How I Recovered After Losing 3 Businesses During the Pandemic
Travelling on the never-ending journey of ups and downs that life gives us.
In March 2020, after being forced to close the doors due to the COVID lockdowns, my business partners and I all decided that we would be shutting down our nightclub.
Like many business owners in 2020, life was scary, unpredictable and difficult.
Due to the lockdowns, I not only lost my nightclub but also had to shut down my entertainment company and sell the shares in my restaurant in order to survive. This resulted in losing 90% of my income.
It’s been years and I am still recovering, but things are finally starting to look up.
This is what I did year by year in order to get back up and keep moving.
2020
By August 2020, I had sold my shares in my restaurant and lost my main income-generating business, the nightclub. I was spending nearly every hour either working on my PPE sales business or drinking the leftover alcohol from my nightclub.
Eventually, the alcohol ran out, and it started to become evident that these lockdowns were here to stay.
I needed something else to do.
For years I felt sort of trapped in the nightlife industry. Money was coming in, so why switch paths?
The lockdowns forcing my businesses to shut down meant that I had a clean slate. However, my monthly bills were based on an income that I was no longer making.
I needed to do something new.
I didn’t really know what to do. I was good at marketing but didn’t want to make that my focus. I could wait, and go back into nightlife, but who knew when that would come back for good.
It was time to start learning again and build new skills.
For the first time in years, I started reading books and watching educational videos to help me figure out not only what I should do, but what I enjoy doing.
I still had an underwear company though that I launched in late 2019. It was time to double down on the underwear company and see what I could make of it.
I used the money I got from selling my restaurant to invest in studio equipment so I could do photoshoots in my house. I paid influencers to partner with and paid to enter giveaways to increase my company’s followers.
And, I used some more money to start designing the women’s line so I could capitalize on a larger demographic.
2021
It had been about a year since I started my PPE business. The revenue was low, it was taking most of my time, and affecting my health. After getting scammed out of a couple of deals, I decided to close it down.
I was still spending my time learning, and building my underwear brand, but I didn’t have much income coming in.
That summer, things started to reopen, and I had to get my first job in 8 years.
I started bartending to make some extra cash while continuing to build my company and learning. It turned out, I still had some love for the hospitality industry.
That summer I travelled to Vancouver a couple of times, and I came to an important realization.
Moving to Vancouver was always a dream, but I could never do it because I had businesses that required me to stay in Winnipeg. Now that I no longer had my businesses… I was finally free to leave, and perhaps ignite my passion for nightlife even more, and open a bar there.
Within 2 months, I sold my houses, got a job in Vancouver, and packed up. By September 1st, I had a condo in Yaletown and was working 5-6 nights a week at a bar downtown.
That autumn, I was finally able to release the women’s line for my underwear company and dropped some more money into partnerships, and advertising.
The company was featured in Forbes, Apple News, LA Weekly, and a bunch of other publications.
By day I was working on my underwear company, and learning whatever I could, and by night I was bartending.
However, after some time bartending, I realized that Vancouver was not the right place to open a bar. The people were not “my people”, and it was too hard to break into the crowds. I knew I wouldn’t be able to make it work, especially not for the concepts I was planning.
But, Vancouver is beautiful and I loved it, so I kept working and spent more time focusing on my underwear company.
That winter out of nowhere, Vancouver got locked down. Like many others, I was out of work again and had rent to pay for.
2022
Starting the new year being locked down meant I had to find a new job. A friend of mine got me a job selling used cars. This was a job that I was not cut out for.
Just as I was starting to lose hope, my old business partner messaged me saying I should come back to Winnipeg. There were business opportunities everywhere and he felt like I was missing out on them staying in Vancouver.
With things being closed, my original reasons for moving to Vancouver were no longer valid. Back home I had family, friends and my girlfriend (now ex). It became clear that it was time to move back home.
In March 2022, I sold my belongings and drove back home with whatever I could fit in my car.
I immediately started working with my old business partner again and things slowly started to fall back into place.
Not only was I making money again, but I had extra time to spend on learning new skills, reading and taking care of my health.
That summer was one of the happiest of my life. My heart was full of love, I was surrounded by people I adored and my path started to become clear.
On September 25th, I started dating my girlfriend and I knew I had found someone special. The same day, I decided to quit drinking alcohol indefinitely.
With work picking up, my amazing girlfriend, friends, family and new-found discipline, I had hope.
There were ups and downs like every year, but at least even when things were down, they still made sense to me. I could see my goals, and I knew I just had to remain consistent and positive.
2023
To start the new year, I decided it was time to start experimenting with new businesses. At one point, we need to start acting on what we learn.
I was learning new skills, growing my knowledge base, and gaining experience.
So, I started 2 new businesses. Both of which forced me to work on improving my writing, and social media skills.
The reason I started 2 is because I figured that after 1 month, I would have an idea which had more potential. Sure enough, after about 6 weeks, I dropped one of the businesses and focused my extra time on the other.
If I’m being honest, at the time I am writing this, I’m debating about dropping the other I started as well. But, I’m not upset about it at all. That’s because I’ve been able to learn a lot which I can apply to bigger, better business ideas that I’m currently developing.
In the summer, my business partner and I partnered with one of our favourite clothing brands. We now help them with marketing, and it’s looking great.
We have 2 new business ideas that we are developing as well which we hope to have going in the next few months. Both of these will allow me to utilize the skills I’ve been developing since 2020.
When I reflect on how I felt, where I was, and what I knew in 2020 and 2021, it’s clear that I’m far ahead today.
As 2023 comes to an end, the excitement for 2024 grows.
I have ideas I want to see come to life, books I want to read, things I want to learn, places I want to go, and best of all, my heart is filled with love.
Closing Remarks
Everyone has lows in life, and as cliche as it sounds, what matters is what you do when you are at your lows, and if you can get back up.
My younger brother, Fahjah, once told me,
“In order for things to fall together, they must first fall apart.”
He couldn’t be more right.
Life is hard when things fall apart, but as they start to fall back together, it makes more sense than ever. And, if you do the right things in your lows, and keep moving, life often ends up better than than it ever was.
No matter how many failures you have, or how low you get, you have to keep moving forward.
Thanks for reading.
To get more personal content, life hacks, and to stay up to date on my blog - sign up for my free weekly newsletter.