Episode 104: Goodbye 2020! Hello New Year! (Season Finale)

2020 has been a year, hasn't it?

The beautiful thing about it though is, we can choose what to do with it. We can let the challenges defeat us, or we can embrace the opportunities.

This week, we look back at the year that was.

But more importantly, we look ahead at what lies ahead.

You can read the associated post on the EntreCourier website.

Being the last episode of 2020, it's also a good spot for a season finale. Season 1 of the Deliver on Your Business podcast went a good 104 episodes, 18 months. We're going to give it a break in January, launch season 2 in February sometime. 

Part of that new launch will be a more defined focus. The EntreCourier website is at it's strongest providing information and education. The podcast has been more about applying that all into delivery life. I see those as being very distinct things but I've tried to keep both the website and podcast as some kind of merger of the two. 

In 2021 we're going to let the podcast have a bit more of a life of its own. It's going to be more a part of trying to build community for drivers. In the past we had an email newsletter that went out each week, and it was really more like three different types of content that was just tough to keep up with. The newsletter and podcast really serve some of the same content, so those two things will be more closely tied. 

Stay tuned for more on how that will work - and we talk about that a bit more today on the podcast.

More about the EntreCourier

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Our Podcast page is at DeliverOnYourBusiness.com
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Transcript

0:03

Hello, Courier Nation. Welcome to the Deliver on your business podcast, where you are the boss. Each week we talk about how to make the most of your business as an independent contractor, as a courier delivering four gig economy apps like Grubhub, DoorDash, Postmates, Uber Eats and so many others. Well, happy New Year, Courier Nation, I know as I record this, we're not quite there, but we are close enough that I just want to say, Happy New Year and Holy Cow 2020. Don't let the door hit you on the way out, you know is it's going to be good. Good, good. Good to say good bye to 2020. Between the politics, the pandemonium and you know, oh, by the way, the pandemic, there's not a lot of people that are really sad to see this year come to an end. And you know, it's a funny thing I put on the website and kind of the primary picture for the post related to this post is an elephant's. But because who knew that the real meaning of 2020 hindsight is that when you look back at the year 2020, you're just staring at the year mooning us. You know, it has been a wild ride. But you know what? We made it. And that's the thing, my friends, 2020 was tough, and for a lot of us to say it was tough is is an understatement. In fact, I've probably got no clue just how tough it has been for a lot of people. But the thing is, too, we can choose how we want to look at what this past year has been. You know, so many people were hit hard by the year that was, you know, people lost jobs, you lost loved ones sometimes. And that one's a hard one to imagine. I've I've lost a couple of friends to this this pandemic. But you know, they weren't like, you know, the best friends and I haven't lost close family. I'm so thankful that, you know, I've been very fortunate. And for some people, that's not the case. You've had some people that, you know, just the the old wounds of social injustice and different things that some of the events of this year just really kind of seem to rip the Band-Aids off of those, you know? It has been a hell of a year. And it has been a year that has been hell for a lot of people. What do we do with all that? Maybe this is an opportunity, you know, maybe 2020 was an opportunity. We can define ourselves. You know, we all go through fire at times in our lives. And fire can do a couple of things. It can destroy you. Or it can refine you, and it can make you stronger. And we can make a decision which one that's going to be. Are we going to, you know, stay on the misery. We're just kind of focus on that. Or you know what, maybe maybe we give ourselves a pat on the back. We say, Hey, you know what? This is one hell of a year is a tough year, and we made it. We're survivors and my friends, that is something to be proud of. And I want to say congratulations. Seriously, because if you told us at this time a year ago what 2020 had in store for us. I think we'd all be wondering, you know, how are we going to get through that? You know, if you knew ahead of time with this year was going to be, I think a lot of us would say, yeah, I couldn't make it through that. And yet here we are. And yet, yes, we did make it. You know what? One thing is that 2020 has told us. I think it's told us that we're stronger than we might have realized. Try and look at this past year that way. You know, for from a delivery standpoint, from my website standpoint, you know, this time of year always, of course, that time that you look back and you look ahead looking back. I know, at least from my perspective, 2020 had some good things to go with the bad. I mean, you know, especially on delivery. Delivery blew up, you know, I mean, holy cow. Nobody expected delivery to become what it was, where it became such. It really shifted from a luxury service to something that became very essential for a lot of people. And yet a lot more people get into the delivery gig economy than ever before. I mean, in waves. And there's probably some good to that and probably some bad to that. But the thing is, is that I tell you what, at the end of last year, when I was doing something kind of similar to this, one of the things I was looking at, I think I wrote my website saying, You know why I think this, this website could go away because I saw. Some of these delivery companies, I just just things that made me wonder, could they survive? And I really wonder if they would have survived this year if not for this pandemic. And and the thing about this is delivery has allowed a lot of us to survive. You know this, this was one area where the ability to work didn't go away like a has for a lot of people. And and that's one of the things I look back and look back at this year, and I just feel like, OK, that's my primary income, and I'm so fortunate that I wasn't doing something where I was going to get laid off because my business closed down or the people that I work for closed down different things like that. And so I see some things where I'm very thankful when I look back at it. I can't say that's true for everybody. But I do know for me that I made more for the time that I put into it. There were a lot of ways that deliveries actually got easier. I know a lot of people get frustrated by some of the stuff that go with the contact free deliveries that are happening right now. But my goodness, if you compare the amount of time that it takes to do a contact free delivery and what it takes sometimes to try and track down the customer, it actually made a lot of things about the drop off easier. I think that it made it easier. I would tell you that it's an awful lot easier getting the food picked up now than it was a year ago at this time. And I think part of that is because restaurants have shifted their focus. For a lot of restaurants, delivery is the only thing they do. And oh my goodness, if if you would have told me at this time a year ago that restaurants would be setting the food out in a way that is just easy to get to, that you didn't have to try and compete with people standing in line to order different things like that, just as so many restaurants got so much better organized. And then on top of that, you got more people staying home and parking became easier when it came to picking up the food. Not always easier when it came to dropping it off. That's a different story, you know, because everybody's at home. And it was easier getting around town, and I'm never going to complain about having less traffic. I know that doesn't mean everything was better, but. You know, there were things, too, where the delivery companies, I think they showed their true colors in a lot of ways, and the bottom line is I've got so much less respect for Grubhub and DoorDash and Uber Eats and Postmates than any of the others than I ever did before the year began. And trust me, folks. That's not an easy accomplishment. I didn't have a whole lot of respect from them, but I think there are just a lot of things that I've seen with those companies that. Yeah. You know, that's that's one of the challenges that has come with the year. But all of that said. I know that I can say, at least for myself, you know, my average delivery times are a lot shorter. In 2019, I averaged two point thirty two deliveries per hour, and in 2020 it went up to two point seventy three and there was a period there where I was well over three deliveries per hour. You know, just deliveries have gone faster. On the other side of things is my profit per hour is a lot higher. You know, the other day I came home and I, you know, finally got back out on the road here. I came home and I had made like $24 per hour, and I was disappointed about when, you know, before I was, you know, just under 21. And, you know, so even though I'm making more per hour profit and that's profit per hour, that's after my actual car expense and everything like that. You know, I'm making more right now than I was, but I'm disappointed by it because it was even better at some points. But, you know, overall, I think my my profit per hour is like almost 25 percent higher than it was last year. That's not a bad raise, if you ask me, you know, if you go from. 20 to $25 per hour. That's not bad. So there are those things that were better. Now the flip side is I drove less than, you know, two thirds of the hours that I had put in for 2019. I spent a lot of time on the bench this year. You know, I sat out several weeks early on. I wrote an article about why I'm sitting out for a little while. And then again, you know, a good share the last part of this year. Much of November and almost all of December, all except for, you know, just just up to a couple of days ago, I was sitting on the sidelines. I was in quarantine. You know, I had my daughters get the COVID here. Living in the same house. And fortunately, I was able to avoid it. I'm not sure how that happened. I'm very thankful that happened. But at the same time, because there was that possibility because I was exposed, I wasn't going to go out and deliver during those times. And in the last couple of weeks, it was like, OK, I'm just going to quarantine because you know what? We're going to make sure that Christmas happens around here with our family because this this this thing for getting together for the holidays is a big deal for us. And so we had the whole family quarantining themselves so that we could do Christmas. So, yeah, I spent, you know, like I said, it was less than two thirds of the amount of hours that I was able to deliver a year ago. And yet the bottom line is, here I am, I'm healthy. I've made it through and that's that's a miracle, I think, in its own self. And I'm very thankful. And so, you know, I don't know. You know what? I'd love to hear your story. I'd love to hear what this has been. What's been good for you? What's been bad for you? I know my story's not everyone's story, and but I do know that most drivers that I talked to were actually making a lot more in the times are out delivering because delivery is blown up. Some things have kind of settled back to where they were. And right now, it feels like it's a lot slower. But the reality is it's still better than what it was a year ago. So some of that is perspective. Some of that is we've been used to, you know, just those real high times, you know? So it's been quite a year on the delivery side of things. I look back at 2020, where it applies to running the entry courier website and doing this podcast. And. I wouldn't trade 2020 from that perspective for anything, you know, as much hell as the year itself has been. I wouldn't trade. Where things have gone with this website and where they've gone with this podcast, I wouldn't trade any that at all. I have had a blast with this. I have loved getting to know people through the podcast. I have loved being able to get to know people through the interviews. I've got to talk to a lot of great people about what they're doing and. This has been as fun as I've ever had doing, I think, just about anything. It's been an amazing year and. I don't know how it happened, but somewhere along the line, then people found their way to the podcast and especially to the website, I've had so many more visits, page views, sessions, whatever you call it, on the entree courier website than I ever dreamed that I would ever have. And you know, it's just been it's been mind blowing, and I think it's because I've been able to do this website and some of the things that I could do through that, that it help offset some of the time I end up having to stay home. Different things like that. And I've just I'm blown away by what has happened. But here's the part that just blows me away the most. And this is the part I it floors me. You know, when I had somebody tell me just the other day, they ran across another person in another state who listens to the podcast and the kind of repeated some good things that they said. And they said that some of the things that they put into practice were inspired by some of the things that I'm talking about. And you know, it's crazy. It is. Maybe it says something about. How much I expect out of myself because I get out of here and I do this podcast and I try and offer advice and everything like that, but then, you know, when I get blown away that somebody actually follows it or something like that, that it's worked out for them. And it is so humbling and it is so amazing. And and I think part of it is because I know that there's nothing that's really all that special about me. There's nothing about me. That's any, you know, makes me anything more than anybody else out there. And there are times that I have to admit that I have a hard time, you know, trying to say, this is how you ought to do delivery. This is how you ought to do things because. There's there's this thought in the back of my mind that's always who am I to tell you any of that, you know? And I don't want to be that guy, you know, that just has all the answers because I know in my mind, in my heart, I don't have all the answers, right? The truth is, there's nothing really special about me, there's nothing that is, and that's why it's just blows me away sometimes when I hear things like that. But I think that's maybe the lesson that I've been learning this year and that has been just it's been humbling. It's been amazing. It's been awesome. And and it is this lesson that it's like. There's something that all of us have to offer. There's something that I've got to offer, there's something that you've got to offer. There is something that all of us have that can make a difference somewhere, and sometimes maybe it's just a matter of trying to find that, you know? But if you can find that area, if you can find something where you know what? I've got something that I can help you out with. And I want to share that with you. You know, we shouldn't be so surprised then, if sharing it actually does help somebody out, if it does make a difference because the bottom line is every one of us has got some way that we can make a difference. And the key is, I guess, maybe finding those things, you know, finding those those I think we all have certain talents. You know, some say I've heard a call like a different, you know, different intelligences. And you know, some of us, some folks are going to be real good at math while others of us are like, what? You know what I mean? But at the same time, you know, you get that you get somebody that maybe they don't have the math down, but boy, have they got the people skills? Or, you know, boy, can they? Put something together. You know what I mean? And we've all got that. And that's the thing that I think is it's just been humbling as you kind of learn those lessons that it's like if you find out something that you can do that you can offer to somebody, then you're going to make a difference. And that's the thing maybe we can ask ourselves when we look at that is, you know, where can we make a difference? Where, what is here? That area that you can help somebody out in because I think then if you put it out, I mean, maybe we shouldn't be so surprised when we actually do make a difference somewhere. Maybe that's one of the biggest lessons for for the last year and maybe one of the things that I think, you know, if if taking away all the stuff that happened in 2020 meant taking away that lesson. I'm not sure I want to give that up, you know? So all that said, what's ahead? What's what's going on for 2021? And I have got to be honest, that's a scary question. I don't know. I don't know what to expect. You know, this pandemic, it is. It is so far from over. And now, I don't know, there's there's a light at the end of the tunnel, and yet I don't know. I've listened to Dave Ramsey so many times or something like that that it's always hard for me to say that that about the light of the light at the end of the tunnel without coming to this conclusion or coming to this worry about this is actually an oncoming train. He likes that. He kind of likes making that analogy. But you know, there are parts about it that is it's also far from over. This whole pandemic, because, you know, we've got the vaccine out now and we've got several vaccines out, actually. And so far, they look promising, but it's going to take time. It's just going to take time. You know, we're looking at we may be looking at summer or later before things start to get back to some kind of semblance of normal. And that's if there's any semblance of normal afterwards. You know, and so it's going to be it's going to be an interesting year. Maybe there will be parts of it that I don't know if they'll be easier or better than 2020. You know, it's just that's the part that's going to be interesting. You know, how will do we come back as a nation? How well does our economy come back? How how well do we come back as a people from from all of the division and all of the stuff that has been? Just as difficult a part of the year, you know. And will we come back and that's that's the part that it can be scary. But maybe it can be opportunity. I don't know. You know, so. And the other question is what's going to happen with delivery? You know, there's there's folks that I'm there's things, folks, that I'm not optimistic about the way these delivery companies do things. You know, when I look at the way that some of them are ramping up, the way that they're deactivating people without telling them why, you know, and I think it's fear tactics. I think it's stuff trying to keep people in check. You know, we're going to scare people into thinking they're going to lose their ability to earn. And it's just it's crap. And it's the kind of stuff that that's why I said I've got less respect for them than I ever had before. And you know, and I I'm not sure I could have even less respect than I do right now for them. And I don't want to find out that I'm wrong. You know what I mean? And it's just, you know, and then when you see after Prop 22 passes, then Grubhub says, OK, well, we're just not going to suggest chips anymore on most of these orders in California, it's like they don't want you to earn more money out there. And I don't get it. I don't know why they do that kind of crap. It's, you know, the only theory that I can think of is that they do it that way. Because they actually don't want you to earn more money, because if you earn more money, then you're going to go out there and you're going to try and deliver more. You might be more likely to go out and do full time. And if you do full time than you get in enough hours that they have to start paying you some of this extra stuff for health benefits or something like that. So maybe this is their game? I don't know. And the thing is is I don't trust them. And, you know, so you see all that crap and it's like, I don't trust these companies. And so where's that going to lead? I don't know. But here's the thing, when I look at some of that stuff and I see some of that pessimism creeping over me when I look at the year ahead. As far as these delivery companies go? And that is, if you told me at the beginning of this last year what it was going to be, I'd have been, you know, I have been incredibly discouraged. But here we are, we got through it, and for a lot of us, this whole delivery gig ended up actually being better than we could have dreamed that it would be. So just because there are. Reasons for pessimism. It doesn't mean that everything is going to be miserable. And that's the thing there's going to be better that goes with the worse, there's always better that goes with the worst. There's always worse that goes with the better, anyhow, I guess, is that half glass, half full glass, half empty thing. I don't know. But the bottom line is, you know, there's going to be opportunities. There's new players coming into the pick into play. I think there's going to be somebody come along somewhere that's going to really upend things. And I don't know who that's going to be. I don't know how it's going to happen, but I just think that the market is ripe for some things to happen, that somebody can come in that can do better. And, you know, just throw all these guys out on their ears. And so there's going to be opportunities. And maybe all of this is leading us as individuals into opportunities that aren't even related to delivery. I don't know. There's, you know, every time that there's crap that's happening out there, there's opportunities that go with it. So anyway, as as I talk about the year ahead and it's I think I don't know, I think there's a lot about 2021 that's going to be fun to watch. And the truth is, there was a lot about 2020 that was kind of fun to watch, and it doesn't mean that the other stuff wasn't serious or anything like that. But it's just, you know, you kind of you kind of pick and choose, I guess. But the thing is, you know, here's the other thing, I guess 2021. And I wanted to talk about what's coming up ahead for the EntreCourier.COM website for the Deliver on Your Business podcast. Because I am more excited than ever about the future of this site. You know, the good news about being home from delivery during the times that I was, there were several weeks that I sat at home, and so that gave me chances to put a lot more into building onto a courier and into a lot of behind the scenes stuff about the website being able to put out more content, being able to update a lot of things. And I don't know that I've ever been so optimistic, you know, professionally about anything like I am right now about the endre Courier and what were this website could go? It's exciting stuff. So I feel, you know, gas a little bit about what I'm thinking about, what I see right now with the website, with the podcast and different things like that. I think one thing that I see right now as I look ahead is a little stronger sense of purpose and an identity for the website and for the podcast. You know, here's here's the thing is, I think is all along since I started the podcast back in July of last year is that I guess it was June of last year, but it's been a year and a half a little more than that now. And when I put it up. You know, it's all it's always been kind of like all one in the same type of thing that they're both the same thing. And so I put up a podcast episode and I've got a blog post that is usually it's either, you know, on interviews, it's normally it's like a transcript or it is if it's just me talking. Basically, it's a blog post saying all the same things and most of the same words, you know? And so it's basically it's all kind of one in the same. It all kind of merges together. And, you know, a lot of the weeks that I've been driving full time or different things like that, that podcast episode is the only real new content on the website. But there's something about this past month and and being at home, and a lot of time is spending actually pretty much isolated because of quarantine and everything. And that gave me a lot of chances to reflect a lot on the strengths of the website of the podcast where things are good, where they're not. And a lot of it has been trying to kind of figure out the roles for the website and for the podcast, because I'm starting to realize that I think they've got different purposes. You know? When I look at entre Courier, the Web site, you know, the strength of that website has always been that the website's there to answer questions. You know, most of my posts that I write outside of the podcasts are posts that really started out with trying to answer questions for people. A lot of the titles in my my posts are questions. And that's where a lot of people are finding the website because they're asking those questions and they're searching for those questions. And maybe because I've kind of structured it that way to answer that I'm showing up in the results. It's kind of blows me away because I've never known that much about this whole search engine stuff or anything like that. But you know, my whole point was to try and you know, it actually, you know how it started out. It really started out with, I'm finding people are asking questions and they're asking the same questions over and over. And if I'm on forums and things like that, I'm sitting there trying to answer the questions to be helpful. And I just realized, you know what? It works a lot better for me just to write it down somewhere and I can point people to where I wrote it. And that's that's how entree career got started. But the whole idea when I put this together was I made this decision that what I wanted to do instead of trying to be like, you know, another guy on YouTube or anything like that and just doing anything and everything delivery, what I wanted to do was focus on the business side of doing delivery. And so I never really tried, even in the podcast, to focus on the business or something that ties into business, you know? And I think going into 2021, I want to hone in on that. I think there's a point where a kind of really I don't know if it's trying to kind of maybe focus more on personality or some different things like that. But I think we're I'm finding that entree courier helps people. The most is when I do that, when I focus on the information, the education and the business. And so keep with, you know, the analysis of what's going on, but especially how does that impact the business of doing your delivery and all of those different things? You know, there were two things in my website on entre Courier that really had the most impact to really, I think, helping it take off. One was when I did The Courier MBA series, which is the first 31 episodes of the podcast, and I did a blog post and podcast episode on Mastering Your Business Attitude. And the second one was another series, and it was a tax guide series that I put out. And if you go to a career dot com slash tax dash guide, it takes you right to that. And it's a series of articles about different aspects, about taxes. And those are things that people are finding. And and, you know, that's the kind of stuff that I really want to focus on with Andre Courier. In September, I launched a trial course, I called it the 31 day Courier MBA course kind of ties in with that, you know, the launch of the podcast that I did there. And I'd like to refine that, I'd like to put out some other courses. You know, I'm thinking that, you know, doing a course that focuses on on part time delivery and maybe another one that focuses on, you know, how to make this a full time type of thing. Refine the third courier MBA course for those that want to go into 31 courses, maybe develop a course that is all about doing delivery. And you know what I really want to do is I want to do those courses and just put those out there and make them available. I'll just put them on the website like I did the tax guide instead of trying to sell it or something like that. Because the whole thing about entry couriers, I just want to provide information that helps people. So that's kind of some of my emphasis on the website for the year ahead. On the Deliver on Your Business podcast, and this is where it kind of sees shifting a couple of things, but it's really is kind of more like merging some other things together. You know, I started kind of realizing, I think as I looked at everything that it's like, OK, the podcast is sort of a different direction than the website, you know, most of my topics. I think they got more into life of delivery. I did a lot still on business. But it was more. Kind of like how business applies to life and delivery. You know what I'm saying. It didn't quite line up as easily with this. This is how you do your taxes. This is how you figure out, you know, the business side of things or something like that. And that's the part that started can make him think, you know, OK, where am I going with this? And. Sometimes my episodes kind of fit into the theme of the website, sometimes not so much and have kind of struggled with that. I've wondered what it would do with that. But the thing that I'm noticing is to, you know, the reality is I've got about the same number of people listening to the podcast as we're listening about a year ago. You know, it's it's not really growing. It's not really shrinking, either. And you know that that last part is is encouraging. And to be honest, though, I have not put any emphasis or hardly any emphasis at all into trying to actually grow the podcast. So, you know, that's the thing, and maybe that's one thing I should be doing is asking myself why that is. I'm not sure if I want to get into that kind of self-examination right now. But, you know, I wondered, you know, should I put this thing to rest if it's not really growing, if it's not really meeting the purpose of the website? You know, where's the point that I've got to say, OK, it's time to move on? But, you know, the thing is, is I'm realizing that this podcast is fitting into probably something else that I do want to develop that I do want to put a little more into in the years to come because, you know, the crazy thing is, as soon as I started asking myself, Is it time to retire, deliver on your business or at least put it on hold for a year or whatever? And as soon as I did that, I started getting this feedback from some people about, Hey, I heard this on your podcast or I've been doing this and this and this and this has all been really positive stuff. And it's just, you know, it's blow me away. But the thing that I'm discovering is, you know, while the audience isn't growing, it's been steady. And I've always wanted to have, you know, start doing some things that have to do more with building a community within the podcast, within the website or whatever and the whole thing, it's all kind of coming together and realizing that the podcast and the this whole idea of community. Are fitting together. And and I'm starting to kind of maybe see this divergence between entree career and the podcast in that entre courier is information. Deliver on your business is community. And so they're kind of two different things that I don't think I had ever really notice before. And yet the two fit together, I think the two belong together. And that's part of what I'm doing is kind of realizing, OK, where do I go with that? What do I do with that? Some of you may have received my newsletter when I was putting it out every week. I don't know, do you remember the newsletter every week? I was putting out a newsletter and and I was trying really hard to kind of create content or create things for the newsletter that were specific for the newsletter. And I've reached a point, though, it was just impossible for me to stay on top of that, you know, it was. I think it was at a time that I was putting out a lot of information and I just realized that, boy, I'm doing three different things here. I'm doing website and it's got its information. I'm doing the podcast and it's got its stuff, and that's taking a fair bit of time, and I'm trying to do this newsletter as well. And it was really trying to go three different directions, and it got to be too much. And that's why I find, you know, kind of the the newsletter faded away for a bit. But I think what I'm figuring out in all of this is I'm kind of examining all of this as I'm starting to understand, you know what, my newsletter and the podcast actually kind of fit together there. There is a community side and and then you've got the informational site with the website. And I think when you start to understand that, that gives me an idea where I'm going with the podcast and but I don't know if I've been as focused before on that. So here's where this is leading with the podcast, and I'll start with this. You know, I've noticed a lot of podcasts, they are done in seasons, you know, and that makes sense. They'll do a season and it kind of take a break. Sometimes you need to take a break and I haven't done that yet. You know, I started this year and a half ago and I've been putting stuff out. I'm kind of proud of myself for getting something out about every week and a couple of times. I'm a couple of days late, but I felt pretty good about that part of things, but it has been a year and a half season. And so here we are at the end of the year, so it makes sense to make this a season finale. You know? And as soon as I say that, I think that sucks because you're talking to you're listening to a guy who loves finding something and then you binge watch it and you watch through a series like The Mandalorian, you know, the season, the season finale comes up and it's like, Oh crap, now I got to wait. Now, I don't have a new episode to look forward to for a while, and that sucks. But. I, you know, I think there's a point sometimes for you just got to kind of take it a couple of weeks off a few weeks off, you kind of gather yourself. And so that's kind of what's going to be happening here. So this is like the the season, the season finale and that series. I want to make sure I don't get that mixed up or, yeah, the season finale. But it's not going to be like six months, nine months a year or anything like that. You know, what I want to do is just kind of take a little bit of break through January or so. And here's what I'm going to do with that is try and put some things into place where I can revive the newsletter, but tie it in more with the podcast and make those things work together. So for January is going to be working on just kind of building a foundation, building the format for it and building some of the other things that I want to try and build for the site as well. And part of that is trying to kind of find a way to create a community. Some folks do some things through a Facebook group, and I've just got to decide if that's a good way to go something where there can be a little more interaction, but something that can be done in a way that it just doesn't become toxic, like I see in so many things like that. You know what I mean? But then with the launch of season two, then you know, I'm going expect around the first of February or so we can premiere the podcast episode for season two. We can premiere those episodes to the community first, give them the first shot, you know, and then go public with the episodes, then a day or two later. And but ultimately, I want to create something that's more interactive. I want to do something more than just me talking or getting a couple of people talking. I'd love to be able to get people together and do, let's say, live interviews with a group. Do some things like that. You know where there's more of a community that we can learn together and grow together and share stuff more back and forth than just some guy talking at you? You know, maybe maybe build something like the Independent Delivery Professionals Association, something like that. Those are some of the thoughts that are going through my mind. Now if you've got ideas, some things that might fit in real well. As a community, I'd love to hear ideas, thoughts, suggestions. Email me Ron@entreCourier.com. Leave a comment on the post at entreCourier.com/104, which is the post that goes with this episode here. You know, whatever anything like that, I would love to get suggestions and ideas. Bottom line, my friends, 2021 is going to be awesome, even if it sucks. We don't know what's going to happen. We know there's some stuff that could really go south. But I think they're going to be some wonderful opportunities as well. And here's the deal. Hopefully, maybe we've learned this from 2020. We've been through hell. But we made it through. And there are opportunities. Coming through that, there are areas where I think it's helped us grow, I think it's helped us to do some things. Let's grasp those opportunities. And as we look at 2021, let's look for the opportunities. Not for the stuff that worries. Yes, you know, I'm excited about what the year ahead means. I'm excited about the opportunity to get, you know, you all, you know, so much better. I have loved some of the stuff in the last few months getting to know a lot of different people. And I am so excited about being able to do that much more. I'm excited about building a community. I look forward to what career nation can really become. And here's the thing I really look forward to. I look forward to more and more and more and more of you understanding. That when they made you an independent contractor, they gave you the right, they actually put you in a position where they said, you're running a business and I'm looking forward to people saying, You know what? You're right, I am running a business and now I'm going to become the boss. And that's what I really hope that you do through the website, through this podcast, through anything through the community is that more and more, you become the boss.