We have survived 5 years in business – I don’t think even we can believe it!
When we set out on our journey just over 5 years ago, I’m not sure either of us knew what would lie ahead or the path we were following.
With stats saying around 80 per cent of UK companies fail within their first year and, according to the latest figures from the Office for National Statistics, only 42.4 per cent of businesses started in 2013 were still trading five years later we do believe that we are amongst the lucky ones.
However, it hasn’t all just been luck. The long hours, hard work and perseverance has also played a part.
What have we learned in those 5 years?
- Starting a new business won’t make you a millionaire overnight! But, it will earn you a good income if you put the hard work in and this will increase steadily over time.
- Listen to your gut. If it doesn’t feel right, it probably isn’t. It was a big turning point in our business when turned down our first client. The story goes ‘We arrived at the prospective client’s shop soaked through after having to park quite a distance away and getting caught in the rain. The prospect didn’t offer us a cup of tea as we sat there freezing cold – big mistake! They were also very price conscious and were trying to beat us down and something just didn’t feel right’. We politely excused ourselves from that piece of work.
- This ain’t no 9-5 job. Our laptops have travelled all over the world with us, we market for our clients 365 days a year and therefore will always need to have access to various channels and systems.
- Be careful who you choose as a business partner. We’ve spent at least 5000 hours on to the phone to each other over the last 5 years and even more together in person. We talk to each other more than we talk to our husbands. We have become each other’s best friend and confidante. We regularly disagree but that is healthy and we always find a way to move forward.
- The fun things are fun but they’re not what puts the money in the bank. We love the fun stuff whether that is a photo shoot or a branding session and we will go to the opening of an envelope but it doesn’t pay the bills.
- Building your tribe helps get you through the dark times. We are lucky to have met and worked with some amazing people over the past 5 years and many of them are now life-long friends.
- Whatever is going on ‘Get up and Show up’ on a daily basis. Persistency and Consistency is the key!
2020 was a particularly tough year for everyone and believe us when we tell you we’ve been through some really dark times. But, we made it through. We are not silly enough to think this over, the worst may still be to come but we will face it together and we are prepared to keep going.
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