 Hi, and welcome to our pilot of the Savvy Entrepreneur, where we discuss entrepreneurship and economics. In today's episode, we'll be meeting Mandy, who is the co-manager of La Vida Bell Cafe here in downtown Longmont, Colorado. We will be discussing the social and economic impacts of the COVID-19 virus. So, I know you have a pet project too. Do you want to talk about the venture that you're putting some time into now that you've got some free time from the cafe? I've had several pet projects, which we'll be talking about. The business you're looking to raise some funds on? Oh, gotcha. Okay. Yeah, so thanks to Talis and his mentorship. We've been developing a wholesale cannabis grow, and we have put together all the financials, a solid business plan, and have a pretty solid plan in terms of how we move forward with that. And so that's something I'm enjoying spending time on. I'm actually kind of looking forward to quarantine because there's a lot of stuff to do. A lot of things to write, you know, lots of just hobbies to give energy back to. But the business itself, the vision for it came together thanks to this time. And so that's sort of a benefit from that as well. But yeah. Do you guys hear that? So try to be productive with your time. I know you're all sitting on the couch, locked in with your tissues and hopefully rolls of toilet paper. And yeah, food too, yeah. But yeah, use this time to do something you always wanted to, whether it's learned to code on you to me or starting a new business or even pick up a fun thing like knitting or just anything productive. Functional. Yeah, so you have yourself a hat. So I have a question for you. Yes. How have your projects and businesses been affected by COVID-19? Wow, that was a great question. Similar to LaVitaBella, funding has basically dried up. We were raising a million dollar round for an aerospace company that I'm involved with, actually the CEO of, and we had investors come in from out of town. And right in the middle of this, right before the COVID thing really kicked off, we had investors come in from out of town. And as soon as the investor got back home, he had a fever. Yeah. So this guy who can write, you know, the check that we need is now sick and in quarantine. And we're just sitting there literally twiddling our thumbs waiting for this capital come in. And, you know, with high tech ventures, you need a lot of capital in order to do the R&D that's required in the prototyping. And, you know, my team of five are just basically sitting around. It's very unfortunate because we lost a ton of momentum. We were going into our fourth round of prototypes, getting some very good test results, and now we're just kind of sitting and waiting just like everyone else. It's very frustrating, right? Luckily, you know, we can still do some work at home. But, you know, the stuff that we have to do in the lab, all that has been put on hold. One good thing that's come up of it, though, is we're looking for new lab space. And with this whole, you know, everyone working from home, I have a suspicion that corporate rent, corporate office buildings are going to have a real big price drop because people are going to realize that working from home makes a lot of sense. I was kind of thinking that, too, just how easily a lot of businesses have shifted to remote working. We, one of our team members is a professor at MIT and he was saying that he doesn't see classes going back to the way they were ever. He thinks that digital learning has the age of digital learning and that things are just going to move continually toward that because all of the barriers and the pain points that weren't addressed up to this point are being addressed and worked out because people need to be working at home right now. So after this, there should be no real barrier to doing it and all the solutions should be figured out. So I'm really thinking that it's going to be a fundamental change in the way certain people are able to work because I've been working at home for a long time and I enjoy not commuting. Spending an extra hour, hour and a half with my ducklings is a lot better than spending that time in traffic. I see you have a point in all of that, but I just have to wonder what that level of social isolation, if we choose to really all do everything from home, or at least for the most part, even imagine 60% to 75%, what is that going to do to us as a species? And especially in the time when we're already very disconnected, although we are hyper-connected through technology. Yes, and when you said that, a meme popped into my head. The meme said, introverts, put down your book, us extroverts are not okay. And as an extrovert, yeah, I have been really just bouncing off the walls. I need to have this communication with people. And luckily my fellow extroverts have been texting and calling and we've been just getting by the minimal social interactions I've been having. But that's another thing that's along those same lines is mental health. I had a friend call me, he has been dealing with depression and some mild mental illness for his entire life and he was really down. And unfortunately I wasn't there, so he called me to a friend and he was able to go there and hang out with them and he was doing much better. But social isolation can wreak havoc on those who are suffering from depression and other types of issues. It's really unfortunate. On that same note though, it's curious how being forced to quarantine and actually spend time in a space and not be able to distract oneself with everything out in the world is forcing a lot of people to go in and sort of focus more on what's going on mentally that may be behind some of the just quantities that are currently existing. I know personally I've had a lot of friends reach out who are in a similar boat too. So it makes me just think that the state of where everyone is right now is causing a lot of contemplation. And I think that's good, you know inward reflection can only make us stronger if you would hope. But I'm glad that things like Skype and Zoom exist so that we can still all stay connected and talk and work past the social distancing which we're doing a good job of. Yeah, I think we were three and a half feet away or so. Not quite four. But yeah, this brings a really good point. You know those platforms are getting more robust and people are getting more familiar with them and that's part of the reason why I really think that people are going to start working from home a lot more. And it would be interesting to see whether there's a correlation with mental health. I mean I could see benefits to working from home because there's less stress environment if you need to take a moment to go meditate or whatever. There's not going to be anyone looking over your shoulder being like, hey, you know, he does TPS reports. But yeah, it's fascinating to see to think about what changes are going to occur because of these types of issues. Necessity is a mother of invention so we'll see what happens. I think one thing everyone can agree on is that we live in a really interesting time. I mean human history has been interesting itself and there's always something in every generation that we have to go through. But there's just so much change at this moment that we're all kind of navigating it together and figuring it out. And the more communication we can have, I think, the easier it will be. So on a brighter note, Amanda, you're also a nutritionist, aren't you? Yes, I am a registered holistic nutritionist. So before this, you were chatting about some of the tips and tricks that you recommend. Do you want to share any of those with our audience who are probably in dire need of that? Yeah, absolutely. So it's an interesting time because COVID-19 is causing a lot of people to finally think about their health. In Boulder County, this isn't as much of a concern, but it's still something that I think everyone should be paying attention to. In relation to just regarding your vulnerability to getting a virus or succumbing to any sort of disease, what matters most is the state of your body and that's why a holistic understanding of what's going on is essential. First of all, stress will raise cortisol in the body, which actually is going to increase inflammation and lower your immune system. So however hard it is to stress less, I know this is very worrisome time, please do it. Do that by doing things you love. Spend time with your loved ones. You know, the more oxytocin that gets produced in your bloodstream, the better you're going to feel. The more serotonin you have, some chocolate, eat a little bit of that. It's a really important part. Also, there was a recent study that came out that showed that 50% of people who were contracting COVID-19 actually have compromised digestive systems. And I think that's really interesting just from my understanding of what supports optimal health and that is a really healthy digestive system. And so there are a few things just to give a little attention to. First of all, a lot of people have an underactive stomach and what I mean by that is they don't produce enough hydrochloric acid. When you feel you have heartburn more often than not, it's because you don't have enough hydrochloric acid. Your stomach is training so hard to try and digest proteins and that lack of hydrochloric stomach acid is a result of eating too much sugar, low quality fats and too much meat as well. It's hard for our bodies to process and then we don't support the things that actually help keep it regulated and natural like taking apple cider vinegar, having lemon juice and water in the morning on an empty stomach. And of course, you can also supplement with betaine hydrochloric acid tablets. There are a few different things we can do to support them. Hydrochloric acid tablets? Yes. That's safe? It is safe. They sell those at health food stores. The way you test if you actually have low hydrochloric stomach acid is by waking up in the morning, taking one of the pills, waiting 10 minutes. If you don't feel a burning sensation, you have low hydrochloric stomach acid. If you do feel a burning sensation, drink some milk, it'll go away, and then you know that you're PG. So that's one component of this. The reason this matters is because what we eat, if it's not fully digested and broken down in the stomach when it goes into the small intestine, it's at risk of actually leaking into the bloodstream. And when this happens, we get proteins and foreign invaders in the bloodstream. The cause is autoimmune response, increasing inflammation and keeping us in a very flight or flight mode. And our adrenals are just stressing out which increases that cortisol, which just sort of perpetuates the system, which is why autoimmune conditions are so sucky. And all of this is related to the immune system. So having good digestion is essential. And we do that by taking into account the bulk of the foods we eat, making sure they're unprocessed primarily and from good quality sources. That's a big first step. Now we also know from studies done in China that high doses of vitamin C have also been shown to be helpful in combating COVID-19. So eat some citrus. Emergency. Yeah, exactly, emergency. We feed greens are a great source of nutrients. They're also going to support digestion and they're abundant in vitamin C as well too. And of course, as you mentioned, there's elderberry, which you can turn into a syrup. I think that's one of the best remedies there is. Getting enough sleep is also going to be really good for boosting your immune system. And if you have time, do that. The recipe for getting well is sort of within reach for everyone if they just do the things that line up for it. So in this time of quarantine, rest, take care of yourselves, all of that. Yeah. So what I take away from that is e-healthy, natural as you can. Rest, de-stress in any ways that you find most effective. And oxytocin, so be with the people that you care about. Give hugs to everyone. That's the big part. Well, four feet away hugs, right? Yeah. Okay, well those who you're quarantined with, just give each other lots of hugs. And you know, Skype your mom or something. Enjoy it. Yeah. So many of those great chatting with you today. Likewise. I think that I learned a lot. I'm sure our audience learned a lot. So I am looking forward to our next meeting together. So until then, everyone stay healthy. And if you're feeling sick at any amount at all, please be cautious and conscientious about the people around you. Don't spread it. Take the time you need in order to get better. It's not worth spreading it to, you know, those who are immunocompromised or high risk. So, absolutely. We'll get through this. Thank you for joining us for this important discussion about this deadly virus. By you staying at home, you're saving lives. So thank you for taking the sacrifice that it takes to just stay at home and do nothing. We will be having a weekly discussion on topics of business and economics. So if you are interested, please like and subscribe and stay tuned for our next episode. Thank you very much.