# What to Do When Business Gets Really Tough

Page: https://stenobird.com/podcast/marketing-school-digital-marketing-and-online-marketing-tips-3891700/what-to-do-when-business-gets-really-tough
Text version: https://stenobird.com/podcast/marketing-school-digital-marketing-and-online-marketing-tips-3891700/what-to-do-when-business-gets-really-tough.md
Podcast: [Marketing School - Digital Marketing and Online Marketing Tips](https://stenobird.com/podcast/marketing-school-digital-marketing-and-online-marketing-tips-3891700)
Published: 2026-09-03T13:00:00+00:00
Episode link: https://traffic.megaphone.fm/ESHO9198181112.mp3
Audio file: https://traffic.megaphone.fm/ESHO9198181112.mp3
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JSON: https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/marketing-school-digital-marketing-and-online-marketing-tips-3891700/episodes/what-to-do-when-business-gets-really-tough
Duration seconds: 1673

## Resource

Growth Newsletter: https://levelingup.beehiiv.com/subscribe Need marketing help? Visit: https://www.singlegrain.com/ and https://npdigital.com/Want to recruit great marketers? Find them here: https://marketingschool.io/hire What do you actually do when things get really tough in business? Neil and Eric share their worst moments — 2020 included — and the playbook for surviving them: eating the elephant a day at a time, buying time with cash, and choosing stability over growth when it counts. Then the reveal that hot AI startups like Cursor quietly run thousands of ads at a time, and a five-star massage-studio case study on referrals, grandfathered pricing, and service details that carry over into any business. Key takeaways◾Tough seasons are survived a day at a time — systems over panic◾The hottest AI startups test thousands of ads, not two◾Great service businesses engineer referrals on purpose Chapters00:00 When things get really tough09:14 Stability vs growth15:56 The 6,400-ads reveal17:10 The massage-studio case study

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