The evolution of the Brexit panic - The VERY small business approach.

As the owner of a small business with just 5 staff, this is how my #Brexit thinking has evolved since the vote in June 2016.

June 2016: "This won't affect us, we don't have any customers in Europe".

March 2018: "We have a few important suppliers in Europe, I wonder if there may be some impact on our business".

August 2018: I'll ask our EU suppliers for advice on Brexit. In reply "we don't know, we were hoping you would tell us".

November 2018: Amidst the Westminster noise about Brexit...

"This Brexit thing could be a real threat to our business. While the direct impact on our supplier relationships might be negligible, what will be the impact on some of our big UK manufacturing customers? If they stop making stuff, that will hurt us. I really need to research this matter better”.

December 2018: We've recruited the services of a Business Mentor. This wasn't done because of Brexit, we just felt the need to take a critical look at ourselves to help us harness some of the opportunities we see and also to define our strategy. Our mentor has encouraged us to revisit the SWOT and PESTLE analysis' we did in the early days of our business. While these are still a work in progress, they are dominated by Brexit. This exercise has lead us to discover there is some good information in circulation about Brexit.

If you’re member, speak to your local Chamber of Commerce or the Federation of Small Businesses. Failing that, it’s highly likely your bank can help you.

We bank with Lloyds and they’ve just published this via their "Lloyds Bank for Business" feed here on LinkedIn.

In conclusion, an old saying comes to mind. “Fail to prepare, then prepare to fail”. The more knowledge you have at your disposal, the better prepared you are to deal with adversity. And as we all know, out of adversity, comes opportunity.

#brexit, #smallbusiness, #business,