Ricardo Gutierrez, the 141st person I’ve met on my quest to have lunch with 500 strangers, has an admirable philosophy: focus on the solution, not the problem.

Ricardo has really had to embrace that mindset in 2020, because his business, Bedssi, has been put in hibernation mode by coronavirus.

Bedssi is an online portal that matches accommodation providers with international students and visiting groups. But when Australia’s borders closed in March, Bedssi’s market disappeared.

Ricardo grew up in Colombia and moved to Sydney in 1999. In 2016, he quit his job to focus on Bedssi. For the first year, it lost money, but after lots of hard work, the business took off two years ago. Then coronavirus hit.

Back in 2018, Ricardo thought of a clever way to improve his business knowledge – he founded the Innovator Diaries Podcast so he had a pretext to pick the brains of smart people. He’s published 134 episodes and counting.

Coronavirus has had one positive for Ricardo: it’s given him more time to focus on podcasting. And it’s inspired him to start a new business – he now coaches businesses and entrepreneurs that want to launch their own podcast.

Solutions, not problems.