How To Make Money When Your Business Is Closed | Service Business Downtime Strategy

Okay, what's up, y'all? What's been up? Okay, it's me, y'all. Your girl, M. Williams. So, I'm about to come at y'all. It's going to be a business 101. You guys know I ain't put it out here. It's been snowing. It's been icing. It's been freezing. It's been cold. It's been white outside. It's been doing the most. So I'm coming on here for the service providers and the business owners. And it's going, like I just said, it's going to be a business one-on-one. Y'all know it be hard, but y'all know it be God. Y'all know it be hard, but it be God. So come on with it. Okay, so you guys know all my history. I ain't got to keep laying it out there for you. I know y'all tired of hearing it. Y'all know who I am. Y'all know who I be. I'm Mrs. Williams. Like Carabinette used to say, Mrs. Williams. I'm Mrs. Williams. So anyway, you guys, I was just taking a shower. Not trying to be funny. I'm not lying. Just taking a shower. A lot of stuff I put out here, y'all, it be just coming my spirit with the quickness. So anyway, I was taking a shower, you guys. Y'all know I got to do that. Take a shower. for about an hour so i had this idea i'm like it's been snowing it's been cold it's been freezing it's been saying that it feel like it's 20 outside but it feel like zero it's 25 but it feel like one like look help me jesus kumbaya like i said y'all know it be hard but you know it be god but anyway anyhow So I was thinking, you know, because I own the business, y'all know all that. Y'all remember me, Miss Sugar. But anyway, y'all, I was thinking like for the people that own businesses, like if you own a restaurant or a hair salon, if you're in the service industry, you serve clients and da-da-da. Any kind of type business, you know, we don't work a nine-to-five. Y'all don't work a nine-to-five because I went back to a nine-to-five. Really, I sat on the 330, but you guys know that if you don't work, you don't make any money. So that's the only thing about business ownership. When you don't work, guess what? You don't make any money because you're not getting a paycheck. You know, you earn from the clients that you service or, you know, if you're a service provider, business owners or restaurant owners, you know, all that kind of thing. you know when the weather is bad nine times out of ten you probably gonna close or sometimes you really don't know what to do is you should open or should you close all of this this so this is for that type situation like when you're a service provider or a business owner like what do you do in inclement weather like what do you do when the weather and you know atlanta they'll shut it down like atlanta shuts it down i'm an original georgia peach born and raised in g hey you understand the original georgia peach i grew here you flew here so anyhow so what do you do if you're a business owner and the weather is bad and you know this ain't boston like where my husband from like boston if it's snow or if it's 10 but they saying it feel like it's below 30 degrees or something like that you still gotta go to school you still gotta go to church you can still go to the grocery store You can still, you know, all of the stuff is open because if it was not, you know, you couldn't even go through the 10th grade because you ain't even got all the hours you need for the 9th grade because you'd be missing school every day if they shut it down like somewhere like Boston or Minneapolis or anywhere like that where it's always cold or Chicago or something like that. Shout out to Chicago with that delicious food. You understand? I only went there one time. But Lord, how about I almost moved that away. That food, a french fry, tastes good up there. I'm like, what in the world? So anyhow, if you're a business owner and it's inclement weather, you somewhere like Atlanta, who ain't used to it? We be clueless now here. Don't make fun of Atlanta. I tell you, I'm an original Georgia peach. So what do you do? So I'm going to tell you three tips for you guys. What do you do? Because when you're a business owner or a service provider or something like that, the first thing you want to do is what? Rest. You're going to want to rest. You're going to want to sleep. You're going to want to take a nap. You're going to want your feet rubbed. You're going to want your toes popped. You're going to want all that stuff, legs greased up. You're just tired. You're going to want your neck. I mean, when you're in the service industry, your body is always in pain from head to toe. You understand? So you're going to want some of that going on. But at the end of the day, you got to come on out of that, you guys, because you got plenty of time to do that. This is a day that God gave you off. It's like a day off that God gave you because guess what? It's snowing outside. Guess what? It's ice. So you got to cancel who? All of your clients. You got to cancel all of them. So you ain't made no money for that day, and you may not make no money that entire weekend because you may have to be clothed the entire weekend. so what do you do like what how do you still be productive when you own a business and you can't even make a dime because guess what you had to close whether it's a restaurant or all the other places i name what do you don't take a nap you don't get your toes popped you don't ask your husband or beg your significant other to rub your feet you can say that for later But right now, I want to talk about the things that you need to do. And in all honesty, I'm going to give you three tips of things that I think that you might be able to do that you should do if you own a business. Because even though God gave you this day off, you're still a business owner. So you got to set, the bar got to be set high. You got to be disciplined. You got to be on. You can't never be off-hauling. You got to be on. And that switch got to be on to you. You got to be thinking, okay. I got this God that gave me this day off. Thank you, Jesus. Thank you, Lord. Thank you. Thank you. You want to do all that? Give him the honor and give him the praise and what? You got to do all that and magnify his name. You understand? The matchless Lamb of God. You understand? You got to do all that and you're supposed to. You understand? You're supposed to. But again, let's get to these three things you need to be doing. You need to do this. You need to. So, number one. When it's inclement weather, you need to be what? Marketing. You need to be marketing. Marketing. A lot of times when you own a business and you're a business owner, you don't get that much time to do what? Market. You don't hardly have time to market because you business, service, and client. So this is a day that God gave you off. This is the day that the Lord has made. You will rejoice and you're going to be glad in it. And while you glad up in it, you're going to marketing. You're going to do some marketing. So you need to market. And some people, you know, who own businesses, they don't even have a lot of social media. They may have two, which in my honest and humble opinion, because I got to tell it like a TIE is, you understand? In my honest opinion, to me, it don't make sense not to have whatever you can have because social media is free. It's absolutely free. So you need to be marketing. In all honesty, market. You know, get on that market, market, market. Because when you market, that's giving your business the opportunity to gain new clients. Or it's giving your business an opportunity for people who don't know anything about your business to find out about it. Because when you own a business, you can feel like everybody heard of your business. Everybody know about your business. Everybody see it when they drive by. You're going to feel like people be telling your customers, telling everybody about your business. You're going to be thinking, you know, the stylists that work there, they telling the whole world. Everybody know about it. The Lord know about it. Everybody know. Jesus, Mary, Martha, all them. Adam, Eve, and the rest of them. But at the end of the day, God requires a seed. He says as long as the earth remains seed time at harvest. Seed time at harvest. You understand? Seed time. So that means it's time for you to what? Sow a seed. So to sow that seed, you got to do what? Do some marketing. Marketing. Marketing. A lot of people don't know about your business. You can think everybody do, but everybody don't. So you got to be out there. You got to market. That's what you got to do as an owner. And if you have a team, guess what? You need to be getting the people who work for you to do what? Market. They sitting at home just like you because they work for you. They work at your place of business. And guess what? You closed right now. You are closed. You was closed yesterday, Saturday. You was closed. You needed to be marketing, they needed to be marketing. When they post something on their social media, guess what? They need to tag you so you can see that they're what? Marketing. So on your day off and it's snowing outside and you off and you had to cancel everybody or you had to close the restaurant, guess what? You need to be marketing. That's number one. Number two, a lot of times when you own a business or if you're in the service industry and you stay busy or whatever, The case may be, you know, sometimes when clients are sitting in your chair, they may be asking you questions about their hair. You know, you may see a little bit more shedding than usual. They may be like, you know, Jane Doe, I got this and that going on with my hair. Or, you know, my hair, my scalp has been very itchy, very flaky. You know, I've been seeing some shedding or whatever the case may be. They may be telling you all this stuff while they're in your chair. And you may be thinking, okay, why didn't they tell me about this? You know, why they wait till they get in my chair? But the fact of the matter is, which I covered in another video, you don't want to deflect. Do not deflect because if you say to yourself, why didn't they? Then as soon as you say, why didn't they? You just blame them. You just deflected on them. So what you can do. Since you got a snow day off, since the Lord gave you a day off, you can do some free consultations. You can think in your mind, in your heart, in your spirit, in your soul, in your brain. Or even if it's in your online booking or if one of your clients texted you and told you. You need to think back and reminisce back and remember back on those clients who were saying they was having this, that, or the third problem with their hair. And then you need to send out a text message to some of them. Like maybe 10 or less clients. Hopefully you ain't got that many clients with, you know, problems with their hair. But go and find the clients who you remember or you recall they are having some issues with their hair. And do what? Type up a little template. Copy and paste it into a text. And say, hi, Miss Jane Doe, Sally Doe, Joanne Doe, Ray Ray Doe, Lucy Doe, Shaquita Doe. Text all of them and be like, look, you've been talking to me about your hair. You've been wanting to do a little consultation, da-da-da. You know, I'm closed today because of the inclement weather, as you know. So I have time now to do a mini consultation with you. Would today work? and then you know when you're doing that many consultation nine times out of ten they're going to need some deep treatments they may need a trim they may need a haircut because sometimes the best treatment the best conditioner is what a haircut though sometimes people be holding on the hair that ain't even there it's already gone the hair is already gone they hanging up they hanging on to hair that's gone it's been left it's gone it's been said goodbye so all you need to see is a pair of shears You pull out your shears, and you go ahead and start the cutting. Because sometimes people need a haircut. And they be wanting to do deep treatments, steam hydration, Olaplex, all this other stuff. But at the end of the day, what they really need is a haircut. And you've been trying to tell them, so you need to tell them again. While it's snowing outside. While it's freezing outside. While it's ice outside. While your kid want to build a snowman, but ain't enough snow. It's mainly ice. you need to be telling ray ray mama and all them that look girl you need a haircut while you got time and you're doing this mini consultation can i give you a call as soon as you call heller heller you need a haircut please and thank you so there's that free consultations that's another thing that you can do so number one marketing number two free mini consultations when you in a blizzard A lot of people like to make videos just like what I'm making now. I'm recording this video and then I'm going to edit and post it. A lot of people feel more comfortable doing that. But when it comes to live, you know, they kind of camera shy and all of that. They don't want to do no lives. But you guys, if you own a business, you got to, you know, you can't be. To be a business owner, it's going to take another level is what I'm trying to say. You can't be the norm. If you're a business owner, you got to think outside the box. You got to think about, especially if you have people working at your place of business. Because guess what? They're relying on you as the business owner to make good decisions, to make right decisions, to make... good financial decisions to not be at home trying to get your toes popped but to be thinking about stuff like this because at the end of the day they're relying on you as a business owner they're working in your place of business they're trusting you since you want to man up a woman woman up and become a business owner you know trusting you So that they can what? Make money. So they can earn a living. So they can pay their child's daycare. So they can pay their car notes. So they can pay their mortgage. So they can pay their rent. So they can pay for their medical insurance. All of this, they're entrusting you who said that the Lord told you to open a business. So they're entrusting you. They're trusting you that at the end of the day, you're going to make wise decisions. So guess what? They can be earning a living. That's what they trying to do. So you got to get up. Got to get them toes popped later. You got to get them legs massaged later. Right now, they need you to be marketing. They need you to be doing many consultations. they need you to be doing lives because one thing about lives it kind of introduce you to a whole other audience because while you're posting these videos out there that's all well and good because that's what i'm doing right now here right now today but at the end of the day when you do lives it's gonna be people hopping on the live who ain't even know nothing about your instagram who didn't know nothing about your facebook who didn't know nothing about your tick tock so guess what those are potential clients and then if you have stylists working for you That's what they looking for, an owner who can think outside the box and who can be doing, like, not trying to rest, not laying down, not thinking about, oh, whoa, it's me. It's snowing outside. Oh, whoa, it's me. I got the clothes. Well, this is an act of God. Like, can't nobody control the weather. You know, it's an act of God. So at the end of the day, you still got to be as an owner. You still got to set the standard. You still got to be an example. Because even when you think people ain't watching you, they are. People are always watching. And everybody want to be famous on social media now. Everybody think it's easy. And that's okay if you want to, you know, have a business or whatever. That's all well and good. But when the rubble meet the road at the end of the day, or whatever little terminology or slang you want to use. we got to separate the men from the boys and you got to separate yourself from the pack like what is it about you and your business that's making you different what's making people want to come to your business but you as the owner you want people that work for you to do all this stuff but you're not even doing it and you the owner it got to start with you it got to start with you like you can't tell people like they said practice what you preach Like the Bible said, get that beam out your own eye. Like my old pastor used to say, sweep off your own front porch before you try to sweep off mine. All of that or any of those analogies is what you got to do. And again, it's all of that that I just said. It all goes back to what? Seed time and harvest time. You got to sow a seed because what people see you doing, that's what they'll do. When they work for you, you got to guess what? Market. You got to do what you got to do. You got to promote. Even promote your team. You got to even do that as well. But also require them to do it. So those are the three things that I think you should do. Hope you enjoyed this. Hope it helped. This is my business 101. You can share these videos. You can like them. You can comment anything you want to see me talk about. Please drop it below or you can. direct message me on wherever you saw this at and give me some suggestions or anything you want to know about or want me to talk about anyway thank you so much peace and blessings be safe out there see you on the next video peace and blessings

What do you do when your business shuts down and you can’t make money? Whether it’s bad weather, cancellations, slow days, or unexpected closures, every service-based business owner eventually faces downtime. The difference between struggling and thriving is knowing how to respond when income stops.

In this Business 101 video, I’m breaking down exactly what hair stylists, salon owners, barbers, estheticians, and service providers should be doing during slow or closed days to stay visible, attract clients, and keep income flowing long-term.

💡 WHAT YOU’LL LEARN:
• What to do when your business is forced to close
• How service-based businesses can stay profitable during downtime
• Why marketing during slow days is essential
• How free consultations turn into paying clients
• Why going LIVE can bring in real-time customers
• The mindset shift needed to stay consistent in business

📌 THIS IS FOR YOU IF:
You’re a service-based business owner who depends on clients for income and wants to build consistency even during slow or unpredictable periods.

🚨 The truth: downtime is not dead time—it’s strategy time.

👍 Don’t forget to like, comment, and share this with another business owner who needs this message.

Subscribe for more real Business 101 content:
https://www.youtube.com/@UCvax9WiFn-bsjYmLVdeydwQ

⏱️ CHAPTERS:
0:00 Intro
0:45 Weather shutdowns & lost income
2:00 Reality of service businesses
3:55 What to do during downtime
6:24 Marketing during slow periods
9:13 Free consultations strategy
12:44 Going LIVE for clients
16:00 Mindset & final thoughts

#SmallBusinessTips #ServiceBusiness #BusinessStrategy #EntrepreneurMindset #HairStylistBusiness #SalonOwner #BusinessGrowth #Business101 #MarketingTips #SugarSalonTV


Music by frumhere, kevatta - warm feeling - https://thmatc.co/?l=FF5EFD1D