SEO Hacker is facing its first down year in 16 years—this business downturn meaning hits different when you’ve only known growth.
I’ve been doing business for 16 years now. I started with nothing — a freelancer with no team, no business background, no managerial experience, no capital. And by God’s grace, SEO Hacker has experienced growth every single year for 16 straight years.
This year, that streak is likely ending.
The year isn’t done yet, but I’ve felt it. The tightness. The skinny cows eating the fat cows, like Pharaoh’s dream in Genesis. This will probably be SEO Hacker’s first down year — the first year our growth turns negative.
And I know exactly what it comes with. The corruption exposés that revealed billions stolen from our country. The war in the Middle East driving up the cost of everything. The disruption of AI shaking the marketplace. And the tightness of cash flow everywhere — because a lot of money has left this country. Money that had to be cleaned, laundered, and exported by corrupt politicians. Money that hardworking OFWs gave their lives to send home to keep this economy afloat, bled out of the country by the very people entrusted to protect it.
These are tough times. Uncertain times. Skinny cow times.
What Did We Do With the Seven Years of Plenty?
Thinking about all of this, I can’t help but run to God’s Word. And it’s Joseph in Egypt that keeps standing out to me.
When Joseph interpreted Pharaoh’s dream, the message was clear: seven years of plenty were coming, followed by seven years of famine. Joseph didn’t just interpret the dream — he instituted a system. During the years of abundance, Egypt stored grain in storehouses instead of consuming everything. “And let them gather all the food of those good years that are coming, and store up grain under the authority of Pharaoh” (Genesis 41:35).
Think about the discipline that required. They could have consumed everything they harvested. The economy was booming. The harvest was overflowing. Every year of plenty gives you a reason to spend like plenty never ends.
But Joseph was prudent. God gave him the wisdom and foresight to store for a famine nobody else could see yet.
And here’s the part that humbles me: hard times had to come. In God’s timeline, the famine was always coming. We will never fully understand why God allows tough seasons. But notice what God did through it — the famine affected the whole world, and it was the famine that raised Egypt to extraordinary wealth and positioned Joseph to save his own family. You just don’t know what God is doing with you, your company, your people, and the resources He put in your hands.
What you can control is what you do with those resources.
Hard Times Always Come
It’s never up and up forever. It never has been.
The Asian financial crisis. The dot-com bust. The US housing market collapse. The pandemic that shattered entire industries. Hard times come in every generation of business. The question is never whether a down cycle will arrive. The question is what you did with the years of plenty before it did.
As business leaders, do we have the discipline to prepare for the skinny cow years? Do we control our appetite during the fat years — or do we consume everything the harvest brings?
This is just the first year. The strikes on Iran happened in January. The corruption exposés broke this year. If this stretches longer, the businesses that survive will be the ones that stored grain — cash reserves, lean operations, strong systems — while everyone else was feasting.
I’ve written before about how David at Ziklag teaches us about navigating down years — inquire of God first, have faith when nothing makes sense, and lead anyway. Joseph’s story carries the same conviction: God’s people don’t panic in famine. They prepare in plenty.
And if the years of plenty come again — and they will — what will we do differently this time?
Down Years Are Building Years
Here’s my conviction, and I’ve said it before: down years are here for you to build.
When the front end is slow — when sales and marketing aren’t producing like they used to — that’s not dead time. That’s the time to pay your technical debt. Your system debt. Your process debt. All the things you left behind during the busy years because the front end demanded all your attention.
This is the time to build your back end. Develop your people. Fix your processes. Build new products and services — including ones that meet your clients where they are right now, because they’re struggling with budgets too.
I learned this through building systems the hard way. Systems beat heroics — always. The skinny cow years are when you find out whether you built systems or just relied on hustle.
And it boils down to something even more personal: this is the time to improve yourself as a leader. Do you continuously grow? Do you read books, listen to podcasts, get mentors? Do you join mastermind groups that force you to level up?
God allows seasons like this so we can take a step back and reflect. The famine didn’t create Joseph’s wisdom. It revealed it. What this down year reveals about us will depend entirely on what we do with it.
Let’s Get Through This Together
This is exactly what we’re doing at Business Beyond Limits this October 22 to 24 in Coron, Palawan.
Mastermind sessions with fellow entrepreneurs and brilliant minds — discussing how we come out of this stronger. What we’re each doing to improve our systems, save money, and innovate during this season of AI and disruption. Real conversations with people carrying the same weight you are.
And yes — we’ll have time on the beach. Time to step back. Time to think. Some of the best business decisions you’ll ever make happen when you finally have room to breathe.
Reserve your slot at businessbeyondlimits.ph.
Store your grain. Build your back end. Grow as a leader.
The skinny cow years don’t last forever — but what you build during them will.
