What Crisis Reveals About Your Business Plan

One day you’re grinding 60 to 70 hours a week and planning expansion. The next day the world shuts down, your clients panic, and your business has to reinvent itself before the bills hit. I’m Shelby McFarland, the marketing boss, and I’m telling the real story of how I survived the COVID years as both a sign shop owner and a digital marketing broker.

You’ll hear how opening a second sign shop location in Stuttgart, Arkansas felt like a smart risk in January 2020 and quickly turned into a pressure test when lockdowns and curfews hit. I share what we did to keep serving customers safely, what it felt like to be seen as “outsiders,” and the unexpected pivot that kept cash flowing: mass-producing social distancing decals, “mask required” signage, and six-foot floor stickers. That one product opened doors to restaurants and roughly 25 school districts, creating relationships that lasted beyond the crisis.

Then we get into the hard truths: why 2021 was tougher than 2020, why I chose to shut down the second location, and what I learned about strategic planning, financial benchmarks, and building a backup plan before taking the next leap. On the marketing side, I talk about losing around 75% of my clients when companies cut marketing budgets first, and how I now frame marketing as an investment that protects momentum and revenue.

If you run a small business, manage a marketing budget, or you’re thinking about expanding, this is your playbook for surviving disruption with clearer eyes. Subscribe, share this with a business friend, and leave a review if it helps, what’s one pivot you’d make if your market changed overnight?

Listen here: https://www.buzzsprout.com/2542351/episodes/19320172

For more resources: https://linktr.ee/Bossbabeshelby