Why 2020 was a tough year for my business.
2020 forced me to make some tough business decisions. I was on the verge of going bankrupt again. This year tested my resilience and made me question if I even wanted to continue with my business. But in the process, I learned a ton of business lessons.
This isn’t just a story about struggle, it’s also about being able to adapt in hard times, finding opportunities during a time of crisis, and keeping your head up when it’s being pushed down.
In my last blog, I told you all about 2019 and how the final quarter was nothing short of amazing. I pulled off a 33% revenue increase compared to Q4 of 2018, this was a massive win for me and the business.
With the momentum the business had built up, I set bigger goals for 2020. This was going to be the year I hit €300K in revenue, with at least €140K in profit. The business was growing, and so were my goals.
One thing about me—which has both pros and cons—is that I’m never satisfied with my achievements. It’s a trait that has gotten me where I am today. I constantly want to improve operations, expand my business, and increase revenue and profits.
But it also has its downsides—I don’t always take the time to appreciate the progress I have. It usually takes someone else saying, “Wow, you’re really doing well for yourself. Congratulations!” before I actually stop and think to myself: Damn, I’ve built something great in such a short time.
But before I can enjoy the moment, that inner voice kicks in:
“You’re not there yet. There’s still so much more to build. Get back to work!”
I’m wandering off, let’s get back to business.
How do you know your business is growing?
We started 2020 with two really good months, pulling in $26,300 in January and $25,800 in February. This was right on schedule for the $300K revenue target. In just those two months, I made around $24,000 in profit (excluding my own salary), keeping us on track for the $140K goal.
But here’s what really stood out:
Normally, January and February aren’t peak months. These were just normal months, yet they were already surpassing the busiest months of 2019. That was the clearest sign yet, the business was growing! More clients and more consistency in revenue.
At that point, our agenda was 85-90% filled, a big improvement compared to the previous year. The trend was clear: this wasn’t a lucky start of the year, this was real, sustainable growth.
H3: The first signs of COVID-19 and how it almost destroyed my business
But in February, the rumors started spreading. A disease from China was making its way across the world. At first, it felt distant, something happening somewhere else. COVID still hadn’t hit our area yet. People were alert but carried on with their normal lives.
That all changed at the end of February.
By mid-March, the first cases started appearing around us. Fear turned into paranoia. By the third week of March, it was chaos.
On Monday, March 11th, I walked into the clinic, ready for another busy week. My agenda was 80% filled. Normally the agendas get filled in more during the week because people start calling for appointments during the week, maybe in a couple of weeks, I could have my first 100% filled week. If things kept going like this, I’d need a new employee very soon.
But then, the phone started ringing.
8:00 AM: First cancellation. No big deal.
8:15 AM: Another one.
8:30 AM: Three more gone.
9:00 AM: The phone was ringing non-stop. I barely had time to treat my patient.
10:00 AM: My colleague looked at me, a bit panicked. “When is this going to end?!”.
It felt like a Wall Street crash in real time. The kind you see in The Big Short or Margin Call, that moment when everything collapses at once.
By 12:00 PM, I stared at the screen in disbelief.
I had started the day with 120 appointments.
By noon, I had 34 left.
The week rolled on, we treated what was left of our clients, but on March 15th, everything was put into lockdown, and we had to close the business. This felt like a nail in the coffin. The paranoia and fear back then was so high, everybody thought it was doomsday.
How I managed my cash flow during a crisis
My luck is that I’m not stressed easily. I made calls to other entrepreneurs in the same business, and they had all seen around a 70 to 80% drop in clients. Some even had their entire agendas emptied because they treated older clients.
This reassured me that my business was fine, everybody else had the same problem, and for now, it was something we couldn’t control. To me, it’s not healthy to worry about problems you have no influence over, but that was easier said than done during that time.
This lockdown couldn’t last forever, so I started making scenarios. How long would this disease last? The weather would improve in May and June, and it seemed like a flu-like disease.
I began calculating:
- What if we had to close for three months? Could I handle that?
- What if the disease was still active in summer? How could I survive six months financially?
- What costs could I cut?
- Could I negotiate payment agreements to keep expenses down?
So, I started going through the numbers, I had a lot of free time anyway.
Of the $23K profit I made in January and February, $5K went to me as a salary, and the rest I saved as a cash reserve. By the end of February, my business had a cash reserve of just under $48K.
I built up this reserve as a safety net for harder times, because I didn’t want to go through the same struggles I faced at the start of 2019 again in 2020.
By March, my monthly costs were around $16.5K, with the biggest expenses being:
- Rent & utilities: $3,500
- Bank loan repayment: $2,250
- Employee salary: $3,500
- My own salary: $2,500
- Additional costs (car, marketing, licenses, etc.): $4,250
How to cut business expenses during a crisis.
I started making my own risk management strategy and my landlord was my first problem again—or maybe, this time, I was his problem!
Over the past 15 months, we had built a much better relationship. After his knee surgery, I helped with his rehabilitation. We even helped each other’s businesses—I found him a tenant for one of his office buildings, and whenever he could, he sent clients my way.
But now, I had to ask for another favor.
The Deal I Made With My Landlord
I proposed a plan to reduce my rent while the business was closed:
- While closed → I would pay only 50% of the rent.
- After reopening → I’d pay 30% extra per month to cover what I owed.
- The remaining 20%? → A goodwill discount from my landlord.
Total saved: $1,650 per month.
Cutting Other Fixed Costs
Next, I went through every expense to see what I could cut.
- Utilities: Dropped from $350 to $50 since we were closed. $300 saved.
- Cleaning services: No practice = no cleaning needed. $250 saved.
- Loan payments: The bank offered a business relief plan—I would only pay interest while closed, and the missed payments would be added to the loan’s end date.
- Loan payment: $2,100/month → $0
- Interest: $250–$350/month (only this was paid).
- Total saved: $2,100 per month.
My Own Salary—Gone
Since I had $10K in personal savings and was still living with my parents, I cut my own salary completely for the time being.
Total saved: $2,500 per month.
These cost-cutting measures added up to $6,800 in monthly savings, bringing my total expenses down to $10K per month.
That meant one thing: Even if we stayed fully closed, the business could survive for 4 to 5 months.
But cutting costs wasn’t just about survival. It was about making sure the business was ready to bounce back fast.
Some expenses were non-negotiable:
- Social media presence? Absolutely essential—this was our only way to stay connected with clients.
- Our accountant? A must-have—we needed real-time insights on government policies, financial changes, and loans.
- Insurance? Not even up for debate—cutting it would have been reckless.
Reopening Was the Priority
But survival wasn’t the goal—getting back to business was.
After such a strong start in January and February, we couldn’t afford to lose momentum.
Every month closed was lost revenue, lost clients, and lost growth. The sooner we could reopen safely, the better.
How I lost focus on my business
The lockdown lasted three months. And just like in 2019, I made the same mistake.
With no immediate pressure, I lost my workflow. Instead of using the downtime to strengthen the business, I spent too much time doing nothing.
Looking back, here are five things I should have done:
- Create a customer loyalty strategy.
- Staying in touch with clients during tough times would have built stronger trust and ensured they returned after reopening.
- Explore digital transformation.
- What if I had started online consulting? What if I had set up virtual check-ins for clients? I didn’t even look into it.
- Write content for the website.
- A few blog posts on injuries, rehab tips, and at-home treatments could have boosted SEO and brought in new clients post-lockdown.
- Grow my social media presence.
- Instead of letting my channels sit and do nothing with it, I could have used them to engage with clients, build a following, and stay relevant.
- Give my employee work instead of paid time off.
- I had no idea what to do myself, so I just gave my employee time off, but still paid her salary. Instead, she could have helped with marketing, content, or client follow-ups.
Yet, I did none of these things.
Not because I didn’t care, but because I was completely out of my workflow.
It took me until 2022 to finally fix this problem when I met my business partner, but that’s a story for another time.
H6: Why you need to keep your best employee at all times
I want to give you a short lesson before we go back to the story.
As you may have noticed, I barely mentioned my employee in the earlier blogs. There’s a reason for that.
She wasn’t just an employee, she was the best employee I’ve ever worked with.
I already knew this back in 2019 when she was still my colleague, and by the time I took over the business, it became even clearer, she was someone worth keeping at all costs.
So even when we were completely shut down, I still paid her.
Because your best and most loyal employees are the foundation of your company’s growth. If you let them go during tough times, you might never get them back.
As a thank you for all the hard work she had put in, I promised her that I would keep paying her until we were back up and running.
And today?
The business has grown to 18 employees, and she’s still here. Not just as an employee, but as one of the most valuable people in the company.
But, back to the misery of the COVID closure.
How my financial buffer saved my business during COVID-19
With the business shut down, $10K per month was disappearing from my $48K in savings—burning through my hard-earned buffer faster than I ever expected.
- Month 1? Stress-free. I had saved for this. It felt like a reward for my smart financial planning.
- Month 2? Another $10K gone. My savings were down to $28K—not enough to last three months, but still enough to feel somewhat safe.
- Month 3? Another $10K vanished. Now, my savings had dropped below $20K.
And that’s when the real panic set in. In the beginning my numbers would save me, but it started to look like I was running out of time to be saved.
Did I really work this hard just to watch my money disappear into thin air?
Did I just waste all those 70-80 hour weeks only to end up broke within two months?
And then I thought about…. the loan.
I still owed $105K in pending loan payments.
If this failed, I wouldn’t just be broke. I’d be broke AND $105K in personal debt.
For the first time, I genuinely started to worry.
H8: How I made the perfect business deal during a crisis
A nearby gym couldn’t cope with the COVID-19 closure. They had just started out, with a small paying client base when they were forced to shut down, but all the costs were still there. The gym went bankrupt, but their equipment, barely a year old, was still sitting there, only used for a year.
They held an execution sale, and everything was heavily discounted. We were able to buy equipment with a minimum of 10k but no one was buying. The uncertainty of COVID had made business owners hesitant to spend.
I still had $18K left, and I knew our clinic’s equipment was getting really old. If I could get the right deal, this could be an opportunity to upgrade at a fraction of the price.
I arrived at the sale not knowing what to expect. But when I walked in, I couldn’t believe my eyes.
They were selling everything for about 20% of retail price.
Because there were no buyers, they had already dropped prices from a reserved price of 50% to 25% but still, no one was willing to make a move.
I started running the numbers in my head.
- With $10K, I could buy 2 treadmills, 2 home trainers, and 2 ellipticals.
- Their total new price? $40 to $50K.
- That meant I could save $30 to $40k by making this purchase.
The numbers made sense, but I had to think about the risk.
Weigh down all the options when you want to make a business deal
I didn’t have much cash left. Business was starting to reopen, but revenue hadn’t started flowing in yet.
The biggest question: What if another lockdown happened? That would leave me with no revenue and very little cash reserves.
But then, I noticed something.
During COVID, home gym equipment prices were on the rise because people were setting up their own gyms at home. If I bought the equipment and suddenly needed cash again, I could resell the equipment separately on eBay and potentially even make a profit.
This gave me a safety net. Even in the worst-case scenario, I wouldn’t be stuck with the equipment, I could even flip it if I had to. At this point, I had analyzed the numbers, considered the risk, and thought through my backup plan.
Now it was time to trust my instincts. I always analyze the numbers and weigh all my options, but make my final decision based on my gut feeling. I took a deep breath, placed my bid, and secured all the equipment.
It was a gamble, but one I was willing to take. And two weeks later, luck finally was on my side.
Every crisis has its end
Restrictions were lifted after three months.
It felt like one of those movie scenes where they’re trying to defuse a bomb. The clock is ticking down…
5… 4… 3…
At the last second, it stops at 00:01.
Just like that, businesses were allowed to reopen, and people—at first hesitant—began returning to the clinic!
Unfortunately, not all businesses made it. Some went bankrupt, unable to cover their costs for three months with no revenue.
Looking back, this moment taught me one of the biggest lessons in business: those who take smart, calculated risks are the ones who grow, while those who hesitate stay stuck. It wasn’t just about the deal—it was about trusting my instincts and taking action when others froze. That lesson would shape many of my future investments.
In business, as in life: who dares, wins.
The road to growth was open again, and I was determined to finish the year on a high note. But before diving back into business as usual, I took a step back to reflect.
Surviving the COVID-19 crisis was a turning point for my business. The challenges forced me to adapt, think strategically, and trust my instincts. But once everything opened again, something not so unexpected happened, my business started growing faster than ever. The signs had been there in January and February but this reassured me the business was doing really well!
Want to know how that went? Read on in Blog 4, where I’ll share how I scaled my business post-pandemic and the key strategies that fueled rapid growth.
6 Key Takeaways from Surviving COVID-19 as a Business Owner
- Cash Reserves Are a obligation, Not an Option
Having savings allowed me to keep my business afloat for three months without revenue. Without that buffer, I would have been forced to shut down like many others. Always build cash reserves in your business, because crises happen when you least expect them. - Cutting Costs Smartly Can Extend Your Survival
I reduced my expenses from $16.5K to $10K per month by negotiating rent, pausing loan payments, and eliminating unnecessary costs. But I didn’t cut where it mattered, my accountant, my social media presence, and most importantly, my best employee. Strategic cost-cutting is about survival without damaging long-term growth. - Your Best Employees Are Worth Keeping, Even When Times Are Tough
I continued paying my most valuable employee through the closure. It was a tough financial decision, but it paid off. She stayed loyal, helped rebuild the business, and is now one of the most crucial team members in a company that has grown to 18 employees. Investing in the right people is never a mistake. - Crisis = Opportunity
Fear makes people freeze. But if you act while others hesitate, you’ll find game-changing opportunities, just like I did with my equipment deal. Like Warren Buffett says: ‘’Be greedy when others are fearful’’
- When the Pressure Is Off, Don’t Lose Your Focus
Just like in 2019, I let myself fall out of my workflow during the lockdown. Instead of improving the business, I wasted valuable time. In hindsight, I should have worked on content, customer engagement, and strategic planning. If your business slows down, use that time wisely, because when things pick up again, you’ll wish you had.
