Scott Duffy: The President's Plan To Reopen The Economy & What It Means To You, Episode 28

Good morning everybody and welcome. There we go. Welcome to what now with Scott Duffy. And I want to thank all of you for joining. We have got an incredibly busy day today. I'm actually starting the stream just a couple minutes late because I have been on the phone with.

Some folks that.

That helped me to understand some of the new things that are going on with the PPP and getting stimulus cash into your bank accounts. And it has been a really, really busy morning. This has been maybe the busiest morning that I can remember since the first week that this whole coronavirus thing started to lock this country down. Since really the week, I guess it was, of March 9, March 10. There is so much going on. I have so much to share with you today and I want to welcome you. If you're join for the first time, please drop into the thread and write down your name, the industry you're in, and the biggest challenge that you're facing right now. So I can use that to help customize this show around each and every one of you.

Also, I want to thank all of you who have been shooting me direct messages. You guys have been sending me texts and emails telling me about what you're experiencing right now in terms of your job or your industry innovations that you're creating within your industry. What is happening to you, your personal experience with regard to these government stimulus programs. It is really super helpful to me and I cannot tell you how much I appreciate it. We only have about 20 seconds before we go live on air on radio, so we're going to let this propagate for just a few more seconds before we jump in again. I want to thank all of you guys who are joining from YouTube, from Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn and Periscope. And let's roll.

Good morning, my name is Scott Duffy and this is what now with Scott Duffy. I want to welcome you from wherever you're listening. You can tune in each day at 10:00am Pacific Time to watch the live broadcast on YouTube and Facebook, listen nationwide on Dash Radio throughout the day or download the podcast. This show is for entrepreneurs, small businesses and those thinking about starting their own company. It's for people affected by this economy. Maybe they lost their job, their business, they were furloughed or they saw their consulting contracts disappear in a heartbeat. It's for people asking, what do I do now and how do I overcome this and come out even stronger now? Our focus today going to be on where is the other side? Where's the other side? And what does that mean to you? I have a whole Bunch of news to share and a whole bunch of lessons that I want to get to. So I am going to jump right in. First of all, things you need to know this morning in the United States, there are now 644,000 confirmed cases of coronavirus. In the last 24 hours, we have set another record for deaths, bringing us up to 28,579 deaths. Now, you may have heard over the past couple days, President Trump has said that we have hit our peak. What he means is the peak infection rate of people here in the United States. But as I've shared on this show, that after we hit our peak, we have a lagging indicator where, which is a higher death rate. And the reason that we have a higher death rate is that you have people on ventilators and people who have really been struggling now for a period of weeks, whose bodies give in. And that is very common with a virus like this. So right now we're on. We have peaked in terms of infection rate, but we're seeing a record number of deaths every 24 hours. And this will probably continue to happen for at least the next week. This morning, New York and other east coast states extended their stay at home orders for another month. So in New York and the states around New York, stay at home orders have been extended through May 15. In Los Angeles, Mayor Garcetti has announced that there will be no big live events, no sports events, no concerts, no big gatherings all through 2020 and sometime into 2020, 21. Pretty crazy when you think about it now, the travel industry. I've often talked about the travel industry, my affection for the travel industry, how much I love the travel industry, how I started a company in the travel industry, which I sold to the Virgin Group, how, how much I love it and how many friends I have in it and how terrible I feel because this industry is just getting killed right now. This morning we're hearing that it is likely going to take the airlines in the United States three to five years to recover from what's happened in the month, the last month alone, three to five years to recover. And what's crazy is the speed that we're starting to see occur, this exponential rate of industries being almost completely wiped out, which by the way, for entrepreneurs means innovation, means there's opportunity. But still, we have to acknowledge these industries that are being completely wiped out almost overnight. So when you think about it, let me give you some examples. What happens if capacity shrinks over the next couple years because of social distancing? So let me Give you an example. What happens if big airline, if big airlines need to start removing their middle seats? So this is something being talked about. What happens if restaurants have to start removing tables? That's something that's being talked about. What happens if co working spaces like a WeWork or a Regis have to eliminate open space and instead create separated smaller areas for people to work? What happens when you're in the media business? What happens when you're in the media business and overnight advertising has disappeared? I read at the LA Times advertising right now is almost non existent. It's dropped something like 95% in the Times. What happens when that happens to media companies? And what happens when the virus hits your industry? What happens when the virus has this kind of just drastic shift that it creates in your industry? How do you adjust? How do you adapt? Where's the innovation? What are the customers that you serve need now and what has to happen? How do they know that you're getting what you want? What they want?

I was reading. Actually I wasn't reading. I was listening today and just finalizing my thoughts around the travel industry. What struck me about the airlines is the airlines have been depending on stimulus cash. Stimulus cash in the form of loans and stimulus cash in the form of forgivable grants. And this money is primarily going to be used in order to keep workers on board. They are pledging not to do layoffs, the major airlines, because they're able to use this stimulus cash in order to pay people. Here's the challenge. What they're telling us today is that when this round of stimulus runs out in September, it is highly likely they would not even be able to keep people on at the same rate. So they were going to have to start doing layoffs starting in September. Now we're going to get to the good news and we're going to get to what this means to you. But again, I just wanted to give a quick snapshot of some of what's going on outside today.

And I want to ask.

How does this make you feel?

Because I think I have a pretty good pulse on sentiment. I think I have a pretty good pulse on how people are taking in all of this information and how they're processing it and what they're experiencing. And what I'm finding is.

There are a lot of people out there that are feeling alone. There's a lot of people out there that are feeling isolated. There are a lot of people that are out there that are feeling like they're the only ones going through it or they're the only ones going through it.

In this way. They're feeling embarrassed. And, you know, when times are tough.

It'S tough because what do you tell your family? What do you tell your friends? What do you tell your employees? What do you tell your contractors? It's like people want help, but they're not necessarily sure where to find it. They want certainty, but they're not necessarily sure where to get it, if it even exists today. And they don't see how to get. Or how they're going to get to the other side. So the question that they're asking is, what now? What comes next when they hear all of this news? And I want to tell you a story because as I was thinking about this and I was thinking about sentiment, and I had a lot of really, really tough conversations with people last night. People who had reached out or I had reached out to them because they had kind of gone dark. They'd gone. I stopped seeing them on social media. I stopped hearing from them. They were no longer active in groups. And so I just wanted to check in. And.

You know, I.

It reminded me of a story.

And the story is. And maybe some of you have heard me tell this before. A few years ago, I was with. Not a few years ago, about a year ago, I was with a friend of mine. I was actually backstage before speaking at an event. And I have this. This friend named Jeff, Jeff Hoffman. And Jeff started a company called Priceline. And Priceline, if you have used it before, you haven't used it, is kind of like an Expedia. It's an online booking tool for commercial aviation and for travel and things like that. And Jeff created Priceline. I think it was like a $90 billion company valuation at one point. And when I was talking to Jeff, we were laughing because Jeff and I both have young daughters and we bonded over our daughters. And he told me this story. He said, scott, in one of my companies, I decided that I wanted to do something cool. I wanted to bring my daughter to work. And so I created at this one company a single day where everyone was asked to bring all employees and all contractors, bring your kids to work. And he said, so what happened was we get our kids.

He said, I basically got my kid, got my daughter. And that day she was really excited. And I got her in the car and I got her all buckled up in the back seat.

And she looked at me in the front and she said, dad, oh, by the way, his daughter's five years old. And if you know anything about five year olds, this is their why phase. They ask why to everything. Why to everything. And so she gets buckled up, he's in the front seat, and she says, dad, I have a question for you. What is the name of that piece of plastic that's between the front window and the back window of the car? Now, now that you think about this, you'll notice whenever you get into a car on the inside, between the front door and the back door, there's a piece of plastic that goes between the two. She said, dad, what is that thing? What do they call it? And he said, I don't know. And she said, why? And he said, well, I don't know. And she said, why? I don't know why. And this went on and on and on until eventually Jeff said, you know, honey, I don't know if there's a name for that thing. In fact, I don't think there is. And like any good five year old, she looks back at him and she said, well, dad, how do they know what to call it if they need to order more? And so he started to laugh and he puts it in drive and he starts to head to the office. So he's on his way to the office and she says, dad, dad, I have a question. How do they make carpet? And he says, I don't know. And she says, why? I don't know why. I don't know why. And this went on the entire way to the office. They get to the office and they walk through the front lobby and there's these two big machines in the lobby. And they get to Jeff's office and she sits in his chair and she says, dad, I have a question. What are those two machines, those two big machines that are in the lobby? And he says, I don't know. And she says, why? I don't know why. And then he starts to ask himself, wait a second, why don't I know? So he calls his office manager and he says, what are those two big machines? And the office manager says, I don't know why, I don't know why. He said, here's what Mr. Hoffman, I'm going to do this. I am going to find out the answer for you today. So the office manager asks around and nobody knows what they are or why they're there. And then he sends out an email to everybody on the floor and nobody knows why they're there. So then an email goes out to everybody. Why are they there? And nobody knows why. End of the day he comes in, he says, Mr. Hoffman, I've got good news. I've got bad news. He says the good news is that we can have those things picked up and removed today. The bad news is, is their paper collaters, they've been here for years and they just look so big and important that nobody knew what they were or bothered to ask why they're here. And so we've been paying for these things for seven years and nobody uses them.

And so Jeff came up with this idea and think about this, think about in your life, in your business, in your industry and what you do as an entrepreneur. You're out there, you're doing your thing and, and you do things that you think are important but you don't necessarily know why. Right? You've just been doing them for so long, they become the routine in your industry. They just become the standard, they become what's normal. They just become the way we always did it. So Jeff decided to come up with an idea. The idea was to create five year old Fridays in any every one of his companies. And on five year old Fridays, everyone's job was to get together and to get together as a, as a group, in your teams, in your divisions and ask why you do every single thing that you do. Question everything. Because what you did and the reason you did back then may not work today. And so the question or the thing that I'm going to challenge you to do today, because today we're going to talk about what happens on the other side of this. How do we get to the other side of this? How do we start to see our way onto the other side of this? And the question I'm going to ask you to ask yourself is why, looking around your industry, why do we do things the way we're doing them today and what now? What now is the best way for us to move forward? And again we, we get the answer to this what now? By asking our clients, our customers, our prospects, what do you need now? What's most important to you now? And what has to happen? How do you know you're getting what you want? So again, I recommend that you implement your own 5 year old Fridays at your kitchen table and figure out if the things that you used to do make sense going forward.

Other news.

So today President Trump, and that's why this is our topic today, getting to the other side. Today, President Trump will announce his plan to reopen America. This plan is going to be based on a strategy created by the CDC in fema, which I started to outline yesterday. It provides guidance to state and local governments on how to Ease mitigation restrictions like stay at home orders in a phased out way to support a safe reopening. His goal is to get people back to work by May 1st. And again, I shared this with you Yesterday. Of all 50 states and territories, we have about 20 states where the majority of this coronavirus, you know, impact infections, deaths has occurred. There are 30 states that have had next to no impact from, from coronavirus. And I think those are the places that he wants to start to open up. So again, how, how is this going to work.

At a very high level? Communities are going to be broken into three different areas. Again, in the United States we have 50 states and within those states we have 3,000 communities. And so the CDC and FEMA are monitoring each community along with governors and mayors and they're determining which communities are safe to open of. The 3,000 communities are broken into low mitigation where the virus is never really spread, Moderate mitigation where there's former hotspots but controlled recovery or significant mitigation where they're current or emerging hotspots or there's moderate mitigation, but there's signs of real strain capacity in the hospitals and things like that. Their first priority is gonna be to open community settings where children are cared for. This is super important. They want kids to be cared for so adults can go back to work. So this includes a plan to open up schools, daycare and things like that. Everyone's been asking me about testing, testing, testing. I want to be tested. I want other people in the environment to be tested so we know that the environment is safe. Here's what we do know, that Abbott Labs has the test. So these tests have been created and they work. They can be administered at home, they can be administered in the office. And the results are near real time results. The issue right now is manufacturing is making enough of these and distribution, getting them to where they need to go. But what I can tell you is this, and this is really good news, is that by next month we will be producing and distributing tens of millions of these tests every single month. And we'll ramp up to hundreds of millions of those tests within the next 60 days. So this is really good news with regard to a vaccine.

I talked about this yesterday, yesterday, that in order to really relax and ease stay at home orders all over the country, what's going to be required is a vaccine. And what we know is this, that Johnson Johnson, who right now is the worldwide leader in terms of where they are in a vaccine, is telling us that if everything Goes well, perfectly according to plan, a vaccine will be ready in one year, April 2021. And so what that means is that means that, you know, many of these stay at home types of restrictions or mitigation when we're out of the home, in the workplace, are going to be around for an awful long time. And what I want us to do and what I challenge you to do every day is think about the opportunities that will emerge and how this can affect others and how you can create solutions around this as an entrepreneur and how you can monetize those solutions.

Here's a pretty interesting fact, a pretty interesting fact that I read today. When you take a look at one thing that the countries with the best mitigation and the lowest death rates have in common in the world. So you look in the world, all the countries with the best mitigation, the lowest death rates, the fastest path to ease the curve, they have one thing in common. You know what it is? They're all run by women. So go. Isn't that, isn't that amazing? Each one of them is run by women. I don't know what the common thread is there, but that's, that's pretty doggone cool.

So let's talk about, let's talk about cash.

And we'll start with unemployment. So there's new data that came out this morning.

The 22 million people have filed for unemployment since the coronavirus pandemic shut down the country. Now, to give you some, some perspective on that, we're at about 20% of the workforce has now filed for unemployment. And it's happened in about one month now, unfortunately, in one month, we have effectively wiped out all of the jobs that were gained over the last 10 years since the market crashed in 2008. So it's incredible what's happened in such a short period of time.

People in. Here's some good news. People in over 20 states starting yesterday began to see that extra $600 a week that's provided in stimulus. So you get your unemployment at the typical rate that you would get it from your state. And the federal government is adding an additional $600 a week in over 20 states. That extra $600 began to be added yesterday to unemployment benefits that were part of the CARES Act. So this, again, this is really good news. The government has talked to us. They've shared several different ways that they plan to get money to us as individuals, to get money as businesses. And so this part is starting to work. I have talked to several people this week. I've Heard from several people that have applied for unemployment over the past three weeks. Didn't hear anything, didn't see anything, didn't get anything. But this week things have changed. They're starting to get their unemployment cards and they're also starting to get that extra $600 added to those cards. That's really, really good news with regard to personal stimulus, those checks, and they're actually direct deposits that come from the CARES act that are intended to go to individuals that are earning $75,000 a year and less.

Those checks began to be deposited over the weekend. Now what we were told by the government was that 60 million people would receive the money they were supposed to receive by Wednesday, by yesterday. And what that means is, and again, let's just talk about how you qualify here and how you get that money. So the first thing you need to do is have filed taxes in 2018 or 2019 and the government needs to have on file your Social Security number, your banking information so they can make a direct deposit. They claimed last week that by this Wednesday yesterday that 60 million people would receive their stimulus in their bank account. Now that number increased from 60 to 80 million this week. Where they had got, they found additional information, the information they needed from people. But here's the problem that was first reported about 30 minutes ago. The problem that they've run into is that if you file through a service like H and r block or TurboTax, any one of these third parties that would push the filing out for you, there is now a glitch in the system and they are not able to send you that money today. And so if you have not received money and you were supposed to receive it, then I just want you to know that this could be the reason why they're working on fixing that glitch. It affects millions and millions and millions of people and my guess is that it takes them another week to fix it. So I just wanted you to be prepared. If you didn't file taxes in 2018-19 and you would like to get access to this money, go to irs.gov there is a link and there's a blue bar and you click on it. And all you have to do if you didn't file in 2018 or 19 is give them their Social Security number. There's a way for you to self authenticate, give them your banking information and, and then you should be eligible in the next couple of weeks to receive that money as well. If you get a deposit, please let me know on the EIDL program Here's the thing nobody knows that I've talked to. What the hell is going on with the Eidl programs? All we know is, all we know for sure is this, that it was set up, this Eidl Emergency Income Disaster Loan Program, so that people who needed fast cash could go and fill out a simple two page online application. It was all point and click. They were supposed to get approved if they were approved within three days and have money into their account within a week. That's basically what we were told by the government. I don't know anyone that in the last three, four weeks has either heard from or seen this Eidl money.

What we do know is that if all the people, let's say there was $10 billion in that fund to fund it, say everyone got the $10,000, it was up to $10,000 as an advance, then that would mean that a million people would have access to the cash that was set aside. But the reality is over 3 million people have applied and the system is totally bogged down. I'll tell you what I know about Eidl. There's nothing new to report there today. And finally, the PPP program. So you guys have been blowing up my phones today on this one. And here's all I can share with you. And it's this. With the PPP program, there have been over 1.6 million applications that have already come through. 1.6 million applications.

That have come through today. 100% of the money that was dedicated, that $350 billion has been spoken for. And there is not a way at this point for the SBA to take in any more applications for the, for the PPP program. What I can tell you is that of the people that had been approved, I know maybe four or five people that have been approved. I don't know one person that's received money. What I've heard is they've been told it'll be a couple of weeks. And I think that this is just a. I think that the government is trying hard to get money into people's accounts. But I think that this is a terrible breakdown on the government's part because, number one, there isn't enough money in there to fund all of us small businesses. Number two, the system, the process for getting that money into our accounts appears not to be ready. It appears to be broken. And so people aren't seeing this money. And then the question is, how long can you hang on? How long can you hang on without getting this money? How long can you keep employees without getting this money. Here's what we know. As of yesterday, 70%, close to 70% of small businesses in the US say that if they don't get cash very quick, and very quick has a different definition, but very quick, they'll be out of business in three months and most have two weeks worth of cash. So I'm really hoping that the government gets its act together, increases the amount of money that we have for this program and is able to get that money into our accounts quicker. With that, I want to take a quick break and I want to welcome people to the show. So if you are watching us live from YouTube or Facebook, you're on Instagram, you're on Periscope, you're listening across the country on DASH Radio. I want to welcome you to this program. If you're watching from social media and it's your first time, if you could drop your name in the industry you're in and the biggest challenge you're having and your experience around receiving these government programs and if you could drop that into the comments, it would be super helpful and I will do my best to answer your questions and share what you have learned. Good morning to you. Patrick Carney. Good morning. Kimberly, it is good to see you. Sarah Aaron, Good morning. Migo. Jim Blakemore, it is good to see you. Tim Owens, Helen Rob, Craig, Daya, it is so good to see all of you. Sita. Aaron Carter, it is really good to have you here today. Tim Moore, Bobby Joe.

Now, interesting. So Bobby Joe is saying.

That you filed their HR Block and as you stated yesterday, you did receive the deposit. It was the incorrect amount, but it was deposited. So that is really interesting because the government has specifically called out H and R Block. The media specifically call it HR Block as a company where they're having problems with this this morning. So maybe it's possible that you were able to get it before the system broke. I don't know. Doesn't matter. That's awesome news and I'm so happy that you, I'm so happy that you, that you got it. And Daya, it looks like you got a deposit yesterday of $1,000 on the stimulus in your bank account. So that is super cool.

Super, super cool.

Aaron Hagman I am, I'm crazy. I'm curious. Did you guys apply for the PPP program? And if you did, what was your experience so far? Again, everyone that I know that's applied, they've gone through the process, they've submitted and they've been approved. Every one of them has done it. Through a community bank.

So let's talk about how we get to the other side.

When I think about kind of where we are today and what products and services are going to be the ones that people buy the most over the next year. And this is again, this is really what I'm thinking about. I'm thinking about the next 12 to 24 months. And I'm doing that because when times are tough and people are holding onto their cash tighter, what they do is they spend money on the things that they think are must haves versus have to haves the things that are most important. They spend things on stuff that enables them to get to and to be at work. And so what this means is, for example, childcare, they'll spend money on childcare, childcare programs, after school programs, daycare programs, things like that. And businesses will spend money in order to adapt their companies and help adapt in their industries to new needs. So every day I share with you some ideas on adapting, who's adapting, how they're adapting to help stimulate ideas for all of you. And at the beginning of the show, I want you to start to think about this, I want you to think about this idea of as we begin to open up some of the things that will likely be a new norm, how do they affect your business? Is there innovation in here for you? Are there ways that you can serve these markets? We talked about the airlines. So as an example, the airlines right now because of social distancing, are talking about removing middle seats, reducing capacity. Is there anything there that may work for you? Restaurants are talking about, cities are talking about requiring restaurants to reduce the number of tables and guests that they can serve at any one time. Again because of social distancing. How could this or how does this impact impact you? Child care? Is there a business for you? Is there something for you? Is there a way for you to adapt whatever it is that you do so that you can meet a parent's need and provide childcare, provide programming, provide.

Tutoring, provide exercise programs, provide community related things that happen online, provide those types of things in person. What can you do around the area of childcare? Because this is going to be the number one most important thing that needs to get nailed down for most of America to get back to work so they'll pay for it. That's number one. Number two, the touchless economy. So we've talked about all kinds of different economies, but the top the touchless economy is going to be the new, the new, new people are not going to want to touch door Handles. They're not going to want to touch elevator buttons. They're not going to want to touch keypads, like when they're checking out of the grocery store. They're not going to want to touch stuff that other people have touched. Is there a way that you can participate in the touchless economy with whatever it is that you do, or if you're pivoting, do you see an opportunity out there? Think about your experience out there in this touchless economy.

Distance monitoring. So this is going to be a big thing. Monitoring is going to be huge. Monitoring of people that have or are immune to the Coronavirus COVID 19 or other things, other pandemics, like right now, is about really preparing for a new world that we're all entering. So distance monitoring is something that's going to become really hot. Now, I can tell you that there's a small study that's taking place right now at a Ford plant in the Midwest where workers, a small group of workers, are being given wrist monitors. And what happens is, is when they get within six feet of each other, their wrist monitors buzz to help teach them how to keep space between one another. And so the question is, as it relates to distance monitoring, is there anything you can think of, anything in your space that may make sense? Let's talk about travel. I love traveling.

Now, the airlines have begun testing people before they get on flights. I don't know if you've flown recently, by the way. Most of the their capacity has been cut 90%. So United, I think they've. 90% of all their flights have been canceled around the world. But if you're on one of those 10% of flights, what they're doing now is they're actually giving you a test before you get on the plane and waiting for the results to see if you're infected with COVID 19. And so travel testing.

Is going to become incredibly important. So here's what I'm thinking. In the same way that you can purchase to make your travel easier, something like TSA Pre. So I'm a TSA Pre person and I'm able to get through a line faster, or some people have clear so they're able to get through security faster. Is there a business innovation out there that enables you to do testing that helps people to get through security faster? Because I think what's going to happen is I think that all of this testing will actually be conducted before you get through security, by Homeland Security. So how can you make it easier for people to go through testing to get to the plane immunity passports. Now, like this is, is also a thing that I think is, is going to be a crazy kind of new, kind of, kind of new new thing is that, Pat, you have a passport that enables you to get from one country to another.

The odds are there will be a special thing that's attached to your passport or you can get kind of like you would get or would have gotten a TSA pre that will be your immunity passport. So incredibly, like, there's innovation that can happen here. I talked about how quickly industries are dying earlier on the show. Like they're dying overnight and they're being replaced by the new products and services that people need in this new, new, in this new normal. So I take a look at the media business as an example, and I'm going to give you a personal example. So I have done a ton of media. I've been in a ton of studios and new studios and things like that, but on camera a whole bunch. And what is happening now, that's really crazy, it's really amazing is that if you go and you look at some of the biggest news networks out there, so I'm talking like CNN and MSNBC and FOX News and whatever else, cnbc, whatever else is out there. You look at these places a year ago, two years ago, actually, what am I talking about? A month ago, you would go to these places and it was incredible. Like the setup, the number of cameras, the producers, the number of people that were there in support that, you know, control the cameras, the stuff that went across the screen, all of that stuff. A lot of people don't know this, but for some of these bigger networks out there today, the overnight shifts, the overnight shifts don't have all of that production. They have their camera set up. Check this out. They have their camera set up. You use foot pedals. So if you have three cameras, you would have three foot pedals underneath the desk. And you are actually controlling with your feet as you're doing the news broadcast, you're controlling the cameras. You're also controlling graphics that are on the screen, simple graphics. This is the way that things have been going. So now what's happening is you take a look at CNN as an example. Cnn, they have, you know, most people are at home. A lot of people are gone.

Their broadcasters are at home and they've never done better. And so, you know, you take a look at businesses like the media business. So I, as an example, I have gone on a crash course for a month on how to build CNN at my house, right? So I have got. Now you guys aren't seeing any of this yet, but you will really soon. So we have got audio boards, I've got a video thingamajigger. I've got this whole lighting system that's not on right now, but I've got this lighting system that's been built. We have a whole graphics thing, we have a whole livestream team. The thing is, when the market changes, we have to change. And the longer we wait, the longer it is or the faster we get replaced. And so in the same way that these people are being forced to adapt, I'm being forced to adapt. And so again, I just want to share ideas to help maybe spur some ideas to help you to adapt and think about new ways to approach your industry. What happens in the media business when there's no ads? How in the hell do you support programming? I have an idea. So I have a business that was supposed to launch this month and we've been working on it for almost a year. I am building right now with a team of people and Entrepreneur Academy. I think the days of the MBA are long behind us. I think it's all about the eba. It's not about B school, it's about E school. And so we're building this Entrepreneur Academy and it's frickin awesome. And in order to drive traffic to the Academy, we've developed programming. So we have a weekly show that's been picked up. It's a tv, it's a video series, and we'll be driving people to the Academy. I have a, I have a radio deal for national radio and that's being pushed out through video. And we're going to use that to drive people to the Academy. All that was supposed to start this month. Hello, Covid. Right. But here's what's interesting. When I was building out this program, I thought, you know, the days of getting programs supported through advertising are for the most part over. They're for the most part over. So the days of big networks relying on ads alone in order to foot the bill of producing all of that programming are like, you know, they're almost gone. So whether it is, whether it's traditional television networks, it's cable, it's radio, it's print, everything's being disrupted. It has been for years. But I think what we're seeing is this pandemic is pushing these industries over the edge. So what I said from the very beginning, I said this a year ago, is I don't care about advertising on my shows. Instead we're gonna monetize this by driving our viewers to the top end of a sales funnel and then giving them a lot of free great stuff and then converting them into products and services. We're gonna build an E Academy. It's gonna be a SaaS business. So my core business, even though it looks like it may be media and it may look like we make all of our money from ads, there's something else. And the question I have for you is what else is in your business? Or what hasn't been created yet for you in your business? Or how can you think differently about you in your business? How can you tear. How can you be strong enough and open enough to tear down every single way that you've done business before and the industry's worked in the past and think about a new way, a new new that may work better going forward.

It's so. I mean, it's so. It's so doggone important. And, you know, it reminds me. It actually reminds me of a story. My buddy Greg Reed tells this story, and it's. It's about a spider monkey. So this spider monkey is known for being maybe the fastest animal in the jungle and maybe the hardest to trap. And so for years, hunters would try and hunt. They would try to trap these spider monkeys, and they just couldn't do it. Until one day somebody figured something out. One day somebody figured out that monkeys, these spider monkeys, they love nuts. I'm not sure what kind. Peanuts, some kind of nut. And what they would do. So what the hunters did is they decided to get logs that were on the ground and to drill a hole into the logs, a small hole, and in the hole to put nuts, we'll call them peanuts, and put them in there. And what they figured is that over time, spider monkeys in an area would go and they would sense the peanuts and they would put their, whatever you call it, their hand inside of the hole. So their hands inside the hole like this, it's open, they grab the peanuts. And here's what would happen. What would happen is as soon as they grab the peanuts to take them away, their hand gets stuck. It's too big to get out of that hole. And what happens is at that point, the hunters, they come up and they approach the spider monkey, right, to capture it. And here's the thing, the spider monkey, it's stuck. It cannot get its hand outside of that log because it's holding on so tight. It is holding on so tight because it thinks that what it's holding onto is the very thing that's keeping it alive. But in this case, it's the very thing that's going to lead to its death. All it has to do is open its hand and let go of its nuts. And with its hand open, it could pull its hand back out of the log. And so the question I have is.

What is your nut? What is the thing that you're holding onto or that your industry is holding onto, the thing that you collectively think is most important, but actually maybe dragging you out of business today? And if that's the case, how can you approach your industry and your business with a completely open mind, completely open to receive and open to change. And what you're receiving is you're receiving customer feedback. You're asking customers what's most important to you and what has to happen. How do you know that you're getting what you want? And because you let go of those things that you think that you need, that you thought that you needed, that were actually holding you down, you have the openness, you have the capacity in order to innovate and to adapt and to create change. And that's where the money is. And it's so important to know that's where the money is. Because here's the thing. The thing is, there is a big difference between an innovator, an entrepreneur. An innovator is the kind of. That's the person that comes up, maybe with the idea, they've come up with the idea. That's an innovator. An entrepreneur is a person that knows how to monetize innovation. They don't necessarily have to come up with the idea. They have to figure out how to make money on the idea and to build a business around it. And so what I want to share with you is this. This idea of.

What now, what next? This idea of change and adapt. And the way we do it is be open. And the way we do that is we listen to customers and we get their feedback. And forget every single thing that you knew about your industry. Forget every single thing that you knew about your business four weeks ago, because that is your baggage when it comes to adapting. Everything that you knew and thought about your industry 4 weeks ago is your baggage today. If you truly want to come out the other side and you want to come out on top, the way that you do it is to forget it all and to come at it from a fresh perspective. One more way to think about it. I think I may have shared this story before. I have a good friend. He has a consulting business and he does coaching and by the way, I don't know how big, you know, anybody else's business is, but, you know, his coaching business is about $15 million a year. This guy's figured it out and he's built two huge companies before this.

And he did an exercise with two really successful guys. One of the people in the business, one of the two co founders, was very resistant to change. This co founder was really locked into the way his business did business, and he built a great company, he and his co founder, because they stayed so focused and stayed so committed, and they really nailed it over a period of years. The other co founder, he looked at the market and he saw change, and he looked at the market and then back at his business, and he said, you know what, if we don't innovate, we're going to die. And he couldn't get his partner over the hump. And so what he did is he had. And in front, he had. He had my buddy come in, and the buddy brought them both together in the conference room, and he looked at the partner that was resistant. And this was a setup. He said, so I'm here with your partner and I'm the one that's supposed to break the news. And I wanted to share that your partner's leaving. He's decided to leave the business.

I've seen your agreement. You know, maybe he can. Maybe he's not supposed to do that. You can sue him, whatever, but he's going to leave the business, by the way. He is going to open up a competitor to this business. And he's already leased space. It's right across the street. But he's gone, and he's going to start from scratch. And what happened is the person that's resistant gets all nervous and things like that. And then what happens is there's the reveal. And the trainer says, well, okay, so I just wanted to kind of create that thing that's a setup. But we're going to start an exercise now. And the exercise is together, both of you. If you were to forget everything that you knew, everything that you've done building this over the past 10 years, and you were to open this business from scratch today, how would you do it? And they completely rewrote a plan with an open mind. And what they learned is many of the things that they were doing, they were holding onto, like those nuts they were holding onto those things they didn't let go to, those things today did not apply. Those things weren't going to work. And so it was an incredible lesson. And so the question I have for you is this. It's what now? What now in your business? What now in your field, and what is next?

Before we wrap, because we have just a couple more minutes, I want to go back to your questions and to your comments again. If you are. This is the first time that you've joined us or you're here, somebody who's a regular, if you could drop in your name, dropping your name, the industry you're in, the biggest challenge you're having, I would love to address any questions that you have. I'll tell you that. Over the past week, I get comments that come to me all in one place from the different social channels, and the app that does it is up and down. And so today I'm not. I'm. I'm a little confused. I'm not seeing a whole bunch, so I'm trying to refresh my browsers in the background to take a look. So somebody's asking me here on YouTube about the PPP. And again, I just wanted to share real quick, if you didn't hear it earlier, the PPP program, the $350 billion stimulus that was created by the government as part of the $2 trillion CARES act, was intended to get into the hands of small business. That program.

Has had over 1.6 million applications so far that have been processed, and it is fully subscribed. So all of the money that was set aside has already been accounted for. Now, my understanding is not a lot of that money has actually been distributed, and nobody has a real timeline on when it will be distributed. There is no way for new applications to be taken by the SBA for this program. So they're working on extending the size of that 350 billion, maybe doubling it to 700 billion, to allow them to process more loan and grant applications as part of this program tied to the sba. So that is not great news. But what I would share with you is this. Don't stop. And what that means is get your loan in place, get your banker in place, get everything in the system and teed up. So when it's ready to go, all you have to do is press send, and boom, that application is out there, right? And it's being processed. So I think it's really important that you don't stop, because they will fund this and they will figure out a way to get money into people's hands. So just keep moving forward. Okay? Keep. Keep moving forward.

Let's see. I have been watching. Here's a comment I've been watching you from day one. Saw your first on Dr. V. Yes, I just started two MLMs a month before the crazy. I don't have any issues because I haven't moved forward with anything yet. I guess that is its own issue. But I appreciate all your information. You have a very calming voice. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you very much. So here's the thing.

The biggest challenge that people have in times of uncertainty is that they get paralyzed. And I completely understand why, because I've been through this myself, is you have all of this information coming at you. You have all of this uncertainty, you have all of this emotional stuff that you have to deal with, and it's usually not just you. You're dealing with yourself. And you may have family members, and you may have kids, and you may have employees, and there's a whole lot to process. And so one of the mistakes, one of the things that happens is a person gets paralyzed or they get back on their heel. They get back on their heels, and they wait.

Life doesn't wait, and the rent doesn't wait. And what we need to do is make it our practice to get on our toes. And so in a time of uncertainty, where do we get on our toes? Well, I'll tell you, with so much out there that we can't control, there's. There's really two things that we can. We can control what we focus on and what we do. What we focus on and what we do doesn't matter what's going. I learned that the reason I lost all that money when the market crashed in 2008, the reason I went upside down, was not the fault of anyone else or the economy. What I learned is that I had to take accountability. What I learned is that if I had managed my mindset better, if I had prepared certain things around my business better, if I had been on my toes instead of my heels and adapted faster.

I probably wouldn't have gone through a lot of this. And so what can you do right now? How do you get in your toes? Number one, you control your focus. And you control your focus by asking your customers these two questions. What's most important to you? What do you need now? And what has to happen? How do you know you're getting what you want? And then you adapt. You think about how you can adapt your products or services, and if they're the types of products and services that you can't deliver in this new. New. If your business or your industry is being completely upended, then be open and listen to the market and find New opportunity out there. You have to keep moving forward. The other thing that you have to do is you have got to keep learning. You have to keep learning. And there's two ways that you can learn. You can learn from people that give you opinion or give you counsel. Opinion comes from people that have actually been in this position that you're in today, that have actually walked in your shoes. They figured out how to get out, how to get out on the other side and how to come out stronger. They have personal experience. They built what you want to build.

They don't have experience building what you want to build. So people with opinion, again, because they haven't done it themselves, anything they give you is their best guess. It's an opinion versus counsel. Counsel comes from people that have been. They've walked in these shoes. They have done exactly what it is that you want to do. You can follow literally in their footsteps. It's like walking in their footprints on the beach. So you need to be careful to seek counsel right now and not opinion. You need to keep learning as much as you can from people that can provide counsel. You need to seek counsel in new places than you have in the past. You need fresh ideas, fresh thoughts, fresh everything coming into your head. And you need to be open to receive. Forget what you knew four weeks ago. Be open to receive the new, new. And if you do that, you're going to put yourself in a much better position to come out of this stronger and on the other side. With that, I need to wrap for the day. We are out of time. I want to thank all of you for joining. Whether you watched the live broadcast on YouTube and Facebook or listen, you're listening nationwide on Dash radio or downloading this podcast, I want to thank you for joining. This is what now with Scott Duffy. Until we talk again tomorrow, I want to challenge you to ask yourself, what now? What comes next? And we'll talk about that tomorrow. You guys have a great day. Bye. Bye.