The truth about entrepreneurship... (let's get real)

Man, these last couple months have been eventful. They've been stretching, and I wanted to let you in on some of the not so fun side of things of business. People don't usually talk about it, and Anyways, I just thought that we would get real for a little bit because it's not all unicorns and rainbows all the time. And if you're in business and you may feel a similar way, whereas you like watch these other business owners and they look like they have the life, right? But then like when the camera is off, things are very different. I'm not saying things are super different from whenever the camera's off on our channel. But I definitely don't usually talk about like the hard parts and the, the bad parts of my day. So I hope you can relate to this video. In other words, like, that's the real reason is to be like real with people. And a little bit of context, I've been running Howdy Media for almost I guess it's been 3 years, coming up on like 3 and a half years pretty soon. But there's been a lot of ups and downs. There's been a lot of hard things. And thank the Lord, there's been probably more good things than bad things. But whenever the bad things come up and happen, it like is hard. And so there's just ups and downs, just like with everything else in this life. And Personally, I've been like, okay, originally, especially with the studio, which we opened up a year ago, the Lord gave me this vision. It was like very clear, right? And like, I do devos every day. I'm constantly like trying to stay in touch with the Spirit and all the things. Recently, these last 3 or 4 months have felt like I haven't heard anything. And that is something that the Lord has been reminding me constantly, is to like, even when you don't see it, he's working. Like the infamous words of the song Waymaker, that's scripture. But there's all these things that are happening and I'll get little winks every now and then of signs of like, hey, this is what you're supposed to be doing. And then the enemy comes in. It's like, hey, I'm actually going to try to take you out because what you're doing is actually helping people. And I don't want you to do that. So anyways, there's all these like things, these distractions, these trials, these struggles. These last 3 or 4 months have been especially hard. I don't know if it's because it was the first slow season that we've experienced with this much overhead. And I think that might've been it. So like it was a mixture of, I have way more overhead than I've ever had before, which is fine because you have to in order to scale. We have way less revenue during this time of year. I was not prepared for it because there was a lot in the pipeline and I was like, ah, we'll be all right. I don't really need to set back X amount of dollars to make sure the business was afloat, which was a learning lesson. Always try to have an emergency fund or like reserves during your good seasons and store it away and don't just go and spend it because you're always going to have a slow season at some point. And I wasn't ready for it. And so these, this like 3 or 4 month like stretch of very slow and it's finally starting to pick up now, but there's like a 3 or 4 month span of— I mean, one month we had our first negative month that we've ever had as far as cash flow goes. And so like we made less money than we spent that month. I had never seen that before in the 3 years that I've been doing this. And so I don't know, those are real things that I feel like you and I, and if you own a business, that you go through as well, and just know that you're not alone. Um, also, I went to Arby's. Shout out Arby's. Side note, I had to get my— I usually don't go to Arby's. I had to get my tires changed, and the only restaurant next to it was Arby's, and I had to wait like an hour and a half. Anyways, back to the, back to the topic of the video. Um, yeah, there's just hard things. And in those times, um, if I wouldn't have had my faith as like a foundation and like a rock of which I can go back to and be like, I can call out to the Lord whenever and just talk to him throughout the day— if I didn't have that stability and that foundation in my life, I can tell why some business owners get depressed they get anxious and they start losing their hair. And like, ultimately, if you're a believer, right, God is in control. God has a greater plan than you could ever have. And so why are you trying to make your own plans and make your own destiny? And if it's something that God has truly called on your life, then it— I mean, it'll work out for good. Even though there's going to be hard times, that's what I have to keep reminding myself. It's like God has a bigger plan than what you think or see at the moment in time that you're in right now. And so anyways, these are just some thoughts that I'm going through on like a daily basis. I mean, and there have been times where it's like, I really didn't think we were going to be able to pay payroll or pay rent or whatever it was. And somehow, even in our negative months, we were able to stay afloat and maintain the overhead. And I think from my point of view, it's like the Lord's provision. Because February of last year, he had this idea for me and he's like, take this and run with it. And so if there's one piece of advice that I would give you who's watching, if you're going through like a trial season, it would be to cling to the Lord even when you don't feel like talking to him, or if you feel like he's not doing anything in your life, I would say to try to double down and be more obedient than ever during those times, because it's ultimately probably a trial. And so these trials happen for a reason. It's because there's something greater on the other side that it's gonna happen. It's just a matter of when it's gonna happen. And if you didn't go through these trials, then you wouldn't be able to handle what is coming your way. And so like, there was a time where we had multiple all-time high months. And then all of a sudden, like, I mean, we bought a house, we were having a baby pretty soon. And I was like, man, I got this thing figured out. My pride got in the way a little bit. And as soon as that happened, like, as soon as I was like not acknowledging that this is what the Lord did and that it was on— that I did this, that's whenever it took a turn. And he reminded me like, hey, I am in control. I can take this away at any time. I can give it to you at any time. Stop stressing. It's not you, it's me. I gave you this idea. And so it's a humbling experience. And so, um, I don't know, maybe that's a wake-up call for somebody watching this video. If that's you who's like, man, I have this thing figured out, and then all of a sudden things start falling apart, and it's like he's testing you. Um, double down. If you all have any questions on that stuff too, like, that's a big part of my life. That's the, the biggest part of my life is serving the Lord in the best way that I can. And in all of the content and all the things that I put out, that is like the ultimate end goal, is to spread joy, spread love, spread light, and be real with people. And so yeah, I just thought we would get real today because I'm not gonna lie, I've been struggling this week. It's been a little bit difficult. It's been a struggle in the mind and especially in the business world, because there's not a lot of— there's starting to be more, by the way, which is awesome. But there's not a lot of faith-driven companies and business owners. And so what you get a lot of time is like the worldly perspective is like just grind and grind and grind and grind. And like, that's true. Like, work your butt off. But also make sure it's what the Lord is calling you to do. Because if you're working in the wrong direction, then it's going to just completely fall over and not work. And so anyways, just stay in touch with the Spirit and make sure your spiritual life is on top priority for 2025. And it's, it, I'm not saying it's easy and it sometimes is harder, but things are shifted. You look at it from a different point of view and it's like, that's what I'm trying to bring to the business world. The entrepreneur world is like, you can have a successful business, a successful lifestyle. And even though our version of success is different, It's like, that means to me whenever I can buy back my time, do whatever I want whenever I want. That doesn't mean make a million dollars. That's not what I'm trying to do. And so, like, you can have it all. You can have faith, you can have your family, you can have a church life, you can have a business that is producing fruit. Which is more than money, but like you're serving people and helping people and the money will follow because that's just how things work. And so, especially if the Lord has called you to do that, and sometimes it's hard to hear the call, but whenever you do, I think it's important to take action. And I think that's the only reason that we've stayed afloat and the things that I've learned now I would have never learned if I didn't go through those hard seasons in these last couple years. And so anyways, enough with the hard stuff. On a good note, Howdy Media is not going anywhere. We're continuing, and, um, these next few months are already getting pretty booked and busy. And so hopefully you'll see more content Um, the biggest struggle with me right now is finding a good balance of like fulfilling these projects because there's only a few of us here that work and I'm the only full-time one. And so I'm trying to figure out a way and bring on people that I can delegate to that I'm able to still keep some profit margin in there. So like for my YouTube videos, for example, like I honestly need to start outsourcing a lot of this stuff. And I have a couple people who have helped me. One of the guys was on our podcast like 2 weeks ago. Um, but also if you're an editor and you're looking for more work, I would love to delegate more because I don't have the time to be editing all day, every day whenever I have this business to run. Um, so it's getting busier. We're starting, I'm doing my first webinar on the 28th of February, uh, of 2025. So if you're watching this after the fact, sorry you missed out. You'll probably be able to find it on my YouTube channel at that point. But if you want to sign up and watch live and ask questions, we're going to be talking about, um, basically how to create content that converts. How to, um, let me just read the email to you. Actually, it's, it's gonna be Larga Nuggets. So like, with this business in the last 2 years, I have successfully brought in up to multiple 6 figures of revenue. That's not money that I make because a lot of it goes back into the business, but multiple 6 figures is what we're bringing in at this point. And so a lot of the, the systems and strategies, softwares, implementations that we use, I'm wanting to give away to you guys for free. Um, and so you're going to be looking at learning about mistakes that business owners make on social media, the number one mistake actually, um, how to create your content that converts And to keep a, a brand that stays relevant long term, um, softwares and systems to build simple lead capture systems, um, 24/7 that are automated. So you don't have to be there sitting in your DMs talking to people. It'll be automated for you. I've used the heck out of that stuff. Um, and like a short form and long form content strategy. Which is what I've been doing a lot of recently. So basically starting on YouTube and then trickling down and repurposing the mess out of all your content. And so those are just a few of the things. It's probably going to be about an hour long. Um, the whole goal is to provide value and hopefully change your business and change your life because right now And honestly, the whole time I'm in business, I'm just trying to build that trust and build that relationship with you guys. And so, yeah, I don't know. If you want to, if you think you will get something out of it, feel free to RSVP. There's gonna be a link in the description. February 28th at 4 PM Central Standard Time. That's gonna happen, and I'm pumped. It's gonna be a good time. I feel like there's gonna be a lot of good conversation. Uh, it's, it's completely free if I didn't mention it was free. Uh, all you got to do is reserve your seat so I know how many people are coming. But yeah, it's gonna be a good time. Um, I'll be putting out more content pretty soon, so stay tuned for that. If you like what you're watching, make sure to subscribe, follow along the journey of Howdy Media and my journey of being the owner of it and CEO. Um, it's always, always a challenge coming up and all these crazy stories going on. So, um, yeah, make sure to subscribe, make sure to like the video, and we will see you guys in the next one. Peace.