Hope is Not a Strategy: A Business Blueprint for the New Normal with Rosanna Berardi: An EOFire Classic from 2021

0:01Boom! Shake the room, Fire Nation. JLD here and welcome to Entrepreneurs on Fire. brought to you by the HubSpot Podcast Network, the audio destination for business professionals with great shows like Finding Founders. Today, we're pulling a timeless EO Fire episode from the archives, so the giveaway may not be active and we'll be breaking down why hope is not a strategy, a business blueprint for the new normal. To drop these value bombs, I have brought Rosanna Berardi into EO Fire Studios. Rosanna is an immigration lawyer. She is the managing partner of Berardi Immigration Law, an immigration law firm, and of High Wire Woman, which provides solutions and systems for working women.

0:41And today at Fire Nation, we'll talk about creating systems and solutions to automate the next phase of your business by creating business blueprints. We'll talk about looking at spending as investing to make the next phase of your business stronger and so much more. And a big thank you for sponsoring today's episode goes to Rosanna and our sponsors. The Product Boss, hosted by Jacqueline and Mina, is brought to you by the HubSpot Podcast Network, the audio destination for business professionals. The Product Boss helps you take your physical product sales and strategy to the next level to create your dream life.

1:13With episodes like, Can I Have a Successful Product Business as a Side Hustle? Listen to The Product Boss wherever you get your podcasts. Is this your year? Visit thrivetimeshow.com to see testimonials of how Clay Clark's business coaching has helped over 2 ,000 entrepreneurs to dramatically increase profitability. It's month to month and less money than an average minimum wage employee. Schedule your free consultation today at thrivetimeshow.com. Rosanna, say what's up to Fire Nation and share something interesting about yourself that most people don't know. Hello, Fire Nation. I'm super excited to be here.

1:54One thing people don't know about me is that I know how to shoot a.357 Magnum gun. Whoa! Which is a beast of a gun. And the reason that I know that is back in the day, earlier part of my career, I was an immigration inspector at the U.S.-Canadian border. And to get that job, you had to go to the federal law enforcement training center in Glencoe, Georgia. And at the time, I was 22 years old. I never even held a BB gun, a squirt gun, nothing at all. I get there. It's the first day of training. They're like, yeah, you have firearms training and here's your service weapon. For those of you that don't know, a.357 Magnum is a 14-pound gun.

2:40It packs a punch, Fire Nation. It is crazy. So I started my training. I was so bad at it that I had to go to remedial firearms training for an extra two hours a day because I just, I mean, I'm a short person. I'm 5 '2". I was 22 years old. When I shot that gun, it blew me back. So yeah, that propelled me to law school, but I did it. I know how to shoot a.357 Magnum. I hope to never, ever do that again, but it was a super cool experience and not a lot of people know about it. Well, let's be honest. Those Mounties can get a little touchy, a little rowdy up at the border. So, you know, it's good to know how to pack a punch.

3:19I will say our sidearm as officers in the army, I was a tank commander, was the Beretta, which is a nine millimeter. And that's nothing of a punch compared to the 357 because I've utilized both and it's a world of a difference. So my hat is off to you. It definitely kicks that punch and it's hard to hit the target when you know that big kick's coming, but congrats. And like you said, I hope you never have to use it again, but it's, you know, it's a life experience. But as I said, Fire Nation, we have a lot of awesomeness to talk about today. I mean, we did a whole rundown in the introduction of what we're going to be chatting about.

3:56But you need to realize this. Hope is not a strategy. And we're going to be talking about a business blueprint for the new normal that we are all living in today. So let's just kind of start at the beginning, because listen, Rosanna, your business looked different before March 1st of 2020. So let's talk about what it looks like and then what it looks like today and going forward in this post-COVID-19 world. For sure. So my business is Berardi Immigration Law. It's an immigration law firm. We were riding the wave for the last couple of years with record low unemployment, lots and lots of U.S. corporations looking to foreign workers to fill high tech jobs, medical positions.

4:38We were riding the wave. We had unprecedented growth in the last three years. January came along, 2020. I'm like, this is going to be great. We're going to rock this year. It's going to be amazing. And then mid-March came and it literally was like flipping a switch. I had 18 employees as of March 1st. And by March 14th or 15th, I had to lay about six people off. Long time employees of mine, people that had been with me for eight and ten years. But it had to be done. I looked at our numbers and I looked at what was going on in the world and there was no option. So think about it. An immigration lawyer's job is to help people come to the U.S.

5:21Well, the U.S.-Canadian borders closed and international travel suspended. So what the heck do immigration lawyers do? Right. But we found a way. But the business looks very different today than it did in March. And that's what I want to get into next. But first off, I want to point out, Fire Nation, what Rosanna did was she was proactive. I mean, did she want to have to let go six employees, some of them long term? Of course not. But would she have rather laid off 18 in her entire business if she kept going and running her revenue and her profits into the ground? Of course not. So you have to sometimes say, what am I going to sacrifice up front quickly so that I can live to fight another day, so that I can still be a profit margin business going forward with these now 12 employees instead of 18 employees and figure out, now I have some time, now I have some bandwidth, now I have some runway, I can make some adjustments, I can make some pivots.

6:15And Rosanna, that's what I really want to dive into next is how did you revise that business model? What did that process look like? I've learned over the years that numbers don't lie. So the first thing I did was I looked at our profit and loss statement. I started going literally line by line by line by line to see what I can cut, you know, subscriptions, water delivery, you know, shredding of documents, all of those things that we like to have in businesses but aren't must. I started cutting everything. And then I just budgeted for, you know, like a 30 to 40 % loss of revenue. And I looked at the numbers and looked at what my payroll was.

6:55And I had to make those two things connect. The beauty of numbers is that they don't lie. And I'm a lawyer. I don't like numbers. The whole reason I went to law school is because I'm not good with numbers. But the numbers don't lie and they take emotion out of every decision. I mean, I kept looking at those numbers. They told me what to do. And I kept telling myself, okay, this really stinks having to lay off people, but it will be so much worse if the whole firm goes under. So at that time, looked at the numbers, made my cuts, you know, had to do the layoffs and really started focusing on being lean and mean, as lean as we could.

7:31I even stopped the order of, you know, coffee pot, K-cups, paper towels, like anything that had to be ordered had to go through me. And I'm not a micromanager, but this was a really critical time to really save money so we can keep going forward. Well, what I want to point out on why I love what you did by kind of taking the reins during that time is because, listen, a leader isn't somebody that's always micromanaging. But there's times in your business where you're in crisis. And that leader needs to step up and talk the talk and walk the walk. And guess what? If you're going to let six people go and those six people are going to be friends with the other people in the firm, Fire Nation.

8:07Again, we're just using the example of Rosanna, but this goes for any business. And then you keep on doing with like endless coffee supplies and all these snacks and maybe all this and that. And they're like, well, she's still spending money or he's still spending money. I mean, what's going on here? Like, are these cutbacks absolutely necessary? But when Rosanna took that step, she's like, listen, the absolute bare minimum, we have to let go six people. We're going to cut back in every area. And then people see you walking the walk and they see you talking to TalkFire and they That's what a leader does.

8:38And they realize, hey, times are tough. This is a crisis. We're cutting back in every area. We're in this together. It provides this cohesive unit that Rosanna was successfully able to create moving forward. So let's talk about your plan to weather this upcoming recession, Rosanna. So what I did was after looking at the numbers, I created a blueprint for going forward. So I like to say it's Berardi Immigration Law 2.0. Yes. And I looked at different buckets of issues. I looked at finances, staffing, our client communication, our physical space, our reopening strategy, social media and technology.

9:15And I looked at those buckets, literally wrote them on a list and just started drilling down. So in order to go forward post pandemic, we now have really two months of data to look at. We have all of April and almost all of May. We can look at numbers. We can look at revenues. We can look at staffing. And again, looking at those numbers to see, okay, are we doing okay? Are further cuts made? If we've had some downtime, let's look at our client communication. Let's look at our technology. Are we operating efficiently? Is our website up to date? Do we have good photos? Do we have good content? So not only have we made number adjustments, but we've also made adjustments over five or six key critical areas so that the firm will be bigger and better once we ride the wave of this recession or even depression, as some are saying.

10:11But you've got to take a really microscopic look. You can't just hope that this is all going to be better. And I've talked to a lot of my friends or entrepreneurs and say, well, I hope we come out of this year. I hope we come out. And I keep saying, hope is not a strategy. You need to do something. You need to get this on paper. You need to drill it down. And you need to have a plan. This is not magic. This is actionable planning. Hope is not a strategy. Fire Nation, please absorb those words because it's absolutely the case. And Rosanna shared a great, fantastic list of those buckets that she used.

10:47Use that process. Look at your business, Fire Nation. See how you can apply these principles to your business so that you can keep moving forward. And Rosanna, you know, at the time that we're chatting, you said you only have about two months worth of, you know, being able to look back and see how things have been going on. But how are things working out? Have you made some adjustments and pivots that have really allowed you to keep the ball rolling? Yeah, we have. It's been a super interesting time because I'm happy to report that we've rehired some of the employees that we initially laid off.

11:17So super excited about that. And really, the key to our success over the last few months has been really cutting costs. And then importantly, and we just didn't do this overnight, but the practice has been very diverse. We do not rely on one type of business or one company or one client to carry us through. We have all types of streams of business. And that has been undoubtedly one of the best things that has come out of this pandemic crisis is seeing that our commitment to a diverse number of clients and not putting all our eggs in one basket really pays off in a time of pandemic because you need a mix of different revenue streams.

11:59So we can't just rely on green cards. We have to rely on work permits and, you know, what we call cross-border couples. So Americans marrying Canadians. We're still really busy. There's a lot of people in the United States that need their green cards extended, their work permits extended. People are still getting married. That stuff doesn't stop. So we've really been fortunate to have a diverse client base. But again, that wasn't a hopeful thing. That was very strategic over the years. And we've really done well with drilling things down, making processes efficient, and making sure everybody's working at their highest level.

12:38Fire Nation, please remember that every cloud has a silver lining. I mean, this quote unquote new normal that we're all moving forward with is going to be full of opportunities. And guess what? There's going to be a lot of new regulations, a lot of new this, a lot of new that in Rosanna's line of work. And guess what? She's now going to be able to position herself to be a leader in that, to be at the forefront, to have that first mover advantage for a different niche or a specific niche within her area of expertise. And you will too, Fire Nation, if you stay ahead of the game. And Fire Nation, we have a lot of awesome stuff coming up.

13:13We're going to be talking about systems and solutions to automate that next phase of your business. the most important aspects of your business that might need to be revised. We're going to talk about hiring and firing, and should you even be spending money in your business right now? And so much more when we get back from thanking our sponsors. We all want the same things for our business. More leads, faster sales, and better insights so we can serve our customers at the highest level. One thing we all don't want, to waste time and money trying to figure these things out. So what's the solution?

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15:30Schedule your free 13-point assessment today at thrivetimeshow.com. So Rosanna, we're back. And as I kind of teased before the break, we have a lots of value bombs to drop over the next little timeframe here. So let's talk about creating systems. Let's talk about creating solutions that can help us automate that next phase of our business. Yes. So like you said, every cloud has a silver lining and the silver lining of my cloud is not only that my law firm's functioning, but I've actually created a second business during this time because this is what crazy entrepreneurs do. They don't watch Netflix and clean out their closets.

16:06My closets are still a disaster. And I'm like the only person in the universe that hasn't watched Tiger King on Netflix. But anyway, I realized that a lot of my entrepreneur friends were coming to me saying, how are you doing this? How are you weathering the storm? And I said, listen, I'm creating blueprints, business blueprints that are going through very critical items of most businesses. It doesn't have to be law firms. It can definitely go across the board. and I've created something called High Wire Woman. And what High Wire Woman does is it creates systems and solutions for working women.

16:39Now, I have nothing against working with men. I just have been in the space of working women for a long time. Well, Anne, let's be honest, you've been listening to Entrepreneurs on Fire and I say, listen, peeps, riches are in the niches. So be loud and be proud about that, Rosanna. And of course, you too, Fire Nation, take notes from what she's doing, right? Yeah, amen to that. So niches are definitely in the riches. And so High Warrior Woman is a consulting business that provides strategies and blueprints to businesses that don't know where to start. We're all at equal playing field right now, right?

17:12We've all been cut off at our knees. Doesn't matter if your business is 100 years old or a year old. We're seeing big companies struggle with the same issues that we're all struggling with. And what you need to do, just like if you're going to build a house, you're going to come up with a blueprint that's going to have the foundation and a structure for every single level. And in terms of the blueprints, as I said, you know, looking at critical things like finances, staffing, social media, I'll give you a great example. I monitor my competitors activities all the time. Nobody's posting on social media right now.

17:46And we're going hog wild crazy on social media because people are on social media now more than ever. This isn't the time to panic and crawl into a corner. This is the time to get out there and stay connected. And that's a big part of the blueprint is, okay, let's look at what we've done. Let's see how we need to pivot it and adjust it now because there's a lot more people. I mean, there's 30 million people unemployed. Lots of people have lots of time to learn. What can we do? Can we create new content? You know, can we help our clients understand what's going on? Even if you're prohibited from working right now, like many of us are in various industries, there's still a lot you can do.

18:27High wire woman. I love that brand name, Rosanna. So great job with that and Fire Nation. Thank you. Exactly what she said. This is not the time to crawl into a corner and hide. This is the time to be loud, to be proud, to provide value to those who need it. And let's kind of close this portion of the topic, you know, by talking about different aspects of our business that we might need to be revising for our version of the new normal? Yeah, this is a really critical time. So I'm based in New York State. New York State is on the brink of reopening professional services, and we really need to pay attention and have a significant blueprint for how we're all going to reopen.

19:08And High Wire Women could definitely help you with that in terms of looking at your state, looking at your business, looking at what needs to be done. This is a whole new world. We need in New York State. We need masks and gloves and thermometers. And this is not how I was running my business previous to, you know, March 12th of 2020. It's a whole new world. And you need to look at your reopening plans. Is your technology strong enough to support an at-home workforce? Now, although we're reopening, a lot of companies are saying, you know what, we may not need everybody back in the office. Let's keep everybody at home.

19:46So we definitely want to look at those types of things. We want to look at your communications with your clients. Still looking at those numbers. Don't ever let those numbers go away. Adjust. I had two good months of data. I know what our average weekly revenue stream is now compared to what it was Q1 of this year. There's all of these buckets that we can continue to drill down, drill down, drill down. So when you're going forward, you're not shooting from the hip. You're saying, this is my plan and I'm going to execute it. And of course, plans can always be tweaked, but it's important to start with a plan.

20:23So Rosanna, as you mentioned earlier, you did have to lay some people off, you know, some of whom you've been able to rehire, thankfully, and potentially in the future, maybe all of them. And who knows, maybe you'll be at 25 or 35 people by this time next year, or sooner, you know, based off of these adjustments and pivots you're making in your business, like time will tell. But let's go down to brass tacks for Fire Nation. Should we be hiring right now or should we be firing? Well, it really depends on your numbers. Now, the argument for hiring right now is there's a lot of people looking for work.

20:55So this is definitely an employer's market, which is totally different because the first of the year I was looking for paralegals and couldn't find a single one because the unemployment rate was so low. Now we've got the opposite. So in terms of reviewing your team and really drilling that down, do you have the right right people on the team? Do you have all A players? Do you have some C players? Are there gaps that need to be filled? Now's the time to look. Doesn't mean you have to hire somebody immediately, but there's a lot of people out there. So I'm definitely looking. I always like to have what I call in my mind, a virtual bench.

21:31People that are going to join the team at some point, or at least identify the position. Do you need another operations person? Do you need someone as a data analyst. Know what you need, and it is the time to really consider that. Now, conversely, if your numbers have tanked the last two months and you are bleeding dry, you've got to make cuts. It's not pleasant. It is the worst thing. I've been in business for 15 years. It never gets easier to lay off people, whether it's due to a pandemic, for cause, or what have you. It's the worst. It's got to be done because you'll feel worse off when your business is in the toilet.

22:11Supply and demand, Fire Nation. You always have to be thinking about this as you run your business. Unemployment has been historically low for years and employment and employers and entrepreneurs, they've had a tough time hiring as a result. And then of course, this new normal descends upon us and it's the exact opposite. Now we're at historic highs for unemployment. There are so many qualified people that are just looking for a chance, that are just looking for a job. And Fire Nation, I love how Rosanna put that. I've never heard it before, Rosanna, so I'm going to give you 100 % credit. A virtual bench.

22:47I mean, that is brilliant. Put me in, coach. That's what people are saying right now. They're going to be happy to be on your virtual bench because they realize that, hey, I get that Rosanna can't bring me on right now for various reasons, but holy crap, at least I know that I'm on her virtual bench, maybe somebody else's virtual bench, and whoever needs me first, I had that kind of peace of mind knowing that at least I'm in somebody's mind. At least I'm on somebody's lineup to potentially go in at a later date. And that way you can really line up the potential growth of your team. So I just love that whole mentality.

23:22I think that is absolute value bomb material. And let's talk about spending money because it's all about the runway. Like entrepreneurs, we rarely run out of ideas, but we do run out of money. We do run out of revenue. How should we be spending our money in our business? And should we even be spending any money right now? So I'm a huge proponent for spending money. If you're making a capital investment in your people, in your technology, in anything that's going to make the business leaner and meaner, I'm all for it. I know money is tangible. I know sometimes we run out of it, but there are creative ways through lines of credit or what have you to really spend the time and the money on things that are going to change the business.

24:07You know, we upgraded our server during this process because we needed more capacity. And some people said, well, that's crazy. That's a huge expense. Well, true, but I'm going to be able to house so much more data. It's all going to be on the cloud. We're going to be more efficient. This is the time to really dig deep and say, what do you need? And don't look at it as spending cash, but look at it as making an investment, anything that's going to make the next phase of the business stronger, leaner, things that you've been wanting to do all these years. Maybe we should invest in this CRM software, what have you.

24:44Believe me, vendors are happy right now to work with you, to negotiate deals. It's really an employer's market in terms of anything business-related, employment-related. I've spent a lot of money the last couple months to make my business stronger on a foundation side. And again, this all ties back to the strategy. What's your strategy? If you don't have a tangible strategy, I don't have a good feeling for what your business is going to look like by the end of 2020. You've got to have strategy. You can't be paralyzed by this. You have to take it one step at a time and spend money if you have to.