[Growth Report] Coronavirus Survival Tactics: Stay Flexible, Focused, & Optimistic
Good god it’s only been a month. In coronavirus time that’s like a decade.
March has come and gone. And in less than a month, the world has changed completely.
Remote work has become the norm.
Toilet paper is (for some reason) in short supply.
Social distancing is no longer just for introverts like me.
And many businesses, sadly, have had to close up shop. Permanently.
The coronavirus has ravaged the economy and reinvented normalcy for practically everyone. And while signs of returning to our old lives are visible on the horizon, there’s still a long way to go yet.
Thanks to our ability to stay flexible, stay optimistic, and stay focused on continuing to deliver high-quality work for our clients, this past month has not been nearly as bad as it could have been.
And in fact, it’s forced us to move even further in the right direction.
So, let’s talk about what’s happened with us.
In this month’s growth report, I’ll look at…
- How the coronavirus pandemic has forced both good and bad changes on AutoGrow.
- What kinds of challenges (and wins) we experienced while growing our team.
- The continuous improvements of our awesome AutoGrow App and how it’s poised to revolutionize getting our clients’ digital marketing tasks done.
Y'all ready? Let’s go.
Here’s How We’re Faring In the Age of the Coronavirus [Hint: We’re Actually Doing Okay]
When it comes to monthly revenue, AutoGrow took quite a hit during March.
Compared to last month, our MRR was down to $17,404.63—a 42% drop from February.
And of course, that sucks.
Like practically every other business in the world, coronavirus has had a bit of an impact on our business...
- Our revenue is down from February.
- New prospects are a little harder to find.
- Current AutoGrow clients are pulling back on ad spend, making it more difficult for them to get results.
And while our client list is nowhere near as empty as the streets of New York these days, we’d be lying if we said March hasn’t been tough.
But if there’s one thing we’ve learned during this past month, it’s that being prepared for times of uncertainty makes all the difference.
For example, since our founding, we’ve continued to remain profitable month over month (something we’re especially proud of here).
But instead of just investing everything we earned back into AutoGrow, we’ve been building a bit of an emergency fund.
Why? Because we know that without cash on hand, a business will never be able to stay flexible in times of economic hardship.
As I put it in one of our video growth reports:
“Cash is like oxygen for a business. And if you run out of cash, you run out of oxygen.”
So while many businesses have crumbled under the weight of the coronavirus, we have been able to stay functional, profitable, and still moving forward.
Now, not all industries are struggling right now. And in fact, some are actually doing well.
Part of that is because they’re in the right industries. For instance, the following industries have actually seen growth this past month:
- Cleaning services
- Delivery services
- Video conferencing businesses
- Online education and remote learning
- Home entertainment
In fact, we’ve picked up 2 new cleaning service clients just in the past month.
But for other businesses, surviving the coronavirus comes down to one thing: adaptability.
Changing the way your business runs day-to-day, building out new products that cater to the times, adjusting your marketing strategy are all key to staying profitable in the age of coronavirus.
We at AutoGrow Are Adapting—Here’s How
This past month, we’ve been adapting to this brave new world by making a slew of new changes.
1. We’ve tweaked our positioning a bit to focus more on cost savings ($16,000+ compared to hiring your own team) and delegating tasks straight to us. In fact, a recent homepage AB test showed that focusing on these aspects led to a nearly 100% increase in our conversion rate.
2. We’re currently developing a new lead magnet that focuses more on how we can specifically help future clients. It takes a look at 29 of the most important tasks we can get done for you with our done-for-you packages. Keep an eye out for it in the future!
3. We are creating new email sequences that are updated to focus on our service rather than our info products.
4. We’ve ramped up our marketing efforts by sending out cold emails to businesses in industries that are growing right now despite the coronavirus.
5. I’m also going to work more closely with our weekly content development. Our traffic has dropped about 10% over the past month, likely because of everything that’s going on. But our blog still stands as one of our best sources for traffic. So with my added help, we plan on releasing more articles more frequently throughout the week.
With all of these changes, we’re optimistic that the next few weeks are going to be transformative for AutoGrow.
And despite it all, the rest of the team and I feel really good about where the business is going.
We’re still profitable every month. We’re still growing and considering hiring new key team members (by the way, check out our job posts if you think you’d be a good fit). And we still have the cash to invest more and more in the company.
March’s Hiring & Firing Woes (And Wins…)
Expanding our team continues to be a sticking point. But we’re still living by the rule of “hire slow, fire fast.”
Earlier last month we had brought on a new developer as well as a new content writer.
In the case of our new developer, he was highly enthusiastic about the position (which was a huge plus). However, he didn’t quite have the skills suited for the role and had to be let go not long after onboarding.
For the content writer, she simply was not a good fit in terms of expectations. We needed a team member and she was more of a lone wolf.
Of course we wish them both the best. But they would not have worked well at AutoGrow in the long run.
Yet again, though, we’re even more sure that hiring slow and firing fast is the best way to build a cohesive, talented team our clients will love.
AutoGrow’s App Evolution: One Step Closer to that “Magic Moment”
In other good news, our app just keeps getting better and better.
Specifically, March’s progress was marked by the completion of a new user interface design that our clients are already raving about.
Plus, the experience for clients is significantly more precise now. Here’s why.
It used to be clients would come in and select projects just from the templates we have. But now custom requests are possible.
And this improvement has made all the difference.
Because now more than ever, getting your digital marketing tasks is incredibly simple. Just come in, submit a request, attach any information you think we’ll need (you can even record a video if you want), and click a button and BAM work starts getting done.
This is the basis of what we’re calling the “Magic Moment”—that special moment when you realize just how easy it is to get your digital marketing tasks done.
And this Magic Moment is what we’re focusing on perfecting with the app.
Here’s what I said about it in the growth report video.
“That’s the magic moment we are going to keep optimizing for. Because once clients see that it’s almost addictive because it’s so cool. It’s like ‘I’m saving us time, the quality of the work is great, and the communication is really solid.’”
And like a carpenter building a chair, we just need to keep smoothing the edges and keep optimizing.
This month, we’re doing just that by focusing on two new features in particular: live-chat right through the app and notifications.
We’ll keep you updated on the progress!
Conclusion
So there you have it!
March was a tough month for us. That much is obvious.
But with continued focus, flexibility, and optimism, we think we are on a path towards a better and brighter future.
And we’re committed to making April not just a month of more profitability, but one where AutoGrow kicks coronavirus’ butt.
What do you think of our progress? How is your business faring with the coronavirus? And what are you doing to stay profitable?
Let me know in the comments below.
And as always,
Keep convertin’, stay focused,
