Today, I share with you an inspiring story of how our business thrived during the pandemic.
It was February of 2020 and it was a morning just like any other. I’m rushing to get ready when Clay’s dad came in and said, “Amber, I need to tell you something that’s going to be hard to hear…”
What he said next really got my attention.
“…You’re not going to be able to travel as much for work anymore. National news is about to break that we are headed into a global pandemic.”
I didn’t know what to think or expect. You see, Clay’s dad is a firefighter and as a first responder, he is often notified of this kind of information before it goes public.
I had so many questions, but of course nobody knew what was going to happen. When I am in the midst of a crisis, I get very still and very quiet. I began thinking how NGNG would move forward during such an unprecedented time.
The next day I had a meeting with my mentor at the time, and during that call I had an idea.
“I think I need to start livestreaming.”
Now, this was at a time where I wasn’t doing much active marketing in the company because our word of mouth has been so strong that I haven’t really needed to. But my gut was telling me that I needed to go live, and if I’ve learned one thing over the past 15 years it’s NOT to ignore my gut.
That following week, The Elevate Series was born.
I booked different thought leaders in our industry for live interviews where we provided insight on what people should be doing both professionally and personally during Covid. We weren’t selling anything, just providing value… and people must have taken to it because I ended up booking six speaking gigs as a result of this livestreaming interview series. That was the start of our business thriving during the pandemic.
It wasn’t long before we started having clients who wanted to implement something similar across their channels, so we temporarily opened a livestream division called Standout.live.
We saw engagement skyrocket and people were growing their platforms at an impressive rate. Standout.Live generated over $100,000 in its first month, and this moment was just the beginning.
Because I listened to my gut and took a chance, NGNG grew 85% during one of the toughest years in history for business owners. We hit our first million dollars in revenue, and we didn’t stop there. In 2021, we grew another 85% and had our first two-million-dollar year.
Looking back on these 15 years, I am SO grateful.
I am grateful for the hard times, the growth, the people… every single moment that has contributed to where NGNG is today. Thank you so much for coming along this journey with me.
