5 messages for anyone thinking of starting their business
I'm deeply suspicious of anyone giving advice. How can I put myself in your
shoes? Surely your abilities, experiences and hopes will be very different
from mine? But despite this, I thought I'd look back on our 5 lowest
moments in the past 30 years to see if I can extract any useful messages from
them.
You might be wondering why I'm not writing a blog on advice gleaned from the
5 best moments of running Wise Owl. There are
two reasons for this: a) I'm a natural pessimist and b) you learn so much more
when things go wrong than when they go right.
Number 5 - Cold calling (message: know your first clients)
Jenny's already described how much we both hated cold
calling potential clients. The truth is, it didn't even bring in much work
(the only time I can ever remember succeeding was in selling a course to a
manufacturing company in Liverpool).
When we began, we relied almost entirely on four clients (three Jenny used to
work with, and one I used to work for). Until the Internet came along we
struggled to expand our client base, and we still rely almost entirely on repeat
business. So the first message I would give to anyone thinking of starting
a business is:
No one will be interested in your
product or service initially - don't start unless you can name
your first 3 clients.
Number 4 - Binding before our wedding (message: be prepared to work hard)
A question for you if you're married: can you remember what you were doing the night before your wedding? I
know what Jenny and I were doing at 1am in the morning: binding manuals.
I don't think I've worked that much harder
for Wise Owl than I would have had I remained in my previous job, but there have
certainly been many periods of intensive activity!
My second message would be this brutal but realistic advice:
Don't set up on your own unless you're fit, able to work full
time and have the support of your family and friends.
Number 3 - Our largest client ending our contract (message: review your aims)
For the first 10 years of Wise Owl we relied heavily on delivering training
(and to a lesser extent consultancy) for a major oil company near
Ellesmere Port. It was terrible news when we learnt that they were going
to start using a different training provider, taking over 50% of our income
away. However, what it actually allowed us to do was to develop other
services and other clients, and we've not looked back since - I think Jenny and
I would both agree that losing our largest client was the best thing which ever
happened to us.
So message three:
For the last few years we've made a list of a few things that
we'll try to achieve in each coming
12 months. Had we done that in the first 10 years of our
business life, I don't think we'd have ended up drifting
comfortably for so long. So: have a few clear aims which you focus on
relentlessly, but which you're at the same time prepared to
change over time!
Number 2 - Buying an office (message: don't take on overheads willingly)
At some time in the late 1990s (I can't remember exactly when) we decided it
would be a good idea to buy an office:
15/17 Britannia Road, Sale (aka "The White Elephant")
This might have been a good idea if it hadn't been next to a garage on an
industrial estate, and far bigger than we needed at the time. We had to
move within a couple of years, after spending many a happy evening and weekend
renovating it.
You should never worry too much about raising your direct
costs when business is going well, as you can always reduce them
when the tide turns. You should be very careful, however,
about taking on fixed costs (and in particular leases or
property purchases).
Number 1 - COVID (message: employ amazing people)
It's strange that in 30 years the worst moment should have happened so
recently. On 23rd March 2020 Boris Johnson announced a full lockdown.
We were enjoying one of our busiest ever periods, but within a few days every
single one of the courses we had booked in was cancelled, and we had no prospect
of delivering the classroom courses which were our sole real source of revenue.
It was a grim moment (I confess to crying during a staff meeting). What
happened next still makes me emotional. Andrew, Rachel, Sam and Shaun (and
Dave, Jenny and I) worked together to launch - from scratch - an online training
service within a couple of months, and within 6 months we'd fine-tuned it to
include the use of remote desktop to monitor delegates' progress (I think
special mention at this point to Andrew for pushing the whole project forward
and to Dave for solving many of the technical problems). This taught us
something which we actually already knew:
If you're recruiting, don't settle for second-best: it's
better not to employ anyone than to take on someone who you
don't think is right for the job.
I do have one more message for anyone considering setting up their own
business: you are much more likely to do it if you ... do it! If you want
to get rich (we didn't, but we've enjoyed the journey nonetheless)
this book by Felix Dennis gives the best advice I've ever read, including
explaining the sacrifices you'll have to make.
