 All right, we're recording. Let's go ahead and kick this off Yo, what's up everyone? Hello. It's call number six. I can't believe like it's call number six for some reason It feels like we've been doing this a bit longer but it's just been a month and a half which also like Looking at it just being a month and a half is really exciting because there there's been a lot of growth and I see a lot of value and I think that this is really helping out and I mean, that's the whole point of it and right now I just felt it was appropriate to do a call on what's going on right now because it's you know, real it's the reality of it and It's going to be about finding the solution, you know through times like this through uncertain times Also, how we can manage our web design businesses through these times now first I just want to start off and Just say that You know, I do other group I'm in another group that I've been in for a little while and this group It's similar to this right here but like it's more for the creative industry and In this group is more of like the intermediate to like really pro expert levels Like we got some people in this group that like really high levels been in the industry for a long time And last night we did a group call and it was on this same exact thing Just discussing what's going on and how it's affecting our businesses and what to do and find the solution through it And I have to say when I got off that call like I was just going through so many emotions Like I was feeling so so many things one of them I was feeling the gravity of everything but the other one I was feeling very optimistic I was feeling very grateful and because like I Felt like getting through that call and being on it that I wasn't alone in it And that just that did so much for me and I still like I'm still kind of like just feeling It's hard to put into words. It really is hard to put into words because I mean well first what I wanted to do inside this call was Allow everybody here, you know to just like open up, you know have everyone give a chance To open up and address what's going on, you know, how is this actually affecting you? How has it been affecting your business? How are you feeling about this and to like just open up and get that part out the way so we could Understand each other as well. I'll go ahead and kick it off and go ahead and start it off on my side About you know, how this has been affecting me And I'm going to admit right off the bat that I've been very insensitive towards the whole situation up until recently Like I'm the type of person likes to stay focused on solutions. I don't like to feed into negativity In my home country, they're going through a lot of stuff and I stayed out of it I kind of like didn't want to listen to media I just wanted it to boil over and I just didn't want to fall into You know, I didn't want I felt like if I opened up I would get sucked into like like the media and negativity going on I didn't want that to happen. So I just stay busy. I put my head down and just grind it away and Well this weekend I took time off and I had to step back and I had to really like look at a few things And I started getting some the reality started hitting me when I started to see what it was doing to my clients I started to see a couple of our clients I don't think they're going to make it like I really do not see their business surviving this We've had a couple other projects not come through get canceled and then you know We've had I've had another client which is like in emergency mode. They need to like change everything around You know, I was I was out. I got a call from a client right now. They've invested a lot into doing events music events and They they call me up or like we're in emergency won't care the price We don't care what it takes we need this right away because our artists We want to make sure our artists are still being taken care of and being paid We need to build an online platform or people could watch the videos online and paid them via online and like Just all this right here when I started looking at when my clients are going through That's what kind of just snapped me out of it that like that started Snapping me out of it and that was like this last weekend and I could say like right now like I'm Just now coming to the terms with everything. I'm just now coming to the acceptance of it all and You know, the thing is I Realized I need to acknowledge the reality of the situation in order to move forward So I think a good starting point here inside this group Since this is something like we're all going through different things at different times is you know for everyone here to like Just share what it is. How how it is right now for you? How is this affecting your business so we could each take time to acknowledge it and to understand each other? So I'm with that. I'm going to go ahead and open it up Feel free to like step in everyone gets a chance to just you know, just just talk about it You know, what is this doing for you? How are you feeling about this? What's it doing for your business and your clients? So, yeah, let's go ahead and open it up from there. All right. Who wants to go first? It's a hard one I can try Yeah, I appreciate you sharing your story there Jeff I think all of us Are lucky for the industry that we're in like you said there. It's not a direct impact It's an impact of our clients and therefore it trickles down to us so it will impact us but What we've been doing is trying to find ways that we can support our clients So I've noticed a lot of other industries offering Classes online for free like I think fitness planet or something is doing online fitness classes for free and creating more brand loyalty With their customers to kind of help them come down through these times and have someone they can rely on So we're we're just kind of exploring like what we can do to help take care of our customers maybe giving them some maintenance for free or You know email templates or something where where we're putting aside the money aspect and investing in them long term That's just something that we've been thinking about if anybody else has ideas towards that It would help. Um, but yeah We're we're staying positive over here to despite everything and you know just prepared to Help take care of our community when we can As best we can do at this time, I think Hi guys Hey, Clement. Uh, I maybe I'm I will uh get short short Uh, and sorry because I'm with some people here But I want to for me because I'm new in this in this industry Not so many clients already But luckily for me that the project is ongoing So currently I'm still doing about one until three projects, but I don't know later That's all. Thank you Cool. Thanks, Clement. And thanks, Lauren. I got a little stuck right there Yeah, so let's go Oh Who's that? Maybe narvasto want to say something Hi narvasto You guys know each other So the whole point of this right here like to start it off and first off, let me just just say that, you know The purpose of it is not to like create fear or come from a fear base Purpose of it is to first just acknowledge it to take the time to acknowledge how this is really affecting our businesses and To find a solution because I definitely want to keep everything solution based because I believe there is a good solution to analyte Some of the things you mentioned Lauren Definitely are really big solutions and especially when it comes to taking care of clients Uh, I said last night I was on that call and I got to hear from people that have been around For a long time that have already gone through this. They've already gone through it, you know, uh I got I just got a bunch of notes here and uh, one of the big notes that I got was uh Need to take a moment and realize everything has changed like it just has changed And then the second one follow up for for that is it's not the first time This is not the first time The industry has changed the market has changed, you know, we had 2001 with the dot-com It changed our market then we had 2008 with you know with all that stuff that went on it all changed And this is now the new change right here and how we're going to pivot it through it but uh first I don't know. I I think it really helps like Just hearing from everyone that way Like I believe in unity is strength. I believe numbers, you know people together working together And I'm really hoping that we could do that here. Like, you know, uh Bring that that that unity and strength together agreement All right, so who's up If you want to just check in just check in if you want to go ahead and you know get a little bit deeper that would be awesome and helpful Not just to us but to you I I was trying to find like the time under camera, but it doesn't work So I just like I was just trying to do things on zoom that like how to how to turn on my camera But it doesn't work. Anyway, so yeah, actually I am a translator Like my current income is actually from translating so that I usually working for the big hotels and chain hotels chain restaurants to translate their promotion All the things so because of the corona virus situation. I got my income gets less than half right now and then Like like I want to move on to the word press because of this kind of reason like the first thing Whatever it did enterprises have a problem that the first thing they do the cut down is marketing So that like I infected like Last year something like the one company has a like problem with the money. They cut off their Marketing budget and the first thing was like the particular language thing So that's this is why I want to move to the website building part instead of like staying in the translation Which is more vulnerable or more easy to be cut cut off from their marketing budget So yeah, and then like I've been having a little bit difficult Situation here or so the I live I'm from korea, but I live in talent the visa situation and my money just like income became just half like less than half this month and then I have just one client. I'm still beginner of the word press. So like I still having a one client, but after the one client I because of everyone in in talent having a same trouble they Don't have enough money to spend for their marketing. So they don't want to build a website I met some like three people face-to-face, but they're not really positive. They don't have any like extra money for like spend money for the website and then I Like totally understand this kind of situation. I can see just like the road is dying Every no one is on the road and like no tourism going on here. So yeah, and Yeah, it's been having a trouble kind of I have a little bit like tough time but I Decide to focus and like learning more and then building my mock-up site or like trying to learn some like uh At least of like the front end coding like hmsc says which I wanted to always learn and then like be more deeper Have more deeper skills. So I'm focusing on learning and that's my daytime I'm not really like or so I'm not I think I not really have a big hope to find a new client like this month or next month And because of just all the situation and then like anyone everyone just suffered the money right now And I understand and then actually I was a nurse too. So I understand like Just hope that everything just goes fine in a few months and then my visa situation will be fine too Cool. Thanks for sharing that man. It looks like ellie as well has been she she wrote in the chat here, you know, she's also taken classes and Putting more into the learning during this period as well Yeah Yeah, like better. I think better to do something rather than just like looking at the situation and worry about and Some some few things I can't, you know, like we can't really do like we can't really force the client who doesn't have money And like to make a make a website like it would be good for you We can't do that for that, you know Just yeah, I understand also. They're really really suffering to find the new their their client their own client and then Yeah, I can see it. So yeah, like better just to learn something and Giving our own time to like set up the skills All right, cool. Thanks man. Thanks for sharing that was real right there uh Jeff can I jump in and say something I've been trying to put My network on the phone call today hasn't been the best. So I'm more of a listener today otherwise, so um, I want to just add on that I completely aligned with what you just said that this is a Perfectly good time to add on some new skills. Maybe it's web designing. Maybe it's development or maybe something which is unrelated at all because As you started the chat by saying that You don't really want you are not one of those people who are spreading negativity and I am on the same path as that, you know People around me. I see people booking flights. So I have a lot of friends here This is a little off business related but just uh awareness of the situation People are trying to go back to their homes and they are booking flights. It's getting cancelled visa is getting extended So I'm sure we all as digital nomads Um, or wherever we are if we are out of our country and we don't have a citizenship there I think we all are going through this at the moment, right? so With that we cannot neglect the fact that things are being affected, you know In a on a global cycle for sure But I also align with the fact that if we are spreading it more You know, if you are giving our energy more to this sphere, I'm sure it is happening. You cannot deny it, but I think that we talking about it doesn't stop it So I feel that you know, there is really no need to spread the word that you know, this has been a problem Everyone is aware of it So awareness once the awareness comes in the picture. It does pretty much get sorted that. Yes. It's a problem um Everything is getting cancelled. I am grateful again this week that this call is being continued and there has been no cancellations on that because um, I was going to uh meditation retreat for 10 days and last minute I got to know it got cancelled and today I am here So grateful again that you know, we all are sitting in our homes and talking about it to Get a collectiveness to a positive level rather than just uh, oh man, how will I go home? How will I get visa? This has been a talk of the town anyway. So it's nice to be here So what I am doing is um, if you um, because everybody was sharing how is impacting their businesses So it's a good time to learn anything new Like any music or if you want to learn something positive negative new things or whatever you want to learn um, but yes, I do feel that um If we are looking for I really don't know how it's going to impact because My clients were set up in a way that I finished their work Thinking that I'm going to be off for 10 11 days, you know, and I will start a fresh that was the idea But now I'm going to look for clients because uh The plans are not supposed to be the way it was supposed to be So let's see how it goes for now. I am uh, don't have a lot of work to do So I am trying to collaborate with people if I can get if someone has additional work in the world Which I'm not really sure. It's the best time to ask, you know So I I feel that it is impacting us, but it's a situation for everyone. But the only thing which I'm grateful um, which I see a lot of fellow nomad people talking that we are in an industry, which is the positive point that the work kind of work we do is You know, we can always we don't need to go to offices. We don't need to be anywhere. We can just be at our place and work Yes, the websites or whatever we need from the customers Can be a bit delay here or there, but let's keep our hopes high and I'm sure Somebody might be looking to get their website up at this time thinking that you know, everything is shut down This is the time for me to get my website because you know, nobody's really looking for it So this is the idea I would follow that I would still try to approach people And this is the time not to take advantage But you see lots of lots of people's are at whole thinking that it's corona going on or whatever Stuff is going on and you know everything has paused But I feel that there are some people out there who can still be looking to not shut down their businesses So if you keep looking or you know, you know, just keep posting things I'm sure maybe you will not get 10 projects at once But maybe one or two is good enough to get through for the next, you know, weeks or so This is what my idea of it. So just spreading positivity as much as possible. That's what I feel And that's it. Thanks. Yes, that's very good. Yeah Because the whole world is not shutting down, you know, yes, the borders are getting closed and everything but It's the same situation in India where I am right now, but I think if you still try to approach some local people as Jeff always said start with your local community They can still think of this if you tell them that, you know, this is the time when everything is shut down and You know, this is a good time for you to invest Some time because sooner or later this will end and when this will end Your online business will be up and running and you will not have to wait for this to end This is my ideology behind it. That's what I feel As long as we have internet connection, we will leave. Yes. Yes. You have internet connection. It's all going good, you know If no, we have to meditate Yes, collective meditation is a solution as well And you're gonna do the I think it's it's pretty interesting though because we never faced this crisis before and then the world isn't prepared as well as the crisis and I think Coronavirus affect all of our industry whether it's good or bad, but mostly our bad but in this part, I think that we have concern as called as digital nomads or maybe a Working remotely having such a good good positive Positive ways and become more acknowledged than before This happened This is a coronavirus happened in two months I had some so many so many clients that needs good chance sight or maybe a Little bit change So I think that's it I think I need to rethink more about The topic because I never I never faced it. I never faced this epidemic pandemic before so just like Maybe it's like a frozen frozen song let it go let it go Cool arcambua you guys want to jump in me. Yeah Okay So, yeah, uh here I mean, I think the website industry Not really get affected that much it just depends on the the clients also from what I see and um Like Like you said before like it's just something that we cannot control and then we just have to fire the solution out of it and you know and keep going and do what we can Yeah, and um I really hope that just gonna pass soon Really, this is scare. This is scary, but I just try to look at the positive side This is like the opportunities also for people who's like They need to change the way they run their business like They probably never jump on the website or think that like The sale at the shop is going to be forever things, but right now they're probably like acknowledge that There was change is changing to the new The new phase, you know, this might be like I think it's gonna be like this for a while like from the news and I try to stay away from that but um The reality is just like I think Um, the web development industry is gonna be I don't want to say it's like it's gonna be perfect for the moment like this, but it is too Like people are gonna using more, you know, people not really going out and then Yeah, like they need to upgrade the e-commerce and the business and the online online it I think that they can rely on Yeah Still a positive way even like I really want this to be end soon like this virus thing, you know, like This situation, but it's always it's always a good side to look at it too It's not all like a bad like a hundred percent It's not all good hundred percent, but it's still like in the middle between that It's just like how we look at it and then see the opportunities and then What we can do To helping people too Yeah Cool. Thanks. Bua Arkham. Do you want to jump in before? Hi, everyone. How are you doing? Yes Good, man. How are you doing? I'm doing good. So I'm basically I'm now focusing on youtube just making new videos on youtube and learning something new I got one project from facebook And I did that that was very good. And now I'm basically focusing on youtube and uploading videos on youtube So that's it. All right, cool. You got a new project? Yeah, I got one awesome Good to hear that man. It looks like the grinding away is working Yeah, congratulations, man. Someone is getting some work. So It's nice. We all will Thanks, man. Gotta celebrate the wins for sure All right Absolutely All right, cool. So I think like I think it was good to get it out there and like, you know, just to hear some of the honesty of what we're going through I mean, I I'll be first want to say I don't like to ever admit weaknesses I don't like to like show like I like I don't like to show fear like and I don't buy into it. I'm like a lot of like what Rajav talks about and You know, like I really understand that part because I try to stay so focused on On the solution. I try to stay so focused into it. But the reality is You know, I mean to say there's no fear in a situation like this would be lying You know, it just would be because there's just so much Uncertainty that's going on. You know, I got family that's really, you know going through I mean, there's a lot of things going on and you know, I keep myself as busy as possible So I don't have to feel it. But when I do stop to feel it, it's there, you know, but it's not about Look, I don't think fear is wrong It's about what you do it. I got this what you what you do with it Like I got this one thing that someone sent out to me and it says like we when we permit our fear to stop our growth We will be defeated True courage is not the absence of fear, but rather the willingness to walk through it You know, and so I'm really, you know, like, uh, respect everyone's honesty to come out and anyone says like I'm a bit scared of this, you know, like that's real, you know, and that's what snapped me out of this What what snapped me out of this was realizing this is real It's affecting people no matter what my beliefs are when no matter what my feelings are It's affecting other people But I don't want to stay in that I want to move on into the solution So I'm glad like we got that out the way could understand each other And now I want to talk about the solution of this because the facts are that this has happened before Things have changed and it's not the first time and so what I did was I just got a bunch of notes here And I kind of want to break this down into a few sections Uh, the next one is going to be mindset. We're going to talk about the mindset about, you know Going forward inside this which is like the solution Then we're going to talk about clients and then we're going to get a little bit into opportunities as well So first one the mindset You know, how do we move forward? How to move forward through this, you know, the thing we got to understand is we're creatives we Build like for this group right here. We're we're more specifically build websites for clients so When we build websites for clients And once you've been doing it for a while, you realize it's more than just a website You're providing a solution to the client That's the old that's the goal right there is finding out what the client's problem is And providing them a solution and we do it in the form of a website and for their online presence Now the thing is the clients problems have changed They have new problems now. There are different problems out there. So The thing that i'm realizing that I have to do and that i'm looking at especially within our industry and myself is being able to adapt and shift And being able to be flexible Uh to solve our clients new problems You know and a few uh few people mentioned They're you know, this isn't the time when nobody's going to no longer need a website. In fact, It might be the complete opposite. You know, I think there might even be more Need for it now, you know, we'll have to see what happens I do know this e-commerce sales are up, you know throughout the board So, you know, that does right there show that there are Other problems that won't need to fix and that you know, we are lucky to be in this industry um The main thing that you know that i'm looking at with the mindset is to realize the uncertainty Of this like thing is I don't know what's going to happen. I I don't know how long things are going to last I don't I don't even know what my clients problems are yet I don't know. I can't even tell them what we could do to solve them But I have to be ready to just embrace it And just embrace the fact that things have changed embrace the fact that I'm going to have to change That I'm going to have to rearrange some of the ways that I do my business You know what I had planned out a few weeks ago for the direction of my business and my company Is changing, you know, I'm going to have to rearrange That right there in order to adapt to the new situation in order to help clients Better and in order to continue our Business to grow So with that, you know, I want to go ahead and open it up and like see You know, I like first I think you know taking this time to like learn new skills is fantastic I think that's great. This is definitely the time got more time on our hands and deaf and taking the time To learn new things and to like get better at what we're doing But what about also taking the time to look at the direction of where we want to go with our business You know, someone had an analogy the other last night and like And I guess it's kind of I related to this a lot Since I just recently since like I took time to like evaluate what's going on and the analogy was that of like a Boy Scout and you know And the analogy was that you know a Boy Scout they're taught when they're lost in the forest The first step they have to do is realize that they're lost That if they do not realize that they're lost then they cannot find the solution to go forward And that's kind of like I feel right now where I'm building up my mindset and where I'm starting to you know, uh, look at my direction on this is the first part was You know embracing what's going on realizing this is real and that I need to change and adapt to it and now looking for Looking for the solution and how to move forward So with that I'm going to go ahead and open it up. So I don't just keep rambling on Do you have anything Lauren? Maybe one step in I had to step out for half of it. So I'm so sorry If I say something I'm just gonna be making it up. Um Maybe other people can talk first. Let me gather my thoughts Man you got the video on How about you guys like let me just ask the group like does anybody here Have any like are you guys starting to get ideas of maybe like things that you could do to uh, uh I'm trying to think of the right words Things that you could do to adapt That would help you out a lot more that you feel like could help your business out Is anyone getting any ideas on that? So actually I was a nurse in back home. I have a nursing degree and like, uh, I got some new So because of my still main income is translation. It's like I got a some coronavirus news Translation for the hotels and So I was thinking that maybe like some of those, uh, website who Had who sells like the medical supplement or like the healthy supplement that kills or, you know, like kind of Immune system boosters those things actually they're selling really well this time And if they renew the website and something like that and then I can use kind of my like useless, uh Nursing background they say that I was a nurse before so I can understand like what you mean that I can read some like ingredients All the things and then that was one of my approach but I I tried to Reach out some of those kind of websites and then they said no anyway, but like that's a that's a kind of the way that like At the crisis some of them actually making money like mass company or like blood companies or like Health like supplement company those kind of industry making actually money Way more than before and like this money is like amazing money for them And maybe approaching those kind of industry is or making your your like mock-up Uh website just looks like a medical thing and then just approach them as a profile portfolio that like I had this experience I want to like we need a website. So like the one of the company I was approached they have a WooCommerce I actually didn't have a experience like like doing WooCommerce Things so I that's why I said like maybe it's too much Project for me too big project for me. So I I didn't take it and yeah, but like if somebody has a like kind of experience with the WooCommerce thing actually they Those likes like health supplement from Australia or some kind of like other country It's selling like flying out. Yeah. So maybe this is one of the industry we should reach out Even though it's not your niche part. Yeah That's my idea I think that's an awesome idea. I think right now niching down as much as I resisted Yeah This is I think it's a really good time to niche down And I think is when you niche down on a specific industry like that You're starting to put yourself as an expert and position yourself that way Yeah, so yeah, that's that's one of the things I feel a little bit like I Kind of that kind of moment. I realize I don't have enough experience with the WordPress because of They want to change some element Without Elementor and then they use they want to use like HTML and CSS a little bit And then I don't know that like much about coding and I don't have WooCommerce like Experienced that much like like a worldwide WooCommerce System. I don't really understand that much. I haven't experienced so I turn up the Project but like that's why I feel like I have to learn something more that to approach the bigger clients So I feel like I wasn't I'm not I wasn't ready for that project So that kind of moment. Yeah, so but other people who Ishing down their things like Maybe don't think about tourism part think about medical part and then move shifts on Right now Yeah And that's kind of what we're trying to do too where you know, this is true for any depression or recession I think I gotta check my economics on that but there's always ways to make money Even if we're in a recession like you said, there's gonna be people who are making money right now and I was telling Jeff the other day that my first job was working at a financial company during the 2008 financial crisis and all their competitors went out of business because it just like It crashed. However, they had enough money to survive it and they viewed it as a time to reposition themselves to Be the brand to go to and when the market went back up They were the top dogs of the financial industry um, so I think it's you know At least for me what we're trying to do is we already try to partner with big picture thinking clients and you know, hopefully Hopefully crown is short and hopefully this is just a very very thing that um shakes us a bit and changes our habits, but then Uh, business can go on as usual and partner with those companies who like you guys said Are interested in investing now so that later they're ready when when krona disappears Yeah, I aim to pharmaceutical company. They have a lot of money and they earn a lot of money too All right And I have a feeling there's going to be a lot of that coming up I think that The people that survive the businesses that survive I should say The businesses that survive this are going to be looking to future proof it So I really think there's going to be an opportunity where people are going to They're going to be taking another look at their online presence and making sure they're ready Just in case again, this might also be a good opportunity. I mean for the niching down I think niching down is like I'm looking at niching down. I don't like niching down But I'm looking at it because I really feel this is a smart move uh also I have a feeling this might just be a feeling, you know, but I think that People are going to want to start investing more Uh, proper on their websites instead of getting something cheap I think that now they want to start seeing the value of it a lot more And so they might not be looking for the 300-dollar website but like ready to like, you know Shell out some good money to get an expert to build it But that's just my prediction. I don't know. I'm not an astrodomist. So I can't say just You know ready on it Did the um other group that you're in Jeff, did they talk about that? Like people being more interested in investing now rather than Yes Yes, the big things this is the big takeaways I got from this And this is coming from people who have already gone through this people have ran large Branding companies and media companies for you know, 10 20 years plus And the big takeaway that I got out of it was the mindset Needing to change the mindset except what's going on in order to move forward and the second one was to invest Investing is the right time and it's not talking about investing in the stock markets and buying stuff Investing money but investing into yourself and your business and pivoting your business in order To move forward because the thing is there's a huge opportunity right now There is a huge opportunity for us in our industry right now And first I want to just clarify something that you know searching for an opportunity during a time like this Is nothing about taking advantage at all We're just I mean we have businesses around we got livelihoods We got you know people we need to support as well of ourselves as well as ourselves So it's not a negative thing if this is we just have to be real about it and In our industry there's just tons of opportunity because now we're gonna people are going to start looking to the creatives for answers People are lost businesses are lost they're they're hurting out there And they're they're they need help. That's the biggest thing is that they really need help And they're going to be looking at us The people who are building their websites and helping them with their online presence More now because they're going to need more more of that expertise going on right there The biggest one though was the mindset I mean it's just Being able to adapt and shift Realization that a lot of businesses aren't going to survive even in our industry You know a lot of them just aren't going to survive through this A lot of them are though and a lot of them are even going to thrive through it because they'll be able to embrace it and change Someone also had uh a story in there. I feel like i'm rehashing all the story I hope the the other members that group Was like dang they took all they took all of our stories from it But like one of them was about uh, I think it was after the first world war when America like you know The whole economy crashed and nobody was spending money and there was like depression going on and you have two business partners and one of them Told the other business partner was like we can't spend money right now We need to save we need to just you know, just just hold on to our seats and get through this moment And then the other one said Complete opposite we need to take all the risks that we could take right now Invest everything that we got right now and look for the opportunity And that one was a guy who started sears That's how sears started and the other guy You know who knows what happened to him So the next one too though That's really important that I really want to cover on this call is about our clients That right now is just super important and lauren you already started talking about it And for me what snapped me out of you know getting my head out the sand and really Acknowledging the situation was when I started looking at what was happening to our clients and their business and Being able to empathize with them and just be aware. It's so important right now We have to be aware of what our clients are going through no matter How my belief system is right now on this no matter how I want to stay positive and How whatever I think about the media that that is Irrelevant because our clients are going through real problems right now And some of them won't make it a lot of them are hurting and a lot of them are scared a lot of them are You know, they're they're lost also. I mean it's just a collective thing right now and so Right now taking care of our clients You know, they're looking for us to help for help And this is a time where we need to put their needs above ours And it's like kind of like what you were saying lauren like, you know You're you're trying to offer them things and trying to help them out through it and that right now I really feel it's a way to go like You have to be able to reach out and be genuine and be human with them Like right now i'm right now trying to contact all of ours on a one-on-one basis and just trying to uh Talk to them and and it's really important right now It's super important that when you're reaching out to your clients and you're talking to them To not jump off and just start giving them solutions like hey, I think you need a e-commerce. Hey, I think you need to do this and do this This is not you need to figure out. What are they actually going through? What are they feeling before? You know before trying to give them solutions So and and it just comes to being genuine being human And listening to them take that time to just listen to them Understand it and empathize with it and then just be there for them You know then let the solutions come the solutions will come they are going to need more help But I mean just put yourself in their shoes How would you feel while you're going through this time and if somebody Reach is reaching out to you just to let you know that they care that they genuinely just want to know what you're going through so They could just be there for you and help you out What kind of a relationship is that going to build right now between you and your client? Like you know inside this group we're having calls like this You might be in other groups, you know, but like situations like this They might be causing worldwide fear, but they also create unity You know one thing we get out of this is Is a unity when we all come together for a common solution And like we could go ahead and get unity inside this group and it gives us strength It gives us hope but we could also build that unity with our clients We could also Build and really nurture this relationship with them and I really feel like that's just like paramount right there. That's just Uh a super important right there. Does anybody else have anything like what they would feel what they could do for their clients right now during this time I'll just jump in real fast one thing that I did this last week because it's like you said There's so much negative news it gets overwhelming. So what I've been doing because we Niche down to nonprofits and social enterprises. I've been collecting positive news articles like Hey, there's grants from this place facebook's giving out money for advertising Here's a list of things that you can do to help your non-profit Do an online fundraiser and so I I just sent out a newsletter to them for just like Here's a list of good news of Things that you can implement right now that might help and a couple of them did email me back and they said like This is really helpful. Thank you. I'm going to try to get some of the facebook ad money so like It's like you said like thinking about them as a real person reaching out to them genuinely and genuinely trying to help them Hi Jeff. Yeah Can you read my chat? Oh Sorry because here some uh, there's a printing And some people doing something so I skip talking Oh, it's all good. Would you say uh, hi Jeff just curious Talked about clients usually after projects are done. Are you still in communication with clients? How do you do that effectively? Yeah, all projects, uh, my number one priority with every client I get is to build a long-term lasting relationship with them So the way that I do it is I put everything I got into it I really genuinely care About them about their business and about their goals and then we do other things like maintenance plans and things like that, but Allow for our clients. I don't do quick turnaround jobs. I Take time with our clients right Yeah, I agree. I agree with what jeff and lauren both wrote and Talk about it. Um, so I had this Small incident. So one of my clients Who I'm working with she's a travel photographer. I'm developing a website for her So turns out that she was stuck in a different country where everything was shutting down And uh, you know, you just keep a normal check. So I just got in touch with her to ask certain changes I uh, you know, I like uh confirmation if she would be happy to get some changes done because I had some new ideas so I got to know that she is apparently stuck at a airport right now and trying to You know move on from spain to france and the borders and the airports are closing. So I think My suggestion is and what I felt is is always nice to keep a check So she said, you know, let's speak later about your ideas and after three four days I got back to her and rather than asking the ideas and Payment which was supposed to be done. I just asked that how did it go there? And you know like a normal Conversation with her because I feel it's more important for her to get out of a situation of being stuck in a country Rather than me asking new ideas or asking for payments. I it is important sure But it's not going anywhere at the same time. So I feel that building relationships is always more important than building transactions And if you any one of you have a current client who is a freelancer Or even an organization if you are keeping a check with them Not from the business side of it because business side is obviously Impacted if you ask them how is your business going? You're not going to get a very good answer because we all know it's going down right now but if you keep it on a You know on a personal side that how are things going in your life? I hope you are not facing difficulties and I hope your family and everyone is sound It brings like a personal interaction in between and this is what makes the relationships last longer You know with any of your clients. This is what I've been doing like just not every time But like getting in touch once a week and checking up with them How is it because a lot of them are traveling ahead of there and If there is any way you can help with them. Who knows your client is in your country by any chance right now So anything is possible, you know So I like that building relationships and not transactions Yeah You know, I want to read this out real quick. Lauren. You put something inside the chat just for like the people who are going to watch this video Just going back to like what clement asked and you put what is it uh business side is cheaper to retain clients Then to get new ones relationship wise you spend too much time building that relationship stay invested Just want to go ahead and put that out there for people who are going to be watching this later Then I'll disappear forever Yeah It's a lot easier keeping clients and building it instead of trying to find new clients Sure Anyone else have any ideas on you know, what what we could do for our clients at this time So I have a quick quick question about like maintenance. I think we're so that's more what clement you mentioned about it like So while I'm learning the The word press there's many many many aspects of word press. So this is time to I spend time to learn So I was more focusing on front end and then like we are what I realizing about maintenance It's not more about it's more about back end part like Using the databases or like my sql marketing part or sco for those things. So like uh, I think Jeff and then Lauren has many like many years of experiences and what do you usually focus on to learn first when you like When you learn word press when you like start your word press like you do do you usually like Uh, focusing on learning like front end part to make a like build a website and then And then also you have to maintain These services to provide the client same client So it should have should have something like bug fix or something having like a sco fix like those things later coming on, right? so like Uh, what should I learn? Like more importantly more like have to give more gravity like I think that's what Clement you're also asking like Is it marketing for our service like to maintain the client? Yeah You want to go on there? Lauren? I don't think I understand the whole question. So Jeff maybe you could start because I heard a couple questions in there And I'm not sure I think the main one was what to learn first, right? Yeah What to learn first, okay it's hard so When I started like I was trying to learn like about five or six different languages at one time Like I was all over the place with javascript java python I was trying to learn it all at the same time And I had like kind of like a mentor that stopped me And told me to choose one and he told me to choose just one thing And get good at it and then move on to the next one And that's exactly what I did. I chose just css at that time. That was what I chose And since then I've always focused on one thing I went from css and then the next thing I learned was sketch app Because I wanted to design more and I just focused on sketch app And then I just keep going from one to one to one And it worked for me, you know, like I've I started this journey with a couple other people Other digital nomads here and change my and I started it And we started at the same place and they kept trying to learn everything at once And they're still trying to learn everything at once and they're still at ground zero Hmm we see also like This was I wonder also you building your business Based on elementary you still recommend to learn the coding I think if you're going to be a front-end developer html and css you should know I think even a designer you should know that as well if you really want to offer value All right, and what about database part like kind of back-end part you also like learned it like my sql or things I don't know it I pay other people to know it so Better yeah, I was I kind of like Because of my new client I started to learn at ceo part and then I feel like this is kind of whole new world And a lot of things like about the ceo I have to learn and then I just like Wonder like how much I should learn to offer the service of the building a website to Install the basic ceo And yeah, I'm trying to think that was the best way to spend my time during this kind of situation If you pick one thing and get really good at it That I think for for me like okay I'm gonna tell you right now when I'm hiring and I'm looking to hire a developer When I see somebody who says they're a full stack developer and they give me 20 different programming languages I skip through that because I've always had trouble But if I if I'm looking for someone to specifically build custom themes and plugins I'm looking for a php developer if I'm looking for a front-end developer I'm looking for someone that knows design and know css So by having those specific skills, I feel like it's going to give a chance to be more hireable And then I could speak from my personal experience. I stick with what's fun I didn't learn database of my my sql because it's not fun to me. It's a headache dealing with it But css. I love it. I have a blast because I like making things look good You know my seo seo is This sounds like fun, you know, and I really think it comes from passion. It's like what you what you enjoy doing All right, that's a good answer And one thing is going to lead to the next It's always going to you master one thing like for me css led to web design And now web design is now leading now to another, you know more into strategy You know so so things keep you know, it's going through a path But that path now has like a collective You know that allows me to do a lot more with four clients and to help them out Yeah, yeah, thank you Clement here, I I understand what you mean like you can build a website without css and elementary That's what part and then like I was like confused So real quick before we end the call I have a I have a question that I want to ask everyone You don't have to answer right now, but I think this is a question that we all should be looking at right now And is what is your shift? What kind of shift Can you make during this time? To better your business and offer more to clients. What kind of shift can you make that is going to be able to solve more problems? By what's going on right now You know, uh, maybe you had one earlier where you're talking about niching down more and focusing on Specific industries. That's a great example of the shift you know, uh Yeah, I think this is a question. This is a question. I'm asking myself I'm writing a list down right now because I feel like we're at the point right now where There's a huge opportunity to be done inside your business And it's going to take a little bit of maneuvering shifting around being able to be flexible So this is something that I want to challenge everybody here I want to challenge a group to like really look at what shift can I make in my business right now in order to grow it through these times um Jeff I want to say something to start maybe answer this question what I feel for um for me And uh, this is the most important shift. I think I can make and maybe I recommend Everyone out there, but it's a choice. I feel The the most basic and the most important of shift is We can make is to shift our perspective from a negative based or a fear based mindset to a positive based mindset You know the ideology is as I said before and we all know that there are things There are problems But if we will sit at home thinking that oh the whole world is down with corona Maybe i'm not going to find any clients then for sure you are not going to find any clients because You are in a mindset that you are not going to find any clients because of certain happenings. So and this for me is In a way in a way living in a fear based reality that the whole world is going down That is true. You are aware of it and you acknowledge it as you said acknowledgement and accepting is what you need You can't run away from it. You accept that there are things happening And I am a part of it and you have to witness things going down business is going down In a way, it's good. I believe me. I I'm sure a lot of people feel it The whole earth is cleansing itself and you know people are at home No pollution nothing, but that's a different story to it Right and I'm sure you agree with it. There is the whole china as like all everything is shut down And you know, there is fresh air everywhere. So it's nice for The nature but for us I feel as a human being and by being humans I feel that A shift in a perspective from a fear based or a negative mindset to a positive mindset in every aspect will help us because As I said, if you think that well, it's an opportunity You're gonna get opportunities as we all know that there is law of attraction works It's a different situation But you know And I feel that you will feel me when I say this if you just say that the whole world is down with this virus I don't think so. I'm gonna find any clients. Well, then you might not really get one This is my idea of it, you know, you still got a hustle. Yes, you might not get The numbers you might have gotten before but I think right now you can get closer to it So if there is a shift in the perspective of the mind and you are not letting the mind play with you by see What I feel is this is a good time to get lazy as well. People can say, oh, it's virus out there Nothing to do. Let's chill at home. You know, so In a way that you are relaxing, but you are not really hustling right now So as soon as there is a shift in the perspective, I think everything else falls in the picture. This is Me and I'm saying this because at the moment I do not have a lot of client base because we all are not very old in the industry As I said, I am just been a couple months for five clients here or there But I have this positivity that if I keep hustling Maybe I'll find a client or too soon to get my work through for next one or two months And then that's all you need, right? You got to look in the present moment rather than planning the clients for next one year So it all falls into place Most definitely most definitely The the mindset is going to be the very first thing we have to do got to like said except we acknowledge it Then embrace it and move forward with the solution Indeed man and think about this how many People out there are going to need this To shine on their website on their online presence. How many people are going to need to also shift their brand Over to show this right here And this is where there are going to be new problems And they're going to need new solutions for it. This is a so we got to first start right here I have to start with me But then after I start with me now I could be more effective and I could really help our clients And new clients do the same. So we're going to be a lot more new clients Indeed Good stuff man. Good stuff So just a wrap up everyone real quick wrap up right here, you know, uh Rashaf just is like just hit it on the money, you know It's about the mindset and moving forward and you know being positive with it Now we got to help out our clients with it too And it's really important when we're helping our clients. We're doing this As from like empathy and we're doing it just to help it's not to get more work It's about putting their needs before our own And then also now making the shift Looking for the opportunity. What can you do within your business right now? Realizing that I have to change What my plans were a month ago I have to rearrange that in order to pivot and move my business inside the right direction That's going to give us the most opportunity and it's going to allow us to grow Now I'm going to go ahead and post it out there. I really want to like, you know, get there get that get that Challenge out there that spark right there to like really look at what is your shift? I've been think I want to sleep thinking about this. I woke up thinking about this I got a bunch of things that I'm writing down like, you know, like One of the things is that I wrote down was uh doubling down on high value websites You know, uh online strategy e-commerce social media Somebody talked about Lauren. You mentioned the facebook ads If you guys don't know right now facebook ads are super cheap. No one's bidding right now. It's a good time you know if you want to like You know, uh, if you're into facebook ads Um and teaching and then, you know, like also learning to develop and take the time to Work on skills or your own website Uh, so real quick before we end this I want to go ahead and just let you guys know that We've been a little bit slow in the group. I've been slow in the group like this last two weeks Uh been trying to like keep on top of everything that's going on We got a lot of our clients doing emergency work. We're having to like change things But I am looking going forward to keeping a more consistent activity inside the group I really you know when I started the group I had something in mind where we could learn and grow together And so like uh one thing I am currently working on in the group and so is lauren as well is Putting something that's more consistent and more educational That's into this group right here that we could you know start to learn and build on a lot more Like I think it's good that we had these calls consistently But there's a lot more A lot more that we could get out of a community like this and I really want to see I really want to see others just like flourish in it. I want to see people Being able to use this what we're doing here and to like really see it help them inside their lives So that's what I'm working on. That's one of my Top priorities and what I'm looking to improve on myself. So like I've been working on calendars and scheduling and you know I'm excited. There's going to be a lot more activity to come basically um Let me see is there anything else does anybody have any uh last words, you know last last comments last questions before We end this call Everyone's good to go All right, cool. Hey, if anybody has any ideas For uh any calls or anything if you guys have any ideas, please let me know I really want to do what's best for the group and for you guys right here if you feel that You know if you feel like maybe staying right like going on with inside the situation like Turning it to a positive direction if we should you know, this helps out Let me know and if there's anything else like I know one of the things I really want to touch on is uh WordPress maintenance. So I really I'm looking forward to getting into WordPress maintenance plans uh and selling plans, but uh Yeah I'm so bad at goodbyes I It's hard for me to cut things off So, you know, stop me when I start rambling I I just Like oh, sorry. No. No, you go ahead. Nobody's Uh, I really I really wish like I We talk about the maintenance plan because I haven't had any client who asking me the maintenance So I have really no idea what to do with like how to deal with And it would be good to like listen like how the the maintenance plan should go or like what should be the main structure of maintenance plan that I have to deal with clients I'm looking forward to listen about that Cool, that's awesome. All right. Yeah, sounds good. Um, yes Jeff I feel maintenance plans Maintenance plans is a good idea to discuss about because I Looking forward to it as well. But just one thing what minjoo said just to um Uh, quick thing minjoo, I don't think so that customers will come come up to you and ask for maintenance plans You've got to tell them your the importance of maintaining a website on a weekly and a monthly basis So, you know, if you will wait for them to come and ask you maintenance, I don't think so it's going to happen I mean once uh, jeff and you know loren and everybody share their insights on it But this is my suggestion because I have been looking to develop my maintenance plan for the existing customers Because in the end you got to tell them and sell them that why maintaining is important You know, it's not going to come to you in the hand that okay I want maintenance because they don't even know that making a website needs maintenance But you know, you buy a new car you got to maintain it. It's simple as that. So you make a new website You go to maintain it. That's what I can say about it True that it's an upsell. Yeah. Yeah There's a strategy to it. But once you get it down, it's really easy to sell because it's a lot of value That's a really good price All right, cool. So that's top of us. Maybe we have to do two videos a week. I don't know I feel like I feel like now we're opening up about what's going on. I feel like what's happening right now is real But now it's time for us to get it since solution. I feel there's a lot of opportunity here Um, and I think that if as a group we're both we're all exploring that opportunity together I think this could really help out a lot of people as well So I don't want to just bring this up like what we talked about today and just drop it You know because now we're like Getting into the solution. I really think that getting into solution more is going to be helpful You know and also, you know, I I am part of other groups and they're also I'm learning solutions from other people as well And I would like to bring what I learned and to this group So maybe what we could do is Maybe do two videos You know, maybe we could do two we could do a special one just for maintenance plans And then we could do another one about opportunities during this time That way we could keep this going and keep the momentum And the focus because I think it's going to really help a lot of people out through this time Having this focus inside this direction. I really do I need it. I need to keep my focus in it You know, so I know if it's helping me it could help others as well So I'll go ahead and come up with something You know, yeah, we'll come up with something. Sounds good. Any suggestions? Let me know All right. So I guess that's it everyone. Look at thank you for being part of this. I appreciate I appreciate this a lot. I hope this is really helpful and You know, uh, look forward to uh next week For sure, man. Once again before ending grateful to you and the whole team who was a part of it Without this getting cancelled, right? Looking forward to have more discussions and uh one thing which I say to everyone in my neighborhood and to you friends as well Like it spread love and not fear. I mean, whatever we put our energy is going to increase if you're going to spread love in this Times is going to increase. So it's all good. I must say see you soon Let's be in the group active and you know, be whatever best we can do for each other. Yeah And that's why I'm so grateful to have you here, man. I love the energy that you bring over here Yeah, thank you very much. Just this is not me. This is just You know, the universe talking to everyone because somebody gotta spread the message and if we all can do that I'm sure we all are grateful to be a part of it, you know Yeah, and definitely this is not going to cancel. That's not going to happen This is going to be the complete opposite of that the complete opposite Place this is a time where community is needed. This is a this is a time We need to get social somehow You know, this is this is built to support, you know with with unity is support builds strength And you know with strength and courage We walk through it and we do it together Yeah, these two shall pass as it has been said in the biblical things before, you know, everything will pass Well, thank you everyone for being part of this call. I really appreciate it Um, and yeah, stay posted. There's going to be a lot more things going on inside this group A lot more activity going on and a lot more consistency And I'm open, you know to any feedback any ideas Yeah, this is awesome. Thank you everyone Thank you. Thank you Thank you Bye. Bye. See you guys. Thank you