Managing A Business Through Tough Times

In this candid and comforting episode, Kay and Crystal dive into what it really looks like to run a small business during tough times whether those challenges come from the economy, rising costs, industry shifts, or life itself. From cashflow pressure and pricing decisions to mental health, doom‑scrolling, and the weight of constant bad news, they unpack the practical steps and mindset shifts that help business owners stay steady when everything feels uncertain.

Drawing on real stories including fuel shortages, Xero outages, tricky clients, and the emotional load business owners carry they explore how to take stock, go back to basics, strengthen communication, review pricing, reduce unnecessary costs (hello, subscriptions!), and stay close to your numbers. Most importantly, they remind you that tough times don’t mean you’re failing they mean your business is asking for clarity, leadership, and action.

A supportive, honest conversation for any business owner feeling the pressure right now.

shows at the beginning of each episode for 15 seconds

Connect with us:
Crystal Petzer - https://businessgrowthcoach.com.au/
Kay Godfrey - https://upupandaway.net.au/

If this episode hits home, share it with a business owner who needs to hear it.

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:00

Welcome back. You're with Kay and Crystal Small Business Sorted Podcast. And today we're talking about a really interesting um topic, which is managing your business through tough times or managing yourself through tough times as well, right? It's not always just your business might be fine, but you may not be fine. Um and uh but I was just Kay and I were just talking a minute ago and uh her cat uh had to be put into a kennel. What do you what do you call it? A It's a pet hotel. A pet hotel, yes. And uh for five days. But anyway, Kay was just telling me the suite that she booked.

SPEAKER_00 0:37

Yes. I bought it. As I do, because my cats are my kids.

SPEAKER_01 0:47

It's really sweet. I just I just love the way they um they market it, you know what I mean? Yes.

SPEAKER_00 0:52

And then you were saying that you took all these uh Well, as I say, we nearly had to take a trailer with us to get all the stuff there. We too we took uh a bed, a blanket, we took a scratching lounge, we took actually I took a the top of a box of paper, you know, like you get from office works. Yeah, the the lid. Yeah. Because he likes to sleep in obviously he likes to sleep in the lid of the box rather than sleep on his bed or on his blanket or anything else. And we also took some cat grass. So I don't know if they thought we were silly.

SPEAKER_01 1:23

We are silly, but no, well I've got a cat and we we put her into um the the the cat kennel or whatever you hotel, I guess. Um but yeah, but it's nice to know that they're safe while you're away too, right? And that's that's the whole reason for it. But um there's big business out there with pets, isn't there? Yes, there is. Um so so we were talking about tough times um going through business, and I thought it was quite relevant right now, and we were talking, we're we're talking about like the macro level, which is you and your little business or your business and how that gets affected in in tough times, and then you've kind of got the macro level, which is sort of the government and Australia and stuff, and how we're doing in tough times, and then we kind of have the world sort of view as to what's happening around the world, and all of these little things can impact us. Sometimes it may not impact us in a bad way, sometimes there's a win. Um, so there's often um little wins that you can in tough times that there's opportunities for for for lots of different things to come out. You know, if you think about COVID, we now have work from home, right? Which is something no one did much of before. Um, and we've got Zoom, you know, and all this sort of stuff. We've had technology has improved dramatically just from that COVID lockdown. So um not all things are bad, and not all economies are bad either. So I'm just saying though, but we are experiencing a bit of a tough time at the moment with petrol pricing and work, you know, the cost of living has definitely gone up. We all have felt that. Um, and the higher interest rates are impacting a lot of people around Australia as well, and and businesses, right? So, um, so yeah, what are your thoughts on this?

SPEAKER_00 3:01

Actually, my immediate thoughts at this minute in time are I'm a member of the Mazda MX5 Club of New South Wales, and we have just had a national meetup in the Hunter Valley, yeah. And obviously a few weeks ago, well before Christmas, we didn't have a petrol crisis. Um but now, well, just before we actually left to get to do the the the runs, obviously petrol has now become expensive and it's not scarce yet, but we were certainly worried we might have to actually cancel the whole thing because A, petrol's expensive, B, we thought we might not be able to get the petrol to get home, right? Well, exactly, and C other people it's it's almost like a moral thing. Would we feel right driving around in our Mazda MX5s in the Hunter Valley when people are suffering and can't get petrol? Yeah. In actual fact it didn't or it hasn't yet got to that stage. We did go on our little trip. Yeah. Um but certainly that's how that's how it's affected me so far, the latest crisis. I'm sure there'll be other effects that'll um Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 4:20

And look, it affects us all in different ways, doesn't it? And I I think um I might just go back to the mental mental health. I feel that when when there's a lot of bad news news, right? So, you know, we've got the war, we've got this, we've got that, we've got the budget. Um, I feel like there's often we we get oversaturated with bad news, and that can actually affect our mindset. And even though our business might be trading okay, but if we are affected quite badly and we take our eye off the you know, off what's happening in the business or um or we get a bit more sort of not depressed, but we we feel it and we just we just like worry more or we don't sleep better, all of that impacts everything in your life and also your health. And I feel like sometimes we just have to just be aware of are you scrolling too much and then your feeds are just picking up all the the doomsday stuff, or what or you're listening to the news too much. I know my mum, God bless her, when she was alive, she watched the news morning, noon, night, afternoon. I mean, that news was coming on every hour. And she used to be my I just stopped watching your news and she used to be my my did you see that, Chris Wall? This is something so whenever there was a real problem, I used to get it from my mum, but um, but now you know we do need to be aware of things, but I do feel that that that mental wellness and mental health is something we really have to be really we need to be aware of it and we need to catch ourselves, and there's a saying where you need to stand guard at the entry of your mind to what you allow to go in.

SPEAKER_00 6:04

Yeah. Um talking about tough times, tough times, like you said, can don't have to be necessarily things from the outside affecting you. They can be um relationships, um, abusive relationships can can be a tough tough on you. But other family members may be sick that that affects you. It affects your business badly too. She's trying to run a business and she's got family issues. So that's also comes under the heading, I guess, um of of difficult times. Difficult climate, difficult times.

SPEAKER_01 6:53

And different industries go through difficult times too, don't they? You know, yes. There's industries at the moment where um, you know, your your profession uh may be getting replaced by AI. Yes. Um, and that is definitely happening around the country for different sectors. Yes. And so that is difficult times. If you've got a business that's very reliant on that, and you know, I'm just thinking marketing and social media posts and that, I mean, I'm you know, that I would be pretty worried if I was in a business of that right now because everybody could get beautiful posts and you know your strategy can be done quite quickly on on a lot of this new AI. Um, but you're absolutely right. So I think it's about putting the tough times or difficult times into perspective and just also so mindset is one. Now what ha what can happen in a business if we just go down to that? What can happen in a business during difficult times? What what are some of the signs? You start losing money.

SPEAKER_00 7:57

Yep.

SPEAKER_01 7:57

You start losing money.

SPEAKER_00 7:58

So no profit maybe. No profit. Yep. Um you could also end up working too hard or too much or too many hours to try and rectify you may think that will rectify the situation, that will solve the problem. Yes. It m it likely it will not, likely it will just make it worse. So what you really have to do is examine the situation and analyse it and find out what is wrong. Um if you're not making a profit, is it is it because you're not getting enough clients? Is it you put your prices down too much because you think putting your price down will make you more money when it doesn't necessarily, it might just might mean you're working harder. But you really need to sit down and and and take a look. Take stock. Take stock. Take stock. Not just your figures, just your whole the whole situation.

SPEAKER_01 8:56

I guess something else you could add in there is if you're if the cost of goods or the cost to produce something has gone up quite significantly, but you haven't adjusted your pricing, or you're honouring a tender or a quote and you're out of pocket a lot, you know, that probably wouldn't be sustainable. And that can be very stressful, right? Yes. So you'd would have to have a conversation with that person or perhaps stop the work. I don't know. It'd be like you'd have to come up with a different, but you would need to know how you're tracking and so understanding your figures.

SPEAKER_00 9:32

Yeah, first of all, understanding once you know what the problem is, dealing with it, not not ignoring it. And if you do have to put your prices up, then knowing how to communicate that to your clients and when to to communicate that, I think that's an issue that a lot of people have at the moment. Yes. Um they know they need to put their prices up because of the petrol prices have gone up.

SPEAKER_01 9:57

I think uh you know, are you would you be worried about losing clients?

SPEAKER_00 10:01

You would be worried about losing clients, yes. You would be worried, and you may lose some clients, but if they're not going to pay you enough money to make a profit, then there's no point in having those clients. It it's making tough decisions.

SPEAKER_01 10:16

Yes, it's it's you've got to you've got tough decisions. Be ready to make the tougher decisions, aren't you in your business?

SPEAKER_00 10:22

I'm going to mention something that's just sprung to mind. Zero. Oh, zero. Back on zero again. Oh, back on zero again. Sorry, my mind works that way. Have had issues with um they've been down. The last week, right? And Was that three days down? I don't know how many days down there was. It felt like a long time. And the problem is if you're a bookkeeper, so I'm going back to your bookkeeper, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 10:48

Bookkeeper.

SPEAKER_00 10:50

And you use zero and only zero.

SPEAKER_01 10:52

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 10:53

What do you do for those three days? Yeah. You can't work. You can't well you can't work on clients' books. You can't do payroll for clients. Well there'd be ways of but you have to look at the situation and go, what can I do? Not it's not about what I can't do. What can I do? Well, you may have some procedures you need to write. Yes. Um, for those outsourcing people that you use that we spoke about in previous podcasts. You may need to do some filing. You may need to do some training on some new software. You could call your clients and have a chat. You could call your clients and have a chat. So think about don't think about all the things you can't do, which unfortunately on Facebook lately there's been a lot of stuff about. But it's all negative. There's a few people who've posted some nice positive comments. Right. Um Zero have are attempting to reach out. Yeah, but as I say, it's it's a difficult time for zero too. Yeah. Um, and look at what you can get out of it, what you can do, what's positive, because it's not going to be a long-term thing. Yeah. Um, what can you do um in the meantime? Yeah. Look at look at the on the bright side. Right. So there's a there's a thing on TV as well at the moment, isn't it? Called on the bright the bright side? Yeah, I think so. At the end of the news. I don't watch the news, so you tell me. I usually watch the news and then I switch it off when it goes at the end. But anyway.

SPEAKER_01 12:21

Be careful of that news. Um, but I I I think that what you're saying there was a very good example. So you're already feeling kind of like a bit uncertain about the future, right? And I know the government and what whatever they've got going on at the moment and whether we're gonna have enough fuel in the country, all that. That all sits in the back of our mind, right? And then you've got the zero thing that comes in, which which probably would have affected thousands of people across the world. Um, you know, these are the things that happen in life, and often when things happen, when you have a few things happen, it kind of what do they say, it doesn't pour it, you know, it doesn't rain, it pours. Um so if one thing's wrong, then a whole lot of other stuff goes wrong. And sometimes it can just feel very, very overwhelming um when when all of that happens. So and that's what we're trying to say here too, is that you're not alone, are you? No. No. You know, you're there are many, many other businesses. What could somebody do if they are feeling a bit down or or they are feeling like a bit overwhelmed in their business? What could they do to you? Eat a bar of chocolate?

unknown 13:31

I don't know.

SPEAKER_00 13:33

I what could they do? I would talk I would talk to other business owners. I'd get in touch with people who are in the same boat. That's what I personally would do.

SPEAKER_01 13:43

I don't know what you would do if I think I think, yeah, talking to other people and just knowing that um just hearing similar stories is more comforting. Um you could speak with your accountant, I guess, because they would probably be hearing lots of different things. I know you shake your head. No, I don't I'm just gonna be able to do it. No, but it's um but you know that they could be, especially if you're worried about something or cash flow or you're not understanding something. Talk to your bookkeeper. Talk to your bookkeeper. Um, you could talk to a business coach as well. But I feel like, or you could go to a networking group and meet other business owners there. If you're feeling isolated, do the opposite. And I think if taking no action is of always a big concern because little I I guess one of the things whenever you have a difficult time in life, it's the little steps, the little actions you take, then start to get that momentum going and get you moving and getting you working towards the right solutions or the right decisions to make.

SPEAKER_00 14:43

Something that's I'm thinking about now is um the tradey wives Facebook page. Um I think that's a place where people talk to other tradey wives about issues that they're having now. And I think the reason that's so successful is that everyone can relate to the circumstances that other people are going through. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 15:13

And some of that feedback in there, some's helpful, some not so helpful, but you can it kinda you could take some points out of that too, I guess. Yeah. Yes, absolutely. So um you're not alone. No, you're not alone. And I'm sure there's other other chats and other groups that you could join and do as well. Yes. I think when tough times are, you know, like we say, they're external and they're internal. Um, but the internal, you know, what what the things that you can work like on your business or the things that can really make you feel worse in tough times is that lack of clarity around your numbers. And so if you are not aware of what's happening in your business or your numbers, this might be a good time to get some help on how to understand them because understanding what your position is right now and what you can do to take because you know, knowing having information, knowing the truth, good, bad, and ugly, yeah, is a better place to be than kind of not knowing and putting your head in the sand. So nice to put your head in the sand, isn't it? But sometimes you just you have to know, don't you? You know, and I think that's one area. Um, definitely pricing, like we've just spoken about that, is another area in business where we do need to review our pricing. We need to increase it if we if it's costing us more.

SPEAKER_00 16:36

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 16:36

I think a lot of people understand that. Yes. Um, if your sales are down or your leads coming in are down, you know, be aware of that, but maybe look at other op other areas of opportunity that you could go into. You you might have a breathing space right now, so you can actually review that sort of stuff. What what do you think? Yes, no, I totally agree. Totally agree.

SPEAKER_00 17:00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 17:01

Yeah. And the other one is um, you know, you mentioned your systems and your product. This could be, if you were thinking of putting in a new system in your business, like a new job management system, or um changing your accounting system, or bringing in a new CRM, or this is the perfect, perfect time to actually introduce that, right? Because everything's not right. So just bring it in and you never know, that might give you more visibility. Give you more save your time. Save your time, save your time. Reduce your costs, you know. The the obviously reducing costs is a big one in in uncertain times is reviewing the one thing I remember you talking about this, but that one thing around subscription. I was I was gonna say, I know what you're going to say now.

SPEAKER_00 17:49

You're gonna say subscriptions. But it's very true how many of us we get some even us doing this podcast, yes, how many subscriptions have between us we suggested we get um that we sort of need but sort of don't. Yeah. Um I mean we've got a sprout, we've got um Opus Clip for doing the clips, we've got you've got another one that you uh yeah, Opus Clip, there was This was the one that you took on that you're paying for, basically. But yeah, it's there's so many out there to they they're like little handy. They get dangled in front of our nose and we almost can't like fifteen dollars a month. But every fifteen dollars adds up. I've actually got a board at home. I've got a whiteboard and I've got subscriptions at the top. I love it. I list them all down how much they cost per month. So that just so that I'm very much aware of of what I've got when I have to pay for them and more importantly, do I still need them?

SPEAKER_01 18:53

Well, I know um a lot of my subscriptions when I look in my business, that it it's becoming a significant part of my business, and I know I need them, um, some of them, but I'm sure there's some there that I don't need. But then you can add your Netflix, you can add your Amazon Prime, you can add your, you know, this my husband pays for those. Well, but but you add all those up, right? And then there's ones that are sitting, say in your Apple store, that you no longer use, but they're still just automatic renewals. So I think there's a huge opportunity for everybody to like have a have a list of what you have um and where they are, and you could see them on your statements, can't you? Yeah. Um the other thing that uh is the communication. So you can improve communication during this time. Like um often when we're busy and we we forget about keeping in touch with our our really good clients, you know, the clients that that have been with us a long time, or perhaps some of our bigger clients, and maybe our relationship hasn't been I mean the relationship's good, but maybe our communication to them has dropped a little bit. Um there could be, you know, contacting your end users and asking them how they found your business and try ask for feedback where you can improve. You know, these are the little things that you could take as positive steps to build your business into an even stronger business. And often going back to basics, as I've always said, yes, um, is a really good place. So in times of difficulty, whether it's you know, global, macro, or even if it's just something that's happened in your life, taking the business back to basics is often a really, really good way to go. So, what would be some of the basics that you would look at if you were going back to basics?

SPEAKER_00 20:44

I would look at um how I'm operating um whether it's efficient, whether I it look I think it's efficient. I'd look at all my costs. Yeah, you know, I'd look at my pricing to see am I charging enough? Yeah, and analyse that. I'd look at my client base to see as a bookkeeper when you first start up, you tend to just take on anybody. Yeah. And as you grow, you realise I can't remember we used to call them A, B, C, or D clients. Yes, we did. Yes. Uh and you look at you look at that list and you go, well How do I get some more A clients? More A, and I don't those D ones, they're not really they're not helping me. Yeah. They're not helping my mental health, they're not helping my productivity, they're not helping my profitability. Um I'm just sort of doing it now just because they're still there. So unfortunately, you may have to let some clients go. But then you make room for the better clients and new clients. Yeah. The ones that will basically pay you more money, I guess. But um you know, the ones that are are more rewarding. I think it applies across many businesses.

SPEAKER_01 22:07

We all need customers, right? So we all have good customers and you know the e style customers that that take up a lot of our time and money, but they don't they don't always pay well or they may not buy as much, yes.

SPEAKER_00 22:20

Yes, yeah, yeah. Um and back to tradeywise again. But there was a um question on there about someone had quoted for you know a job and then the client had come back and gone, you know, can you reduce it? And then they had and then they come back and said, Can you I don't know, reduce it some more or whatever. And the question was how much do I reduce it? What do I do? And most people just went Enough's enough. Enough's enough. Yeah. Yeah, enough is enough. So um yeah, even if it's difficult times, taking on that client that isn't isn't gonna make you money. Yeah, take a lot of your time isn't isn't worth it. It's not the way to go. Just maybe you're in the wrong business, maybe you need to change your business, but at least you'll be able to if you look at your figures, you will be able to work out um is that what I should do or what should I do?

SPEAKER_01 23:24

And I think um following up on your outstanding monies, like that would be back to basics, you know, how often are you following up on invoices? Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 23:36

But I didn't.

SPEAKER_01 23:37

No, you didn't. You thought about A, B, C, D, E.

SPEAKER_00 23:40

Yes, I did.

SPEAKER_01 23:42

But I think um doing the uh following up on the ISA, I I um I don't know if it was on Tradywise or another another area, but there was somebody who was saying that they had they didn't realize it because they'd been so busy and had taken the they were growing. They they'd taken on a couple of new areas um and they had forgotten to follow up on some of the outstanding monies, and they had close to $200,000 sitting in outstanding monies. And I just went, Whoa, no wonder you've got a cash flow problem. So they um so that so I think going back to basics, so outstanding monies for me, follow that up, get that money in. What are your terms with people if there's a very slow payers? You know, you could do that outstanding monies over a whole year if you want and see exactly which months and start off with the more recent ones and then work your way through because the older they are, the less chance you've got of getting that money. Um, but introducing maybe like a direct debit system, yeah, or you take a deposit, or you take um a um you pay 50% up front, or you pay at completion of job. What's wrong with that? Or completion of service, you know, what's wrong with that? Um and then the other thing is is getting back to you know what your staff hours are. Um are your staff being productive? Are your staff because of the environment they feeling? Um maybe their mindset isn't great and they might be working, you know, at less cap you know, their capacity has gone down. Um those basics that make you money go back to what those I go back. Getting your quotes out fast. Yes. Get them out within 24 hours. Don't take three weeks.

SPEAKER_00 25:28

Listening to your husband, Jim. That's a big thing, getting quotes out quickly to people. And it sounds I mean, if your quote gets there first, um it's just a good thing if your quote gets it they might get there before everybody else's does.

SPEAKER_01 25:48

You've got a better chance of it winning, yes.

SPEAKER_00 25:50

Yes, absolutely.

SPEAKER_01 25:51

I just had a um I was speaking with a client this week and he'd put in he'd gone out to look at the house yeah he'd gone out to look at the house and he sort of spoke to the person there and he said, Look, it's a very big job, it was inside and out, and uh the painting I think it was. And um he said, Look, I'll come back to you, just give me a few days, like give me a week, right? And I'll get back. And the woman said, Yeah, no problem, take your time. I'm only gonna be looking at this at you know, closer to August, September. So he went home and he didn't do he was sort of doing it but not in a rush, right? And she rang, he rang her just to just to clarify something, and she said, Oh, I've been waiting for your quote. True story, yeah, and I've already got two others. Oh wow, and he goes, Oh my god, he said, I thought she'd given me permission to take my time to do it. Yeah, and I said, You can never, ever, ever expect that. And I think if you could get your quotes out first before anybody else, yes, some people may never send them in, but if you could get those out super fast, how impressed are you as a client? Oh absolutely, yeah, love it. Tonya, I I I would love it too.

SPEAKER_00 27:04

Yeah, something else that I liked, and I'm probably digressing a bit about um higher hubby is the fact that um you get people to do Google reviews when you finish the job. Yes. By leaving, I think it's you've got some cards or something.

SPEAKER_01 27:20

Yeah, we've got like a little um pamphlet. So so just as a bit of context, um we've got a couple of um in Jim and I, we've got a couple of higher a hubby franchises as well. Um plug for higher hubby. Um but uh but what we do is is we actually have a um a little sheet of paper and it's just got um, you know, uh we've been at your house. So often clients aren't always at the house. That's nice too. Yeah, and it's just got who worked there, the date it was done, and then we ask for um if you want, if you have any feedback for us, please, you know, this is our number and everything. And then we also have the Google um, you know, the QR code, and they can actually take a picture and just do it right there and then. And we get we probably get about three or four months from that. Yeah. Um, you know, we probably do about, I don't know how many jobs we do, but it's a lot, you know, like probably two, three hundred jobs a month. But um, but you know, to get that sort of continuous Google reviews that definitely helps you get more leads.

SPEAKER_00 28:20

Good reviews, yeah, it gives you good leads, that's what I'm saying. So um this is something else that in hard times you can think about implementing things like this that will hopefully bring you more leads um in the future.

SPEAKER_01 28:33

The idea of focusing on the customer and getting everything to the customer the way the customer would like it. Yeah. So if you put yourself in your in the customer's shoes, you know, what would they like? People love prompt return calls, people love getting their their quote or their tender or whatever you do to, you know, the pricing. Um, people love to get their work booked in quicker. People love being over-communicated, you know, like um send a um, you know, confirmation email that you've booked it in and what time you'll be there on the day. Let them know we're gonna come, you know, we'll be there in an hour, you know, see you soon. Um, or send the invoices out fast. People hate it when the invoices come too late because then you you might have a budget for it now, but in three weeks' time you may not have a budget for it, right? So it's um it's just all those little things, the small things, the small steps, the back to basics, getting those right, getting your staff to be more proactive and more customer focused, I think. Yes. Presentation, absolutely, yes. You know, are your staff looking the goods, you know? Are they presenting well? What are they how are they treating the customers, you know? Um are they, you know, I think it's the all those little things that give it a wow, that give your business a better chance. Yes. You've got everybody's got good competition, right? There's a lot of people doing it well. Yes. There's a lot of people not doing it well, but you want to be one of those that has that opportunity.

SPEAKER_00 30:12

That extra well, yeah. Yeah, I mean if if it if it is tough times, yeah, some people are going to end up closing their businesses. Let's face it. So if you don't want it to be you, if you do all these things that we've been saying, analyze your business, look at your figures, and I think customer service is is a huge one. Yeah. Um say and during those times, the difficult times, look at your business and look at all the elements and see where you can improve.

SPEAKER_01 30:44

Yeah. And just remember that as a business owner, we have to make tough decisions in moments like these. Yes. And so, or any moments where something's not happening in your business, and it may not always be easy to do, but we are required to step up occasionally and do that, and sometimes letting staff go if that's what it needs to happen, you know, or um letting uh clients go that that aren't working for you. Um, I think just having those conversations, do it, it's like ripping off a band-aid, isn't it? Just do it fast. Um, just do it. It's it will you, your business and you need to survive. Yeah, and you've got to get through the best way that you can. But taking actions and small steps is just the way to do it, isn't it?

SPEAKER_00 31:35

The thing is, yeah, and don't take them too quickly. Don't just suddenly go, oh, it's all too hard. Uh be overreactive, you think. Yes. I was a bit overreactive. What did you do recently?

unknown 31:50

I bought.

SPEAKER_00 31:51

She bought a BYD because it was hybrid.

SPEAKER_01 31:57

And I thought, God damn it, if we've got no fuel to drive around, and we've got to get drive around, at least we can have a EV car that we can uh or at least it I don't know, you get a thousand Ks per tank or whatever. I know, but I was quite reactive and it took about a month to get the car, and now we don't even have a problem with fuel at the moment.

SPEAKER_00 32:14

But no, but you know where to park it. You've got too many cars.

SPEAKER_01 32:20

Never mind. Yeah, but I yeah, anyway, that's what I did. But it's and they they were pretty reasonably they had a special on, and I think that just kind of got my brain thinking. Um but it I I have to say though, with these tough times, I mean, we've we've got some opportunities. Like I've you know, I find myself doing more study, more reading. Yeah, um, I kind of educate myself more in the streets. Spend some time with the kids, not that that would be useful. My adult kids, I don't know if they want to see me that often, but um, but yeah, spending time um doing the things that fulfills me but also will improve me for the future as well. And I tend to go into that um with that as well. I did do another reactive purchase, by the way. I don't I've got no idea. You've got no idea that. What did you buy? I look, you know my background, I I'm South African originally, right? And back in South Africa when we lived there many, many years ago now in the 80s, um, we the uh petrol theft was a huge thing. And because petrol prices were so damn expensive, right? So it was not cheap to run a car in those days. And uh well, probably still isn't, to be honest. But they so people used to steal fuel a lot. Yeah. And I just remember back in those days you could put like a coil into the where you pour the petrol in, and basically if they got a stick a hose in, it can't go any further, so you don't actually get to the fuel. And so I looked on Amazon and what do you know? Amazon sells them, and I they were like five dollars each or something. Anyway, I bought four and we've installed them in our cars. So I just thought if if things get really bad, you know, and there isn't people will still and we will see a lot more of that. And I just thought, well, I'm I that's just my brain overreacting and overthinking things through. But anyway, we'll see, we'll see if that if that was ever worthwhile purchasing.

SPEAKER_00 34:17

I find that in difficult times you want to buy yourself it's probably more a female thing than a male thing. Do you find you want to buy yourself something to like comfort? Something to make you feel better? I don't know. I d I don't think I do, but I'm sure a lot of people say I bought the car.

SPEAKER_01 34:35

No, no, I maybe, I don't know. Yeah, maybe, but I think that's a way of soothing ourselves, right? So some people might drink more, some people might eat more, some people might buy more. Um I think it's a way of self- self-soothing. And I think the other thing that we've got to watch out for when we want to numb ourselves out of not wanting to think about all the things that aren't working out for us, scrolling, doom scrolling is a is just the new pastime for everybody. I don't know if you've noticed, but it just seems that, and there's a lot of bad things to watch, and then you get hooked into that. And but I feel like just realizing how much you are doing and stop yourself, and that's what I've done. I've moved all my apps to the back of the phone, I get no notifications now. I've really got to go hunting for them and looking for them because they're not even in a folder. Um, and so that way I could just sort of I don't know, you just gotta watch, you just gotta watch yourself and look after yourself.

SPEAKER_00 35:34

I think you need to watch negative people as well. Just some people are more negative than others, so try to be around positive people if you can. I like that.

SPEAKER_01 35:48

I like that a lot. I think that is and we could be one of those positive people that people would like to resonate with as well.

SPEAKER_00 35:58

People like me. I again. I think um I think I am a positive person. I very rarely get upset about things. But um No, you are sometimes I do though.

SPEAKER_01 36:10

You've got a sunny disposition, as they would say. You are you're you're a you do you are naturally a quite a happy person. Um what about when you tell w you know, what do you tell clients who feel embarrassed about struggling?

SPEAKER_00 36:26

Don't be embarrassed. Yeah You shouldn't be embarrassed at all about it. You should be open about it. Talk to talk to others, don't keep it inside. Yeah. Talking about things helps I think. Whatever it is. I'm a talker. I know. I like to talk it out.

SPEAKER_01 36:45

But some people aren't. I've got a brother who's who's um keeps it all in.

SPEAKER_00 36:49

Well I've got a husband who does the same thing.

SPEAKER_01 36:51

Yeah. I think they're the same profile, disprofile again. DC. Um and also I think the the thing I thought I'd just mentioned, the moment you realize that tough times doesn't always mean that I'm failing. Correct. It doesn't.

SPEAKER_00 37:13

Might not be you.

SPEAKER_01 37:15

May not be you. And uh you know that just because you're feeling like uh times are tough, but it doesn't actually mean that you're failing. You actually you might be doing you may not be doing as well as you used to, but you may still be doing really, really well. Yep. And I think it's just keeping everything a little more in perspective, isn't it?

SPEAKER_00 37:34

Yeah, it is, it is. Um I think we need to say in a difficult climate, the businesses that survive aren't the strongest. They're the ones that stay closest to their numbers and take action. I think we've got a lot of people.

SPEAKER_01 37:50

The action and and stay close to your numbers. If you don't know what your numbers are, get out there and ask and get help with that. Yeah, and I love that you know, actions can be just little, right? Yeah, they can be getting those quotes out 24 hours, you know, within 24 hours of the visit, or when you have the call with someone. Um it's making sure that you check your outstanding monies every week. It means quotes follow up, you know, follow up on any things that are out there. Just little things, right? I I don't know that I think I've got I feel like we've covered the subject really well too. I think we've been through it. Um I just feel like you know, it doesn't it doesn't you it doesn't have to be too hard. If it is feeling hard, I think what you said earlier, reach out, talk about it, find people that you resonate with that are maybe can give you some good feedback or you can help you with steady the more positive side of stuff. Um and I think nothing lasts forever is my key takeout today.

SPEAKER_00 39:02

And right now a lot of businesses, business owners aren't bailing, they're just under pressure. I like that. Is that your key takeout? That's my key takeout.

SPEAKER_01 39:11

That's my final comment. We've been listening to uh Kay and Crystal on Small Business Sorted Podcast. Yep. And this one was just running a business in a difficult climate. Yes. Thanks, Kay. I enjoyed that. I did too. Thank you.