Why a bit of hunger can be no bad thing

In every business life, a little rain must fall. Hopefully that rain contains itself to the odd shower rather than a torrential downpour, but bumps in the road are inevitable. And as with anything, it’s how you handle those bumps that means the most.

Before we moved to our current home at North Frith Farm, we occupied a different studio in the centre of a town. One day we had a visit from someone from the Valuations Office - the people in charge of setting business rates. They mentioned that there was a possibility that our rating was inaccurate, spent a few minutes looking around, and left. We didn’t think much more of it. That was until a brown envelope arrived informing us that the Valuations Office had updated our ratings information and realised that the valuation of our property was far greater than that which our business rates was based on. That meant we’d been underpaying for about five years. Enclosed with the letter was a bill for over £16,000. I remember very clearly the line at the bottom of the page - ‘you need take no action, this amount will be collected by direct debit’.

You don’t need me to tell you that a small business having a spare £16k sloshing around is a rare thing - we most certainly did not have the funds available to meet this debt and we literally had no idea how we’d handle it. All sorts of scenarios were considered and we eventually decided that giving up wasn’t an option - the only way was through.

I’m a firm believer in finding the positive in every situation, and though this whole experience was a horrid shock, what it did do for us was force us to up our game. With hindsight, we’d been plodding a long a little when theta particular bombshell hit - we were growing, but slowly, and definitely not fulfilling our potential. That rates bill was the kick we needed to take things more seriously, to focus us and to push harder, faster.

While I don’t wish the shock of that particular experience upon anyone, it taught us an important lesson. That a bit of hunger can be no bad thing - and that when things get tough, you either curl up or push through. If things have slowed down in your business, or if you’re feeling worried about where your next sale might come from, use that hunger. Use it to focus your efforts. Reassess what you’re doing - what’s working, what’s not, and what you could be doing differently.

If you’re feeling overwhelmed by the prospect of promoting your business, you might like to consider joining us for the Autumn marketing course - you can find more information about that right here.