Well…this was a year for the books! As we continue into the holiday season and round out the rest of the year, we thought it would be great to spend some time in gratitude. This week, Jared and I are taking a moment to reflect on our business highs and lows in 2020.
We are so thankful for the lessons learned throughout the year and wanted to share them all with you!
This year, we had some incredible highs, including our virtual conference and successfully selling a business this year. Some of our lows include losing our Amazon business account, which taught us the importance of making sure our businesses are diversified.
Maybe this week's episode will inspire you to take a look at all the great work you've done this year, and tally up your business highs and lows. You should be so proud of yourself! I sure am.
Keep on reading to hear all about the rollercoaster ride of 2020!
Business Highs and Lows | The Highs
Hope International
This first one is definitely one of our favorite all-time highs. In 2020, we've been able to work with a company called Hope International that has helped us donate $40,000 to other entrepreneurs so that they could get their businesses up and running and provide value to their communities.
With that 40k, Jared and I could provide 2,000 micro-loans, which is just so cool. Those micro-loans mean that moms can buy a sewing machine and get her business off the ground so that she can help put food on the table.
And because they are little micro-loans, it gives the new entrepreneur a little skin in the game! The goal is to get them to repay the loan to turn around and serve more and more entrepreneurs, which is so great.
It's moments like this that just make us so giddy and proud of the efforts we make. There's no better feeling than standing in solidarity with you all and growing together.
Going Viral
Another incredible high of this year has been the opportunity to go viral! (At least by my standards). If you remember, I had the wonderful Vina Howell on the podcast to share her story of building her business with just ONE product. And she made over 20k in a month doing it! She shared some amazing advice, and the folks over on YouTube are eating up all the great info she had to share.
I love it when our community can come together and just share all of the great things we are learning. And I'm so thankful to Vina for embodying the Because I Can mindset and leaping into her dreams.
She is such an inspiration!
Virtual Conference
Here comes that word of the year…pivot! We've all had to do some pretty major pivoting this year. And one of the ways Jared and I did so was through our virtual conference. We had no intention of having a virtual conference this year. But as you know, the pandemic had other plans.
After the excitement and fun of seeing you all in person at my last live event, I was pretty bummed at first to have to bring this year's event online. But once we decided that's what we were definitely going to do, I decided to quit the pity party and just dive all in.
I knew that we would need to figure out a way to replicate the joy and community of an actual live event. Especially during a year when we were all feeling pretty isolated and at our wits' end. And can I just say I am so proud of how everything turned out? My team did an AMAZING job getting everything together. And it just gave me such a renewed sense of confidence that we can adapt to anything that comes our way.
I am so thankful for that experience and the lessons we picked up throughout the whole journey.
Selling A Business
We did it! We sold an ENTIRE business this year. And what a great feeling that was.
The best part? We built that business in just about two years as a sort of fun project to keep our entrepreneurial muscles in shape. And we weren't the face of it at all. So the transition was seamless and we got a check out it, too!
Business Highs and Lows |The Lows
The College Years
This was probably the hardest one for Jared and me. And really, we're more proud than anything, but the sadness is still there. Our oldest went off to college. We tried to convince her to stay in Puerto Rico for school but to no avail.
So she is back in Utah having a total blast while we're here, just kind of feeling like we're missing our right arm. It's so strange going out and taking pictures without her, but then again, we're so excited about this new chapter in her life.
Goodbye, Amazon!
I hope this one serves as a lesson to you all. Please, please, please diversify your business. Everyone is always talking about how cool Amazon is, so we decided to try selling our pillowcases there. For a while, we were doing about 6k a month on it before deciding to dive full-in. Well, things picked up quickly, and we were up to over 50k a month and running out of inventory!
It was all pretty exciting until one day we were just completely shut out of our Amazon account. No explanation. We didn't get any answers as to why it was shut down. So the biggest lesson learned there was the importance of not putting all of your eggs in one basket. Had we done so, then our whole operation would have been shut down.
We don't want any of you to find yourself in a situation like that, so please be sure to prioritize diversity in your business!
Looking to 2021
So we've got a pretty unique business goal for the upcoming year. This year, giving out those micro-loans and seeing the reaction on our student's faces was SUCH a gift. We were instantly hooked! So in the new year, our plan is to do it again but bigger. Our new goal is to give out 10,000 microloans.
Our favorite part of this is that these micro-loans are just a gift that keeps on giving. Because when you teach someone to make money for themselves, it is even more powerful than any monetary gift you can offer.
You're empowering them with the knowledge and confidence that they can transform their financial situation, and I don't think it gets any better than that!
We are excited for 2021, and we hope you are too. Even amidst the lows, there is so much to be grateful for, and we couldn't be more thrilled than to have you on this journey alongside us.
