How To Make Money During COVID-19

As we speak, Coronavirus is radically changing our world.

Public facilities are shutting down. People are panicking and bulk-buying goods. Businesses are closing their doors.

And unpredictability, previously one of the main assets of modern entrepreneurs, has turned against us — leading to more economic uncertainty and instability than ever before.

In these volatile times, it’s easy to give up. It’s even easier to tell yourself that you’re simply “taking a small break from business”, or that you’re “waiting for all of this to blow over”.

But as entrepreneurs, we’re all well aware of the dangers of waiting too long. Of paralysis by analysis. Of how easily a small, month-long break can turn into the slow, methodical murdering of our dreams. And we can’t let that happen.

Preparing For The Recession

We’re about to live through one of the worst recessions in modern history. Ask yourself: when things start to get bad, real bad, how tempting would it be for you to forget about your business entirely and go back to a ‘regular’ job?

How easy would it be to slip into the complacency most of us have known since the day we were born — shackles that many of us have only recently begun to shed?

Quite easy. In fact, I’m willing to bet that the majority of people reading this will abruptly end their entrepreneurial careers and return to working for someone else in hopes of financial stability.

But I don’t say this to point out how unfortunate it is…

I say this to point out how amazing it is.

Life is about to hand each of us a massive opportunity on a silver platter.

Because, as we ride down the wave into the heart of the recession and pick back up thereafter, there will be an incredible reduction in competition across the majority of industries.

This has deep implications for entrepreneurs like you.

Taking Advantage Of The Swing

Legacies are born and killed during massive market fluctuations.

If you can take advantage of this upcoming entrepreneurial challenge, you can ride out of this recession not in a wagon — but in a Bentley.

Here are three massive opportunities Coronavirus has given us:

Most modern advertising networks depend on auction based systems for pricing, so cost-per-clicks will be much cheaper. In most industries, Google Ads will cost a fraction of what they previously did.

Facebook Ads, whose effectiveness will be multiplied by the fact that a significant portion of the population will be stuck at home browsing the Web, will also be much cheaper.

Mediums have also changed. As the founder of a digital marketing firm, I run pay-per-click advertising for a number of clients. The vast majority of recent search volume has shifted from mobile phones to desktop computers. This opens up opportunities for ad placement, new creative designs, new ways of attracting attention, and more.

Dozens of industries will thus see their average advertising expenses plummet. And because of the decreased competition, we’ll find that their average advertising effectiveness soars. Take advantage of it.

What happens during a recession? People, by and large, get poor.

What happens when people get poor? There are three main consequences (and opportunities) for low-income households during or after a recession.

1. People stop paying their bills. This means, on the way out of the recession, debts not subsidized by the government will need to be collected — an excellent opportunity for debt collection agencies to make a big splash.
2. The average credit score plummets. People with poor credit will want better credit. As a result, credit repair inquiries will increase and the average credit maintenance company will see much more business at lower acquisition cost.
3. People stop using their money to make them more money — instead, they hoard it in liquid reserves for fear of another market downturn. As things get better, a select few low-income investors will begin testing their confidence in the market. This means that financial advisers, consultants, and brokers, while currently hard-hit, have an opportunity to take large portions of the market share post-recession.

Each of these presents entrepreneurs with a unique opportunity in the financial sector. If you’re already in finance, these will be significantly easier to take advantage of. If not, you’ll likely have to do a little more up-front work. But nothing good to have in life was ever easy to get. Take advantage of it.

Essential services are services that people need to live, eat, breathe, and generally contribute to society. They include things like grocery stores, transportation, water, & more.

Over the coming months, if you can find a way to deliver an essential service in a more contextually-effective way, you can make a fortune.

For example, as more and more people isolate themselves in response to Coronavirus, fewer will feel comfortable going to grocery stores and purchasing food by hand. Instead, people will feel more inclined to order online.

This isn’t a hypothesis. This is actually happening. Online grocery delivery inquiries have spiked over the last week, and many grocers have deliveries booked well into the next three weeks. Searches are literally four or five times what they were before — and as the days drag on, this number will only increase.

What if you started an online grocery company today?

There are an abundance of similar opportunities across different industries. You only need to ask yourself “what are the direct consequences of more people staying home for longer?” Take advantage of them.

Reality Is Stranger Than Fiction

The only thing more unprecedented than COVID-19 was how acutely and decisively most major world governments responded to it.

I believe we can all learn an important lesson from how the world has responded to this: when you make a decision, go all the way.

Just like in the context of viral transmission, half measures avail us nothing — to see massive reductions in rate of Coronavirus growth, we must be willing to make swift and decisive actions that may seem alarming to most.

To see success in entrepreneurship during uncertain times, one must be willing to do things that, to most, probably seem pretty alarming too.

Don’t view Coronavirus and the impending recession as a problem. See them as opportunities. I can assure you that the best, most successful people in the world certainly will.

Use the coming weeks and months not to binge-watch your favorite show on Netflix, but to test what you’re made of, and construct new and creative solutions to problems people are facing right now.

If you have the right mindset, you won’t just survive through it. You’ll thrive because of it.

I wish each and every one of us the best of luck.