How to survive ‘Exceptional Times’ in business!

2020 has so far been one of the most difficult years of my business career, much worse than the fall out of 9/11 and the 2008/09 crash. So I would like to share a few of my experiences learnt by battling through ‘unprecedented times’, in the hope they may help others. There will be three posts covering 9/11, 2008/9 and 2020, I hope they are useful to anyone navigating the current business climate and faced with tough decisions.

Lots of people and small business owners will be finding it extremely hard, at the moment. So perhaps writing about my own difficulties in ‘Exceptional Times’, will provide one or two pointers for making it through the short term and on into the upturn.

9/11 and the Twin Towers

I started Haughton Design in its current form in Stafford just after 9/11. I had already given notice on the contracts I was serving as a freelancer, signed up for our first office and lined up my first employee. At the time HD was mainly working in the aerospace industry, designing test rigs for companies manufacturing flight control systems. Naively I thought 9/11 would create a short blip due to the impact on commercial air travel, before it would soon be back to business as usual.

How wrong I was! Two large contracts which I expected to start were eventually put back over 6 months. It meant I started ‘a proper design consultancy’ with myself, an employee, a new office and shiny new CAD workstations - but had almost no income for almost 6 months.

To overcome this, I had to get on the phone and speak to as many contacts as possible to try and get some work in - fast. Luckily, after making countless calls and meetings, I managed to rustle up a few small jobs to raise a small income. When not trying to chase enquires, I worked flat out developing systems, templates and producing work which Haughton Design could sell at a later date. My hope was that this ‘investment’ in a super slick system would pay off through significantly increased productivity, when the big jobs came in.

Financially, I thought it was just a blip so believed I could keep paying myself the same as in my best Freelance years. However, I burnt through my savings very quickly and things soon got scary. I had to face up to things and halve what I was taking from the business, meaning massive cuts to my personal and family spending. With a new baby at home, it was incredibly tough but needed to be done.

I kept working as hard as I could, keeping up with prospecting and relationship building and trying to encourage the two contracts to start. I did any design related work I could find, often with very short lead times, allowing HD to survive. I always felt things would turn eventually but I must confess it was a stretch, working late on Saturdays and Sundays to deliver some work that was won because others wouldn’t do that.

Around 9 months after starting Haughton Design, just when it seemed I couldn’t carry on, the company was awarded one of the large contracts I had expected. Great, Haughton Design was on its way at last. However, just before receiving the order, my first employee resigned as he couldn’t handle the uncertainty of working for a start-up. There was only one thing for it, start the project myself, and find some help quickly!!

With the first contract things started to turn, then the other one came in too. It would have been very easy to have given up when my first employee resigned. So, what did this teach me:

1. You always need to have some reserves for the unexpected.

2. You have to keep on going, keep trying to find work and investing your own time in your future business. Even when it seems pointless.

3. You must always be optimistic - but be very realistic with your finances and make difficult decisions, as early as possible.

4. You must believe in yourself to have any chance of surviving and be tough enough to carry on when others don’t.

5. I believe you must have a compelling reason to start and survive as a business, without this, it is you will get disheartened as it’s too easy to walk away.

At that time, the reason for me to stick at ‘Haughton Design’ was the future of my family. I had no investor or financial support so I could not turn to anyone for bailing me out. In simple terms, failure was not an option! 

I was very lucky and had not financially over-extended myself. I was brutally honest with my own finances and quickly accepted the situation.

If back there now, I would advise anyone to make contact with a local chamber of commerce or any other local organisation offering help to small businesses. They have some excellent schemes through mentors and support programs. If this is not available, find someone in your network with an established successful business and ask if you can have a chat with them. Most people I know will be happy to provide a kind ear and sounding board if approached and treated respectfully.

I hope anyone going through similar “Exceptional times” will find this useful and be able gain a little strength from my experiences.

Next post will be about the 2008/09 crash and what was required to overcome the different challenges which came with that.