In this episode...

Note: We use AI transcription so there may be some inaccuracies

Laura Hargrave: Welcome everyone here at Boss It. We would love to hear from you. Join us in our Boss It community by heading over to our website, bossitclub.com, and join our mailing list. As we grow, we will be launching our community of fellow Boss It BFFs, and we want you to be a part of it.

Okay, Sophia Noreen, let's dig into this. I can't wait to tell them all about how we got here.

Sophia Noreen: Welcome everyone. Tara at Bost. We would love to hear from you. Join us in our Boce community by heading over to our website, bost club.com, and join our mailing list. As we grow, we will be launching our community, a fellow Bost bfs, and we want you to be a part of it. Okay, Sophia Andreen, let's dig into this.

Sophia Noreen: I can't wait to tell them all about how we got here. Welcome to the Boss Podcast. My name is Sophia Nareen and I took an Etsy startup and launched it in big box retailers within 12 months as a creative with an entrepreneurial drive. I left my full-time career in healthcare to find better harmony between career.

Sophia Noreen: Family and self care. We believe you can have it all. Yes, you can launch and run a successful, scalable business while maintaining harmony in all aspects of your life. We believe we can learn from each other and draw on many experiences to create the best life possible. During each episode, we will share proven life hacks that will keep you on top and striving every day.

Sophia Noreen: There should be no hesitation. Make a plan, take action. We are here for you. What's up everyone? Welcome to another fantastic episode of The Boss at Podcast. Today we are gonna be chatting about an extremely important topic, and it's going to be about the recession that is looming on the horizon. It sounds like it's going to be unavoidable and 2023 maybe.

Sophia Noreen: A year of a lot of risk mitigation for many companies, and we've already been seeing it with our Fortune 500 companies. They're starting to do layoffs and not to scare anyone, but it is a reality. And as a small business owner, you need to start preparing yourself and your business so you can not become recession proof, because I don't think there is such a.

Sophia Noreen: But allowing yourself to ride the waves of the recession and hopefully come out the other side, either gaining from the recession or at least staying afloat during the recession and not shutting your business doors. So I have four things that we're going to be doing in our businesses, and I think you should take these tips away as well.

Sophia Noreen: And use them in your business so that way you can float during the recession as much as possible and not sync. So let's get into it. Okay. The first thing that we're gonna be doing in our businesses is really looking at our pricing of our products. Now as a product based business, and if you're a product based business, listen up.

Sophia Noreen: China has already recognized that there is a recession, and if you're getting your products from China or East Asia, or. You have negotiation power now. They are feeling it now, and their exports have been decreasing. So this is your time to really look at your numbers and see if you can negotiate with your suppliers overseas if you are a park based business, and if you've onshore your production or your in-house production.

Sophia Noreen: Have a look at your costs there and start looking at the supplies that you need and start to negotiate with your suppliers. Okay. That is the first place I go to that is the largest cost to our business is the cost of product and cost of shipping to bring the product over. And that's where we're starting.

Sophia Noreen: So we're starting with the biggest chunk of our business in regards to costs, and we're going to try to reduce those costs. So that's the first thing. And then if you're a service based business and you are looking. Having different vendors as part of your team, say you have contracted out different things to be done as a service based business, you should start negotiating with those individuals to see what you can do in regards to contracts if you need to extend them and perhaps get a better price or shorten them because you're not sure if you're going to start doing some of those services on your.

Sophia Noreen: One really quick example is bookkeeping. I know bookkeeping is an extremely important service that's contracted out for many small businesses. You may, I don't advise it actually, cuz bookkeeping is a very essential part of a business. But you may consider doing some of the tasks on your own or bringing an in-house and that way you can save a few dollars there.

Sophia Noreen: So start really analyzing your costs. And see where you can negotiate either in regards to your service delivery or in regards to your product based business. See where you can reduce those costs. And that's what we're gonna be doing because we really wanna ensure that we are bringing as much back in terms of cost reduction.

Sophia Noreen: The next thing that we're gonna be doing is having a look at our services and our products. So what are we offering our customers that others are not? So it could be in regards to products. You may have a novel product and no one else on the market provides it. So if that's the case, this may be your chance to increase the.

Sophia Noreen: Without, of course, scaring your customer away, but if there's a tolerance for inflation, for example, if there's a tolerance right now for inflation of, I don't know, 7%, 8%, because that's what's happening with the milk on our shelf. This is your opportunity to increase the cost for those items that cannot be found.

Sophia Noreen: So we have a few products in our collection that are specifically for our brand. No one else should be carrying them. They are a copywritten design. If we do have people that copy it, then that happens in the industry. But the point is, for those particular designs and for our brand association with those designs, we have the ability to increase the price.

Sophia Noreen: And you can do that because the customer has a tolerance right now for increasing. Now I say you try to do this with novel products because if you have something that you've white labeled that can be purchased somewhere else, and it's relatively the same thing, then the customer may not come back to your brand.

Sophia Noreen: You may lose that customer because they're like, Well, I can get it cheaper over here, so I'm just gonna leave this company and go over there. So without losing your customer, look at your product lineup, look at your service lineup and see where can you increase the price. Your customer feeling like you have scared them off to another company.

Sophia Noreen: With service based businesses, again, usually people do business with those who they know, like, and trust. So for service based businesses, you may have the ability to more seamlessly increase the price for your service because it's harder for people to leave their provider. Whatever service you're providing because they're used to you and so respectfully you would tell your clients that we do need to increase our price.

Sophia Noreen: You give them a window of time, 30 to 60 days notice, and then it's up to them to come back to and negotiate and the contract. So of course, looking at what you can offer in regards to a novel service or of course they know, like and trust you or a novel product and giving. An opportunity giving the recession the opportunity to be the excuse to elevate your prices.

Sophia Noreen: Tip number three is something we've shared on the podcast in the past, and that's about subscriptions. And I will link here to top a good video that you guys can go catch with me and Laura talking about money in business and how to save money in business.

Sophia Noreen: And this was a tip that she gave. A while ago, I think it was about a few months ago now on looking through your subscriptions and now you need to do it more than ever. So go through your subscriptions and have a look and see what are you actually using and what are you not using this, and you should do this in your business and in your personal life.

Sophia Noreen: I think a lot of us have Netflix and we have other streaming provider. Like Disney plus, there's a whole range of providers now for entertainment. Even personally, you need to go through and ask yourself, how often am I streaming on Netflix versus Disney Plus? So those are simple examples in your own personal life.

Sophia Noreen: But when it comes to business, you also need to look at the subscriptions and see what you have signed up for because of course there are many options to send up for many. A great example I'll share is our Shopify. We use Shopify as our e-commerce platform, and we have lots of apps that are on that platform.

Sophia Noreen: Actually, the reason why I had initially even signed up for Shopify was because of the many apps that were available on the platform and made it easier for me to do things that I wanted on the. And I would sign up for things. And then because it's a small charge and they put it all together in a bundle, and they charge you all at once, you may have forgotten about which apps you have signed up for and maybe are not using one of them now because it's been a while and you've realized that it's obsolete or it wasn't working for you.

Sophia Noreen: So please go and check all of your subscriptions for your. And do a cleanup. And of course if you're using those subscriptions, that's great, but see if you can downgrade your selection. Perhaps if you have a middle window there or middle brown that you've subscribed to, perhaps they have a lower model. I know that when the lockdown hit in 2020, we were able to negotiate with QuickBooks, for example, and they gave us three months for free because I knew small businesses.

Sophia Noreen: Essentially shut down. So they gave us three months for free, and I believe I called back one more time and they gave me another additional month. So of course, these are small amounts of operating dollars that are being saved, but in the long run, it can add up and it may be worth it because when you're in a pinch, you're in a pinch.

Sophia Noreen: So go through your subscriptions and see what you can actually save and do it for your personal situation and also for your. And finally, tip number four, use the 80 20 rule. Use the Preto principle. We have chatted about this in past episodes, and I'll leave a link below this video so you can catch more on the Predo principle.

Sophia Noreen: But basically the Predo principle is that. 80% of your results, the output will be accomplished by 20% of your inputs. So that means that for a small business, there are gonna be things that you're doing that will provide 80% of the results. So now you need to look at your small business, either a service or as a product based owner.

Sophia Noreen: You need to look at what is providing 80% of your results, and it doesn't have to. 80%. It just has to be those inputs that are providing most of your results. Now, I'll give you a really great example. In our business, our product based business, also Sophia, we have products that are really truly providing the 80% of the profits of the.

Sophia Noreen: And so we know that, and our plan for the incoming potential recession is to get rid of the products which are not performing as good as we had hoped to perform. So we're going to eliminate a few of those product. By either doing a clearance or doing some type of big sale to clear them out because not only are they taking up operating dollars for storage, they don't sell at a high volume, so we are not going to continue carrying them.

Sophia Noreen: So looking at your inventory, if you are a product based business and say, Hey, where are we making most of our profits? What is. Output that is being provided, what input is providing that output? So what product is providing that profit versus what product may not be as profitable or not selling as fast or as not in demand?

Sophia Noreen: And what can we stop putting our efforts towards? For service based owners, we do exactly the same thing. There's likely a service you're providing that is providing you with more profits, and so you need to go see Now what is that one thing? What is that one service that I'm providing that could be giving me most of my income?

Sophia Noreen: Is it something that I can scale and put more focus there, or is there something that I can get rid of perhaps. Service that you are providing that is not as income generating. And you can remove that and focus more on that one profit building input. So again, you need to use a Predo principle because it does hold true, right?

Sophia Noreen: You are going to be, of course, putting in more effort for certain things and getting less results. And then there'll be other items that you'll put in less effort. So 20% of effort, and you're gonna get 80% results. And that's just the example, the 80 20. It's not a one to one ratio. So keeping that in mind while you are looking at your business and ensuring that you are really buckling down on your resources is what we need to do to, of course, stay afloat during a potential recession.

Sophia Noreen: Okay guys, so let's go from the top. We're gonna talk about the four things that we should be. To prepare for a potential recession in 2022 going into 2023 because we do wanna stay afloat and small businesses are probably gonna get hit. So no need to shy away from that fact. We do need to know that after the pandemic, how much more can a small business take?

Sophia Noreen: And this is an example of what you can do today to prepare yourself. So we talked about number one, negotiating your. With your suppliers and your contractors and seeing if you can reduce the cost and of course reduce the material costs and or service provider. And hopefully you can come to a mutual understanding and agreement.

Sophia Noreen: Number two, go ahead and look at what product or service that you're offering that is novel and new and different, and allows you to potentially use a recession and inflation to increase your prices with, of course, understanding that you need to understand the customer's tolerance for inflation. So don't scare where your customer, but look at what you can offer and see if you can increase.

Sophia Noreen: Number three, we spoke about reviewing all of your subscriptions, personal and business, and ensure that not only are you using your subscriptions, but you can also. Downgrade your subscription so you're not paying as much monthly, or you can even call out your subscription provider and see if they'll give you a few months for free, like we did with our QuickBooks back in 2020.

Sophia Noreen: And number four, of course, the Preo principle, your inputs will not equal your outputs. So look at those inputs. So look at those services and products that are giving you more output, more. And really double down on those so that way you are saving your time and your resources, and hopefully giving you more clarity on potentially where your business will go in the future.

Sophia Noreen: Okay guys, if you are enjoying these episodes, make sure you hit the bell and subscribe. And leave a comment below if you have any questions, or you can catch us on Instagram at Bosek Club. We are trying to drop an episode here every week, and if you want to learn a little bit more about the business that I run as a slide hustle right now, that is currently on the Walmart shells for Diwali, so shout out to everyone who is celebrating Diwali across the world.

Sophia Noreen: It is coming up and I imagine this episode is gonna release the day after Diwali, so it's gonna be hot in the middle of the Diwali season. Happy Dali to everyone who celebrates. And if you are in Canada, we have our products on the Walmart shelf currently for the Dali season. And if you wanna learn more about that, of course you can click the link below.

Sophia Noreen: We'll leave a link for our website and if you have any questions about that product based business, of course you can head over to also underscore Sophia on Instagram. And we have our whole team there for you. Again, guys, I hope you enjoyed this episode and remember, try to apply some of these tips, put it in your calendar and make it an actionable item because before you know it, it's gonna be January.

Sophia Noreen: And who knows what kind of mess we might be in. So not to scare you, we gotta be prepared. You need to be tolerant to these incoming changes, and we wanna make sure that you guys are set up for. Okay guys, we'll talk to you guys soon and remember, make a plan and take action. And yes, you can have it all.

Sophia Noreen: Talk to you later. Take care. Bye. So my fellow bosses, did you enjoy that episode? Now is time for you to make a solid plan and take action. But first, remember to subscribe and follow the boss at podcast so you receive a notification whenever we drop an episode. Remember to leave us a review on iTunes.

Sophia Noreen: Take a screenshot of your review and share it on Instagram as a post or a story and tag us at Boce Club. If Instagram's not your thing, no worries. Email your screenshot to podcast boce clubb.com. As a massive thank you, we will be sending you our top 50 tips for starting and scaling a business. This list is exclusively for podcast reviewers, so don't miss out.

Sophia Noreen: Now, remember, bosses make a plan and take action in all aspects of your life. Yes, you can have it all.