Business Recovery - 2 Years On From Failure...And Now Slap Bang In The Middle Of A Recession!

I'm not surprised I haven't produced a blog post for absolutely ages. Been a little busy!

It's close to 2 years (May 2006) since we went bust and started again.

But, I came up with 8 things you need to do (2 of which you may laugh at - see below) which I guarantee will lift the gloom - unless you're an irreversible pessimist that is!

But now the recession is official, I thought it was about time I reflected on the lessons I've learned, the state of mind I'm in, how optimistic or pessimistic I feel.

And for anyone who once picked up the odd strand from my little story (are there?), give you an update on the personal and business position.

After Going Bust In The Good Times, How Am I Faring In the Bad Times?

For those who don't know, our company went bust in 2006 and re-started. It seemed impossible to do, but we scraped ourselves off the floor and tried again.

With a repeat prescription for blood pressure tablets, a little coaching from a good friend in being able to mentally cope when everything around you has actually collapsed, and alot of moral support from too many people to mention and thank, we got going again.

After protracted negotiations on an insurmoutable level of personal guarantees on business debt, we managed to achieve what felt impossible and satisfy them all.

Before I could even take a sigh of relief, the personal debt (which was really business debt!) struck home too. And I managed to stave off bankruptcy by negotiating a 10 year repayment plan, and in most cases freeze the interest to make it achievable.

The actual numbers involved are scary and a little embarassing to detail. However, it was far more than a 6-figure sum.

And in between all this, we had to re-start a business.

And learn not to repeat the mistakes we made. And be able to sleep at night.

And also try and find the energy to be positive again. It took maybe a year to re-discover that entrepreneurial spark that made us want to go into business.

When we re-started, there were 5 of us.

Most of our clients stuck with us. And while touched by their loyalty, some of them we had to let go. Quite simply because we didn't think we could service them all having reduced our workforce by 75%.

So we fell on our sword and in many cases facilitated their move to alternative suppliers.

And that was a pleasant experience - we're still very friendly with former clients who have found good suppliers since. I have a coffee or beer occasionally now with several former clients, who I now think of as good mates.

Where Are We Now?

Well we're up to 16 staff. Our client base is still smaller in terms of numbers, but our retainer income is at the same levels it was in the former company.

Our cost-base is lower than it ever was (we have more part-time and junior staff than before).

And a good number of clients we honourably let go to others have begun to return - without us asking (and I won't ask those who haven't called because it aint good form to do so!).

How Are We Coping With The Recession?

Despite the history of this blog where at times I have obviously been a little unhinged, by nature, I'm positive. My glass is never half-full - it is overspilling.

But even the most fervent optimist can't help but be touched by the non-stop flow of negativity around them. And from time to time, I find myself beginning to buy into the gloom.

...before I quickly kick myself up the arse.

You see it is the optimists who will spark the turn-around. And if they buy into the gloom, then we're all doomed.

At some point, people will tire of the pessimism and tune into the optimists. A tipping point will be reached, and we will all start believing again.

Personally, I tune into the optimists. And there are many of them about.

Some of them have thrived through downturns and scoff at the doom-mongers who ignore the opportunity around them.

And much of the current malaise is caused by how we choose to perceive what's happening around us.

Could it be as simple as fashion? If the current vogue is doom, then we're instantly unfashionable if we don't buy into it.

Personally, our retainer revenues are up by 33% over the last 5 months. So how can I possibly buy into the new trend for talking things down?

Fair enough, if I was being pedantic, our growth slowed in December and early January. And that's when most of the media-gloom descended as the focus of their reports was the down-turn, Xmas spending reports, and the closures in the high-street retail sector.

But how much attention was given to the explosive growth of online sales? How did Amazon do? Why has the Woolworth's brand name been bought to re-launch as an online-only retailer?

To what extent was the trend away from the high street and towards online purchasing going to happen anyway?

I would agree that overall spending was down, but not nearly as much as the doom-mongers believe. It became a self-fulfilling prophecy as people cut-back - even though I suspect it was marginally.

How many online-only retailers went bust?

So, while my pedanticness could have associated our December/early January blip with some mysterious global problem, how true was it?

In reality, we always have a dip each year. And in years gone by, we never worred about it. In fact we expected it. So why was this year any different?

In reality it wasn't.

As I write, we noticed the same pattern as the previous year. People have started spending again with us. And it has followed the same pattern - the new year "hangover" ended around the middle of the month, and the usual level of enquiries/demand ensued.

BUT I very nearly - for about an hour - got sucked into this negative void.

What Lessons Have I Learned 2 Years After Going Bust And Re-Starting?

Well, the first thing to note is how I feel. I don't worry nearly as much as I used to. I don't fret about negatives any more.

Yes, we still have challenges, but when you have over-shot rock-bottom and had to dig yourself out of the grave, any challenges we now experience don't affect me nearly as much as they used to.

Okay, the challenges we have nowadays are minor.

But the one thing we have discovered that is more important than anything else, is....FUN.

The more fun you have, the better pretty much everything else becomes. What seemed impossible to achieve in a company that was floundering and eventually went bust, becomes achievable.

I knew back then that a key point behind our sucess was delivering a fast service. Achieving it though against a negative background felt like an arduous journey that would take years.

Just last week, we decided to change our average IT support incident fix time from 2 hours to 1 hour. We'd examined for just a few days the methods which would make this possible (a simple logistical reorganisation).

So we announced it on the Friday in a team meeting and introduced it on the Monday.

On the Monday, we achieved a 51 minute fix average. On tuesday, it hit 21 minute as we all realised that is was not only achievable, but acutally very easy.

If I turn the clock back to the end of the previous company, things had gotten so bad back then, that we couldn't figure out how to make a cup of tea without an extended consultative process that was pretty much doomed from the outset.

Now, we can dream something up, examine how it can be achieved, implement it, and celebrate our sucesses - sometimes within hours.

Towards the end of the last company we had an average of around 100 outstanding support calls at various stages of completion. Today, we had 5. And those 5 were outstanding only because clients have asked us to delay the work until they were ready.

The key to implementing things at the speed we now do is essential - the right people.

With the right people, you can achieve anything.

The atmosphere in our office is fantastic. It's fun. I love going into work every day. There are genuine smiles.

And in an industry where you answer the phone knowing something has gone wrong, that's an amazing achievement.

One Small Confession

I broke one of the rules I had on re-starting. Particularly over the last 4 months. I've been fortunate to meet (ahead of schedule), the right kind of people for our company.

And because I knew they were exactly the kind of people we needed, we took them on - perhaps a couple of months ahead of schedule.

But I remember the advice of someone I admire who says that the right kind of people can do pretty much everything.

And that advice has been vindicated with the performance of the new folks. They have actually supplemented the positive atmosphere we have. And accelerated our development (and inspired me too!).

To round off this meandering blog-post, I'll finish off with a bit of advice for these troubled times:

1) Seek the company of optimists

2) When you meet them, supplement their optimism with your own

3) Reply to any negative viewpoints you hear with an optimistic alternative viewpoint

4) Question what the media portrays and read between the lines - good news is not in fashion, so when you hear it tune iN.

5) When you hear bad news, tune out - it will only slow you down in your journey towards good stuff

6) Analyse facts - and when they are negative, imagine you are a PR person who is tasked with adding a little spin - perception can become truth. And negativity can become lies if you give it the chance

7) Whenever you see snowfall, rejoice. There's nothing better than chucking snowballs around your street. Snow is beautiful. And when it slows your car journey, instead of moaning, look at the brightness around you, and admmire the sheer majesty as it floats to the ground around you.

8) Support Everton FC. They are eternal optimists who are seeing results despite the seemingly insurmountable odds, lack of investment, and amazing over-performance despite the odds!

Thank you for listening (Mum).

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