Miracle Morning by Hal Elrod, who now lives in Austin. Quick, easy read, great business book. But it’s “Progress, not perfection.” So for so long we had put off a lot of these things because we needed them to be perfect, Have the right software, and the most high-tech awesome thing for the cheapest cost.

Kendall Antonelli:

All that went out the door, the day the pandemic hit. We were like, we need to do it now. It doesn’t matter if we have duct tape it to the door, we’re going to figure it out. Because we’ve stayed true to our voice and our branding that I don’t think has taken a hit for it. So I think it’s make it easy for people to support you. Give yourself grace and then it doesn’t have to be perfect to go for it and just celebrate our wins. Everybody celebrate our wins.

Maya:

Woo! That is a DigitalMarketer, core value. So that is right on brand with us. Kendall it was a joy talking to you. I had a great time. Thank you so much for being here.

Kendall Antonelli:

Thank y’all! Way to go the other business owners.

Maya:

For people that are looking to learn more about Antonelli’s Cheese Shop and to do a virtual tasting. I’m sure we’re all excited to do that now, antonellischeese.com is the website. So next up, last but not least is Grace Nicholas from Crux Climbing Center. Grace is in their marketing department and they have recently implemented some new sort of membership options for how people that can’t physically go to their climbing gym can still support them. So I’m super excited to have you here. Grace, thank you for being patient with us as we kind of work our way through these interviews. Thanks for being here. Oh, there you are. Can you say me or can you hear me?

Grace Nicholas:

Hello. I’m not hearing anything.

Maya:

Oh no.

Grace Nicholas:

One second. I’m not sure.

Maya:

Keine Bange. We’ll give her some time to get that fixed. Let’s see. Jenna might be sending you a message to see if we can get you up and running.

Grace Nicholas:

Let’s try, then.

Maya:

Did that help? Can you hear me?

Grace Nicholas:

Yes I can.

Maya:

Woo!

Grace Nicholas:

There we go.

Maya:

Absolutely. Well thank you so much and it’s Grace Nichols.

Grace Nicholas:

Nicholas, there’s an A at the end but-

Maya:

Okay. We’ll fix. So thank you so much for being here. Thank you for being patient as we work our way through these interviews. I’m thinking we saved the best for last here. I’m very excited to hear about the things that y’all have going on, especially because I have some coworkers that go to Crux Climbing Center and love it very much. So, can you tell us a little bit about what business was before the pandemic?

Grace Nicholas:

Yeah, we are a climbing gym that has a membership monthly subscription as you would say. We also have pay in full and day pass drop-ins. We do a kids program. We were in the middle of our spring break camp. We have yoga, fitness, climbing classes, and a retail section. So there’s a lot of different revenue streams for our business.

Maya:

Got it. Absolutely. And so now you’ve pivoted your membership strategy because people can’t come to the gym at all. So can you tell me a little bit about what kind of changes you guys have made there?

Grace Nicholas:

Yeah, so a lot of gyms have done different versions of opt in or opt out. We decided that we’re going to freeze everybody and if they want to opt in, they’re allowed to opt in to keep their memberships going to support us and our staff during this time. In that process we said for everyone that will opt in to keep a membership, once we’re back open, then we will give a membership to somebody in our community that’s been affected by this COVID situation.

Maya:

Absolutely. What was the decision making process for that? How did you guys decide to go with the keep a membership given membership?

Grace Nicholas:

Yeah, we knew a lot of businesses were hurting, including ourselves and were… But more importantly that our community was hurting and how we can help them and support them. The other thought process being that if we return and only some of our membership comes back because they’re the ones that could afford it, it just seems so sad to us to think that when we get to come back not everybody would get to. That’s not fair. So we were like, obviously this will help us get the doors back open when we’re able to, and then we can also give that appreciation back, pay it forward.

Maya:

Absolutely. I absolutely love that. What kind of response have you seen to that from your members?

Grace Nicholas:

It’s been great, so we launched it after we decided to do the opt in section, but we saw pretty much double the amount of people that were opting in opted in after we launched that so.

Maya:

Oh wow.

Grace Nicholas:

Yeah, so-

Maya:

Absolutely.

Grace Nicholas:

It’s a great response.

Maya:

Absolutely. That’s so good to hear. If anyone has any questions for Grace, just a reminder to throw that in the chat for Michelle, but we do have one last question here for you, which is just for anyone that’s in a similar business, even if it’s specifically a gym,, or a personal trainer or something that, do you have any specific advice for them?

Grace Nicholas:

Right now I think community engagement is huge, so we offer our online yoga and fitness for free. We’re just trying to think of different ways to engage people in this time where people are still seeking out fitness. So you’re still top of mind, which is nice. Maybe not as top of mind as sport events, and like restaurants, and other businesses.

Maya:

Correct.

Grace Nicholas:

But the fact that people still need fitness is great. I think right now any business, it’s how you treat your customers, how you treat your staff during this time is going to be a huge reflection. I think a lot of your customers base will value how you handle this situation.

Maya:

Absolutely. I think you’re 100% spot on with that. It doesn’t look we have any questions from the chat, so thank you so much Grace for being here. I think you had some excellent advice that people should really take. Especially, if they’re in that industry that’s very in-person and just kind of getting creative and listening to their customers. I think that’s absolutely amazing. If you are in Austin area and you want to check out Crux climbing center, it is cruxclimbingcenter.com correct?

Grace Nicholas:

Yes.

Maya:

Absolutely. Well, thank you so much for being here. I appreciate your time.

Grace Nicholas:

Yeah, thank you.

Maya:

All right y’all. Thank you so much for hanging in here for this office hours/insider training. This has been an absolutely wonderful experience to get to talk to you. All of these entrepreneurs making things work for them and taking lemons and making them into lemonade. So thank you to all of our panelists. Thank you to Michelle for being in the chat and keeping things running. Thank you Jenna for managing our speakers and keeping things as organized as we could possibly make it. Thank you to our audience for attending and we’ll see you next time. Thanks so much. Bye.