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Hi everyone and welcome back to Mind the Business Small Business Success Stories, a podcast brought to you by Intuit, QuickBooks and Ruby Studio from iHeartMedia.
I'm Austin Hankwitz, host of the Rich Habits podcast and co-founder of Wits Ventures.
I also make TikTok videos about personal finance and investing.
And I'm Janice Torres, author of Financially Lit, the modern Latina's guide to level up your dinero and become financially poderosa.
And you may also recognize me from the other award-winning podcast I host called Yo Quiero Dinero.
Janice, these are some exciting times we are living in right now.
They certainly are, Austin.
And the global economy and information networks have made us more connected than ever, which is a good thing.
You know it's easier to tap into larger markets, but it can also create challenges when things happen that you have absolutely no control over and that happen to affect your business.
You can say that again.
You can see how crucial each one of those parts are.
If one stops moving, you might be facing an unexpected product shortage or sudden delay in cash flow.
It's important to protect yourself and your business from the unexpected.
There are so many things that go into this.
A big one is strategic financial planning, which is basically setting long-term wealth generating goals that will give you the resources and capital to weather any storm.
Let's talk about that.
Strategic financial planning differs from tactical financial planning, right?
So tactical refers to the day to day expenses.
But when we say strategic, we're referring to long term plans.
Obviously, we're all trying to generate income, but you want to think about the future and create a store of supplies, whether that's cash or other assets that you can use in an unforeseen emergency.
You can only know what you know, of course, but if you're at least aware of the unknown, then you'll know what to know.
You know.
It reminds me of a conversation that I saw on social media recently, where an influencer was talking about how there's a kind of a group of folks who were making a lot of money in the content creator space in the early 2020s.
And now they're coming on social media like talking about the fact that they were broke and And she was talking about how it's important to not always think that your business is going to be in a booming time and to really make sure that, when you do have those windfalls, that you're thinking about what the future looks like.
I saw a phrase, or I heard someone mention this on a show or whatever it was, and they said profit is unnatural.
And I was like, that doesn't make sense.
Profit is very natural, right?
But once I heard them explain this a little bit more, I was like oh, wait a second, they might be onto something.
Because, as you think about it, let's call it year three, year four, year five of your business and you start just making a little bit more money.
Oh, I can afford to go to that conference.
Maybe we can start going out to eat for a little bit with lunch here, with the business expenses, right.
You get a bit more loosey goosey with how you're spending money.
You need to be ruthlessly focused on protecting those profits, just like you were back when you were scrappy.
You know day five of the business.
You need to always be focused on ensuring that you've got profits and those profits are sustainable which, if you want to get all of your money in money outdated in one place, I'm telling you QuickBooks is how you do that.
And you can start using their AI powered insights on your customizable financial reports to enhance and protect that profitability.
It's so important to really just be honest with yourself about your numbers.
It's not just like hey, we have a bunch of money now, so let's go and hire all the people, get into the big new office.
You really have to be strategic because, again, there's a lot of stuff you can plan for.
But at the end of the day, there's only so much stuff you can control.
That is wonderful insight.
Now I'm curious, does your business have an emergency fund?
Mine does.
I kind of define it as like three payroll cycles.
So, like it comes out to about six to eight weeks, like I can make no profit for about, let's call it one and a half to two months.
Do you personally have sort of a business emergency fund?
Yeah, I have cash sitting in a high yield savings account for the business specifically just to cover operating expenses for about three months.
But then I also have like a backup to the backup.
So I have some credit lines for the business that I could tap into that are at a really low interest rate if I needed the cash for something else.
And then I have investment accounts that I can tap into as well.
So I like to just have a lot of parachutes, if you will, because the last thing that you want is to be in a situation where it's like make or break.
You're in those desperate times as a business owner because you don't have access to resources.
And then, you know, those could be the times when you really sink or swim.
You are absolutely correct.
And it sounds to me like you've done a lot of strategic financial planning, Janice.
So let's share now the six steps, according to a nice QuickBooks blog, of strategic financial planning.
Step number one is to assess your current situation.
To know where you're headed, you have to know where you are today.
Step number two is to set those clear objectives.
These objectives should align with your company's vision and mission, providing direction and benchmarks to measure your progress.
Step three, develop financial forecasts.
Project future financial performance based on historical data and market analysis, and be sure to plan for various scenarios and make those proactive adjustments.
Step four, formulate strategic initiatives.
You want to determine which specific actions and projects will help you achieve your financial objectives.
This could be expanding into new markets, launching new products or optimizing your current operations in order to improve efficiency and profitability.
Step five, allocate resources wisely.
You want to distribute your financial, human and technological resources effectively to support your business's overall strategic initiatives.
And finally, monitor and adjust.
Make sure that you're regularly reviewing your financial plan's performance against your objectives, and use KPIs to track progress and make necessary adjustments in response to changing circumstances or new opportunities.
Very excited to introduce our guest today because I believe she's implementing all of these very well.
She is one of the coolest backstories we've ever featured here on the show.
Letta J was born J Watts in the Dominican Republic and was raised by her Dominican father and Mexican mother in Dallas, Texas.
As the daughter of two pastors, she was singing in church congregations of thousands at a very young age and started performing with various instruments around five years old.
She got her first record deal when she moved to New York City and worked as a singer and songwriter for major record labels.
In addition to her passion for music, she was also very interested in gaming tech and had experience as an entrepreneur in the food and beverage industries as well.
So in 2019, she figured out how to make all of her interests and expertise coexist by founding Coexist Gaming.
It's a subscription-based gaming lifestyle company with a networking hub events, an incredible venue with thousands of games and all the food and drink you could ever imagine, from adult beverages to mocktails, to vegan, to child-friendly options.
And they even have a nonprofit wing that focuses on creating pathways to success for marginalized and disenfranchised communities.
This is an iHeart Podcast.
Guaranteed human.
Let's give a big welcome to Letta J. Letta J, welcome to the show.
Really excited to have you today.
Likewise, I'm excited to be here.
Thank you.
So there's a stereotype that art and business don't mix well.
And so when I see someone who is deeply artistic using those skills to create a successful business, I just get so excited.
So coming up as a singer and songwriter, when did the entrepreneurial bug bite you?
Was it earlier in your career?
Was it later on?
Give us the play by play.
You know, it's really interesting because I have always been an entrepreneur.
It's just I never called myself that.
I literally remember in elementary school, there was a friend of mine.
She would sell pencils during lunch period.
And they were like the yellow pencils that weren't sharpened.
And I remember telling my mom, I was like, can I have like $5?
And she's like, what do you need money for?
I'm like six, maybe seven.
And so I go to the dollar store and I buy pencils and I buy a sharpener.
And then I'm sharpening all these pencils.
And I go there the next day and I sell them for double the price that my friend is selling them for, because pencils have utility.
And I was like, convenience is an opportunity.
And I just think that some things are maybe inherent.
I really don't like the separation between what society normally calls creative and then technical.
Maybe even create a third layer and say logistical, analytical, methodical, something.
But I think you can just very much be both.
What you do with those entrepreneurial skills is very much a part of your journey.
But I've always been an artist.
I always will be.
And I've always been an entrepreneur.
I think you just you learn to hone it.
I had a very similar experience growing up.
I also asked my parents for 50 cents.
My dad would go to some gas station to get some scratch offs and I would take that 50 cents to go to a claw machine.
I would get whatever I could get out of it and then try and sell it at school the next week.
So that's really funny that you were also doing something similar to that.
Jay, I think that you embody what I encounter as a business coach with so many people.
It's this idea that I want to have like different sides of me that I can merge in business, right?
So Coexist seems like the perfect name, because you're tapping into a diverse audience with everything that is within that business, but also your different individual interests the gaming, the tech, entrepreneurship they all coexist within the business.
So it's like not only is your audience broad, but just like your interests are broad and you've somehow managed to create this magical unicorn.
How do you let your creative side and your business side grow at the same time?
You know what?
I don't have to, thankfully.
I do think some things are just inherent to who a person is.
I think my unique value add is I don't have to wrestle with being creative and technical or creative and logistical.
I think society introduces that problem, right?
We live in a world that kind of needs to provide so much context that society creates the boxes.
Not us.
And so I automatically think of things and it's just the way our brains work again.
And you know, I think, when you have been honing this right, just even from a child, because there's a freedom when you're a kid, right.
You're just like doing things that make your heart smile.
And so what that extrapolates into is a testament to who you are and how you navigate the world.
So if you dissect what the industry is, you go, where is the money going?
Where's the money coming from?
And it's really in development.
It's the creation of the IP.
So there's a lot to kind of break down if you think about developing something.
Building a game.
If we all just think about, if everybody here closes their eyes and thinks about a video game, what do you see?
What you see is beautiful art.
Whether it's 2D or 3D, you see animations.
And then if you turn the volume up, you hear music.
There's music in every game.
That means there's sound design, music production, there are words in there, songwriters.
So I say this because I deconstruct the big umbrella, the thing that is the overarching industry.
And an industry doesn't exist without the creators of the IP, and that's what creates the development.
So I really approach things, I think, naturally from a creative lens, because that's the inherent part of me.
But then I've also learned in my engineering self to sort of dissect the minutia and build ecosystems around that creativity.
Yeah, that makes so much sense when you break it down that way, right?
Because it really is.
You have to be living up here in the clouds and then figure out the systems that are going to let you manifest that version, that vision that you're seeing.
All right.
So tell me some do's and don'ts.
Maybe that you've learned about when to rely on the creative side more versus the logical side.
And like, how do you listen to those maybe sometimes competing messages?
Yeah.
Yeah, no, that's a great question.
The do's are allow yourself to be wildly creative and imaginative.
The don't is don't stop there.
Like, ask yourself more questions so you have the dream.
And immediately, how do I make this come true?
And really make yourself answer every question that comes after how, right?
Don't stop being creative.
Don't ever let anyone silence that part of your mind or your existence.
But don't stop asking the questions and do push beyond the answers that you get.
That's great advice.
OK, so speaking of tools, QuickBooks has a ton of these, right?
They've got all kinds of business tools, third party integrations, now AI agents, and you can even get help from a real life person, which we always love.
I'm curious how has QuickBooks organizational models helped create and help keep balance between like the art and the business?
Yeah, I mean, I think QuickBooks is like AI, just a really valuable tool, especially for entrepreneurs.
Bookkeeping is essential, at least for us.
So I think it really matters to have reliable software that you can use effectively as tools to just track your finances, to understand how much you're spending.
Those expenses are super valuable in helping you reframe your business.
I love that you get to kind of reconcile things in QuickBooks so you can even you know take your bank statements and put them in there, just for more accuracy.
And then there's always the benefit of adding additional users so that your teammates that are in the finance sector of your business can just hyper-focus and add a lot of value.
I imagine it's really useful too for you to see where the income is coming from from the different channels within the business.
Right.
And seeing like hey, maybe this is an area where there's an opportunity for us to optimize, or maybe this is something we don't want to pursue, or maybe this is an area that we can double down on.
And so that level of granularity definitely helps with the decision making.
I agree.
Yeah.
The categorization part of QuickBooks is really awesome.
So help me understand what was the framework that you used to lean into and figure out what cultural trends were happening, what people cared about, as you were sort of building Coexist Gaming.
And you know, was this a master plan in the beginning or was this something that you began to discover along the way?
Right,
Throw away what you think you know about a gamer.
Who are those people?
And we learned who those people were.
Those people were artists and entrepreneurs and content creators and they were thespians and they were into crypto and finance and dance and all of these industries.
They're just people.
There's a diaspora here.
There's a culture, people that love anime and wrestling and comics and cosplay.
All of these people are the billions of people you see, dispersed all over at every major convention that you see.
We just learned who they were because we already knew them.
So there was an authenticity at the inception of the company and understanding that we too were misunderstood.
We are looking for community, and there was nothing that was bringing those people together regularly.
There needed to be an opportunity for people to just coexist without there being a tournament, without there being a convention or an expo or a festival.
And so the first iteration of it, I just built in my Brooklyn duplex.
And the initial point was if you are looking for community, here's a community you can be a part of.
There's a base level subscription.
So that's our core business model.
You can just come here.
And for some people, it's about playing games.
For some people, it's about programming.
They love that we have Music Mondays.
They love that we have Taco Tech and Tabletop 2K Tuesdays.
They loved that we had wine Wednesdays.
They loved that there was so much that identified with who they were besides just playing a game, because they weren't being fulfilled and tapped into that way in other aspects of their lives.
So was there a framework that you used to identify sort of what those trends were?
You alluded to like the first iteration of that was sort of in the residence, right?
I'm sure, being around these people and realizing they care about these specific activities.
I'll call it gaming, because it's the name of your business.
So it's like...
Was there a framework that you used to, I guess, like back to this idea of like the master plan versus an iteration, like over time?
You know, on day one, did you have this exactly?
You understood what you wanted to build?
Well, so one, of course, businesses always grow.
But the idea, right, is just knowing, one, I thought I was maybe the only one.
And until I started going to conventions and data is always the answer.
It's hard to argue with.
So all I did was take all that data that other people have capitalized on for decades and I consolidated it into something that could happen more regularly and that was more economical for people.
I started in what I had access to, which was New York.
Again, all I did was really take what I was good at.
So our ecosystem is called a community powered economy.
It started with me and my vision, but we had like suggestion boxes on every floor always made it very much available for people to share.
Hey, what do you want to see?
What do you want to do here?
Again.
So we acquired so much data, but it definitely came from understanding.
These people are already in the world and they're searching for places to go.
All I did was really build them one, take their advice and just kind of make a more robust version of the ecosystem.
I think that's the biggest takeaway for any entrepreneur is and you know Jeff Bezos does this so well with Amazon back when he was still the CEO.
It's like relentlessly focusing on your customer, right?
And being able to take their suggestions, take their feedback and reiterate the product and figure out a better way to serve them.
Right.
And I think you're doing a really good job of that.
Thank you.
But I love that you brought that up because I am a huge fan.
I study Jeff Bezos.
As a matter of fact, Amazon was one of our first comparables on our deck.
I was like, he started with one bookstore.
So it's I do studied him intently and a few other CEOs.
But I agree with you completely.
And I say we're in the business of people really understanding who they are.
I love it.
You know what company I was thinking of, too?
I was thinking of like Disney.
You know, like there's just like Disney people and like Disney's so experiential.
You can like have some of it at home.
You can go to destinations that are built around the world.
That's like a whole freaking Disney community all over.
So I think, you know, it's really just about what you've been talking about.
Just understanding like the who behind the idea and then building it for them.
It's so brilliant.
You know what, Janice?
I actually want to say that's a great example.
And it's why Disney targets people gamers, creators and streamers so much.
Right, because we're like these big kids running around.
It's part of the dream to never grow up, which i think is part of why we start businesses too.
You get to play again and you get to imagine and invent and recreate that, that joy that comes from just the act of creation.
It's so fun, it's true Yes.
Okay.
So as fun as entrepreneurship can be, you are in a notoriously not recession proof industry, right?
So what kind of contingency plans do you have in order to weather any rough seasons in the business?
We are actually a gamification agency, like that's our parent.
But underneath that umbrella are different services and products that we make available to those people.
One of them happens to be our game house.
But it's interesting and so Janice, to answer your question.
We the same way.
Our business model, the core of it is subscription based.
We essentially we created SAS and made it applicable in a brick and mortar space, in third spaces which are now like very, very big.
But the tech that we build powers these brick and mortar spaces because it's not just us.
And I guess you know, maybe the contingency plan right is probably I don't know if it's maybe the most accurate.
Our roadmap is has always been to start from a really authentic inception point.
We knew that people needed a space that they could just authentically coexist and really be around people that accepted who they were.
So we kept creating ways to understand more about who we were serving.
2020 was an incredible year for us.
It was a tough time in the world, but gaming had a massive impact.
Impact on the world because people started to engage in this interactive media like playing games, more so because they had more free time.
But we started learning what their interests were, why you're choosing the games you're playing.
And so we started building tech around that.
And a lot of people are like, oh, you guys pivoted.
It's like, no, no, this wasn't a pivot.
We always wanted to grow.
And you will always scale faster in tech than you will in physical spaces.
So I think tech and activations and just the incorporation of brands and local businesses has always been something we wanted to coexist with and it be a part of our ecosystem.
How do we take the community that we've built and support the businesses out there that need those people?
How do we get those businesses that want to be in front of those consumers that they don't know how to reach?
They need authentic cultural bridges to connect with and create a relationship with them too.
Yeah.
I think you're speaking the language that many folks understand, which is the importance of diversifying income streams, right?
You cannot put all of your eggs in one basket and just having that future vision, not only of what has worked in the past, but also what is changing about your market, because that is always evolving too.
So I'm curious for you have you identified any kind of consumer trends that are making you think about like oh, this is probably the next phase we should be going into?
You know, obviously, a lot of folks are talking about VR and AI and like all that stuff.
So I'm curious, what are trends that you're keeping an eye on as far as market changing?
Yes, so one that part of the trend, a lot of people.
You're right in that gaming doesn't stop growing, but the way that the businesses are being framed is definitely changing.
And what our agency focuses on is truly gamification.
We have this very authentic approach that adds a lot of value to businesses, because gamifying anything and when I say that I'm not talking about just points and badges
I'm talking about a new social and economic framework.
This positions the businesses to now step into the next generation, the future.
We're not just bringing the cool kids in terms of influencers.
We are taking their existing systems and creating ways to increase engagement, increase their retention, add incentives, really dive into the psychology of what makes any person want to do something and how you can truly reward them for that.
So I think gamification is one of the biggest trends that it's brand and industry agnostic.
Every brand is going to need to start thinking about how they gamify what they do.
You know, I see that and I feel like the gaming industry, the streamers, like y'all, see things before everybody else.
Because I think you live in the world of tech, right?
And so you see like stuff that comes to the forefront.
And I'm thinking about how streamers normalized, you know, the whole gaming thing.
And then now we see folks like Kim Kardashian doing like live streams to sell products.
And now you know they're talking to all of us influencers about just like the importance of incorporating content, live streaming and gamifying like your product launches.
And so I think you guys are really like the pioneers of what's coming and we need to be paying a lot more attention to what y'all are doing.
Yeah, I agree.
I think...
Some things are like a little more simple.
It's kind of like we talk a lot about ecosystems, but what are you doing to connect?
To connect the players, to connect creators, to connect developers, and not just connect in general, but through culture, through community, through technology.
And really, that's a big part of what streaming is doing.
That's so cool.
So is there any time that you can think of, because I feel like small business owners of all shapes and sizes and industries and products and services are always trying to hone in on what's working right.
We've heard the phrase like 80% of the revenue comes from 20% of the products, right?
And I think QuickBooks does a good job of helping us understand.
What are those best margin services, those best margin products like how do we figure out what's worth doubling down on versus sunsetting?
So do you have a strategy or framework that you use to to like, tactically speaking, say like or, you know, maybe every six months or every 18 months you go back and you say okay, this is working really well, let's try and expand this.
Or hey listen, we tried this.
It doesn't work like we thought.
It would like give us some insights there.
Yeah,
I mean, honestly, we analyze things all the time.
So when I mentioned that programming, we try things, you know, when we're just so amenable to our members' suggestions when they want to do stuff.
I created like a system where this operation allows them to fill out a form and we put it on the calendar.
And then we promote it and we see what the resonance is like.
And then the follow-up is something that's really important to us.
We put out a lot of creative stuff.
We also put a lot of educational things to understand what are people wanting to learn?
And then we take that information and we're able to then quite honestly talk to some of the brands that we partner with on the B2B side and say, you know, we are finding.
And so I'm glad, you know, you mentioned QuickBooks.
There's a surge of creators who are looking to be entrepreneurs now.
We are one of those companies that, when they trust us.
So we are doing a lot of entrepreneurial based workshops and experiences.
How did you grow the following you have, now that you're generating revenue where you're monetizing your following?
What are you using in order to keep track of your finances?
So it's an interesting thing by having this programming, that's just, you know, events that we make available to our community.
How they respond to it is something that we always take back.
Like, okay, so this was really good.
This had a good turnout, but I think, or like this one maybe had like not so great of a turnout.
I think we should do this for another two months and see if it grows.
Let's see if we can disseminate this a little bit differently.
So we're really always kind of tracking.
You know how best to grow the thing based off of, first of all, just putting it out there.
You know it sounds Jay, like you are.
Just you've honed in on the art of being nimble, you know, just being able to kind of react to both things that you can control and not necessarily that which you can.
And I think a great example is obviously during COVID, you guys had to adapt and figure out how to serve your clients in a different way.
So can you talk about how you've been able to weather some of those unpredictable world events that you can't even plan for in business?
Absolutely.
Yeah.
And I think nimble is such a great word because, as gamers, like we are always like you're when you're on the field.
You're going to die if you're not nimble.
So it's really, really true.
You know that was right.
When the game house was, I want to say it started to really thrive after COVID.
But there was concern in the beginning because we were like, OK, we have the space.
We had members.
Mm hmm.
At the time, we had like 100, you know, 100 members, like subscribers.
But I was like there is a way to grow this because now we can leverage platforms to reach more people.
We actually started streaming more and every day.
This made our streaming presence more robust, more consistent.
We created programming now because nothing was in our way, right?
We just were like, we got to be wildly creative.
We got to conduct a lot of surveys.
We acquired so much data that it was a little overwhelming, because we were just like, oh my God okay, how do we take this stuff that people want to see?
Because there are now more people.
Stuff people want to see and... built and create an experience that's engaging for them.
So with our music platform, we leveraged, we actually partnered with like Verizon.
We did like a blue jean thing, you know, and started having more artists perform on our music stages.
And we started bringing in executives that were in other parts of the world.
We go, hey, we want you to judge this competition.
And it was just like really, really fun things.
And then partners who were able to say, hey, the winners of this get to have this over here.
We created a lot of really cool partnerships.
So it was just like a lot of really cool things where we got to be in front of interesting brands and navigate some really cool funds, which is just things that everybody needed, right.
Everybody was really worried about how they were going to pay for stuff, how they were going to live their lives.
And without needing to just focus on like money money, money we were able to give them access to resources that made their lives more enjoyable and in a tough time.
Well, I think you also reminded people just the importance of community, right?
Like you, provided that in a time where that was at the top of everybody's mind because of the isolation and all of the stuff that was going on.
So I think it's just brilliant.
You're like so tapped in with your community.
And speaking of that, obviously you mentioned earlier that there is like this stereotype of a gamer.
So you as a woman of color, you created this incredible business.
I'm curious how the fact that you are part of a non-traditional group you would say how does that inform how you operate your business, especially in uncertain times?
We can be really cognizant of the fact that it's a weird time in the world.
There are marginalized communities that don't feel like every space is safe for them.
So how do you provide that safe space for your community?
I think representation is a really big part of just everything that we focus on.
It has to be.
So from the physical space.
When we were building our Times Square location, we were very mindful of the needs of every person so that they could see themselves in that space.
So representation and inclusion have always been just like pillars of what we focus on, from not just people of color, but even accessibility.
We brought in our members who, and there was a pizza company, we gave everybody free pizza.
We were, like anyone that identifies with any level of accessibility need, any type of disability, we want you here on this day.
And so it was as simple as when we mounted tables on the walls.
We had people with wheelchairs and we contacted Microsoft.
We said, hey, there are people that we have this percentage of our community that has disabilities.
You all are launching your new accessibility pads.
What does it look like for us to have some of those and to show you what it looks like and how they're being used?
So that inclusivity, for one, is super duper important for us.
The representation, again, matters not just in the space.
We took members that were artists and we put their art all over the walls.
We're like, how often do they get to have an exhibit in Times Square?
And then we put QR codes that allow people to support their Patreons or buy more of their art.
Developmentally, when we build games, we partner with companies where the games lead the narrative.
And those stories are ones that people are needing to tell.
Some people write books.
Some people build games and they walk through that narrative.
Right.
So we were really trailblazing what representation looked like across spectrum so that other people could truly feel supported and seen through the kind of interactive media that we know that games touch their lives.
So you're a community leader.
You're a singer, songwriter, gamer, entrepreneur.
You're in the food and hospitality space.
You're all over the place.
Multifaceted, as some might say.
What's in your future for both Letta J and Coexist Gaming?
Yeah, so we are expanding.
We're opening up new locations.
We're partnering with brands to really create a lot of activations that speak to the need for more cultural representation.
What this gaming diaspora really needs and feels and how businesses can be a part of that.
So some of those partnerships we'll be announcing in the coming weeks.
I'm excited about that.
And I'm also releasing new music.
So it's going to be a really full year.
I am writing a book and I'm putting it out there.
And who knows, maybe I'll make it a video game after.
Maybe she's running for president.
Like, let's just do it all.
When do you sleep, ma'am?
When do you sleep?
Oh, my God.
That's a great question.
Let's just say concealer is my really good friend because, girl, the way these bags are set up.
Very cool.
Thank you so much for joining us on this episode of Mind the Business Small Business Success Stories.
Thank you for having me.
Janice.
I go to New York City probably once a quarter and I am absolutely going to go check out Coexist Gaming, not only because I love playing video games, but I do like a good mocktail here and there.
You know, she is really inspiring.
And I think she's given a lot of listeners the permission to like own the multifaceted self that you are.
Right.
Oftentimes we're told it's really important to have like a specific business niche and talk to a specific target audience.
And the way that Jay has combined her love of food and beverage with tech and gaming and made it community focused is It's literally a one-stop shop for entertainment.
That, I think, is a masterclass in just being able to serve people that have a bunch of different interests but an overarching commonality really really well.
Yeah, you hear all the time like the shiny ball syndrome being not a good thing, but she's mastered that.
She's mastered having all of these different facets of her business.
And I'm quite literally pretty jealous that she does it so well.
Yeah, absolutely.
She is crushing it.
And I think it's time to get our listeners to start crushing too.
So what do you think about some homework?
I think it's homework time.
Let's dig in.
All right.
First up, using your current data, make projections for the long term and short term future of your business.
Try and predict what tomorrow will look like and then see if it actually does.
Take the differences in your projection against reality and apply that to your year and model and see what those begin to shape up like.
Next, imagine a worst case scenario where your revenue immediately stops.
With the available resources you have right now, calculate how long you can last on your reserves.
And, just like what we were talking about before, you got to use this data to set some goals to expand that emergency fund accordingly.
That's excellent advice.
But unfortunately, that's it for today's episode.
And you can find me on social media at Yo Quiero Dinero Podcast.
And you can find me at Austin Hankwitz.
You can follow Intuit QuickBooks on all social media at QuickBooks.
To get the tools you need to start run and grow your business.
Head to QuickBookscom slash MTB today.
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This podcast is a production of iHeartRadio's Ruby Studio and Intuit QuickBooks.
Our executive producers are James Foster and Ryan Martz.
Our supervising producer is Meredith Barnes.
Our writer is Eric Legia and our mixing engineer is Eric Zeiler.
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