We need to celebrate the small wins!

Today I am celebrating & I wanted to share ????

Why am I celebrating?

In December 2019 I negotiated my way out of a lease in Parnell, with a challenging landlord, to move ‘The Common’ to bigger & better premises, with an amazing landlord (one of my clients who knows how to treat his tenants well).

The Common had been a tough business to get started. Leaving the security of Icehouse , after 7 years of being an Executive in Residence & Business Coach & with my team being based in their premises as well, to go it completely alone was scary & exciting... And expensive!

However, my passion for helping more entrepreneurs live better lives was strong.

It was my passion business that achieved some amazing things, like hosting big brands such as Kiehl's Since 1851 , HP , Facebook Meta , HubSpot , LinkedIn , ActiveCampaign Campaign & lots of smaller, local brands.

Warner Bros. Entertainment even filmed two seasons of MAFS (Married at First Sight) in our space & there were many photoshoots for people like Harvey Norman & other retail brands.

And of course, at its heart, it was an Entrepreneurs playground, so it hosted events by Entrepreneurs' Organization with people like John Spence as guest speakers & supported many local businesses with events too. Even Matt Church 's team used it for his courses in New Zealand. And of course, there was EOS Worldwide / EOS Worldwide APAC who used the space to launch into New Zealand. So, many fun times were had & of course, the EOS event was the start of a whole new journey for me... That's a different story ??

And at the end of 2019, after 2 long years, we were finally seeing the results. After a huge upfront investment & many months of not making money, we were finally making a profit, despite the high rent, staffing costs & expenses. So, we decided to expand.

We had a new building lined up on Upper Queen Street that was 4 times the size & now that we finally understood the commercial model & how to make money whilst providing what people wanted, we were excited about the move.

It was a chance to move forward & start to recoup the $1million I had invested into the business.

?I still had 6 months left on the 3-year lease, so I had to agree to a payment of $62,000, to get out early. I don’t think it was the best negotiation, but it was the best I could do. I took it.

We gave notice & moved out.

The plan was to spend the next 3 months planning & refurbishing the new building with a launch date of May 2020.

And then the sale of the new building fell through... And I was gutted ??

Now we had to start the search all over again, unable to generate any income whilst we found a new place.?

That was the end of January 2020.

Whilst we looked for a new place for the event & workshop space, we moved the coaching practice into new premises. I was still hopeful we’d find something & have it designed, furnished & functioning by May 2020.

But of course, the universe had other plans…

There were murmurings of a new virus, called Covid, and talk of the effect it might have on the world...

I remember it well as I was in Australia attending my EOS Quarterly Conference & I had to bring my flight home forward by a day so that I wouldn’t have to go into self-quarantine.

And then only a few days after arriving home, I remember Steve & I sitting on a bench in our local park, watching the announcement that we were going into lockdown & we didn’t know when it would end.

Suddenly all plans of rebuilding the business were in a state of flux. And as the lockdowns continued, they eventually fizzled.

In some respects, it was great.

Not having a lease of $180,000 per year was good.

However, also not having any income to repay the $340,000 of debt still outstanding, was not so great.

?And before I get all the comments of “How did you let yourself get into so much debt? How irresponsible!”, please remember that as the sole business owner I invested heavily, through some loans, to furnish the building & get the business set up. It wasn’t a ‘cheap’ business to set up or run.

And just as I was ready to launch the business, I suddenly lost my darling brother (at only 44 years old) & then, a few months later, my Mum & best friend (at only 72 years old), which again as a solo business owner, had some impact on my ability to run a business effectively.

I had also sold all my assets, mainly my house & my 2 Porsches, but some other toys too, ?to fund the business. I definitely wouldn’t recommend this to any of my clients, but what that meant was that I could still pay current bills & keep staff employed & paid.?

And when we signed the new lease, we were actually making a profit so I was extremely excited about the future.

But with Covid & lockdowns & with the debt hanging there, I had to ‘pivot’.

You can’t run an event centre in a lockdown & you can’t generate income without a space.

So pivoting, in the true sense wasn’t really an option. In my scenario, pivoting meant putting all plans on hold for several years & working out a way to repay the debt.

There was another option… I could have gone into liquidation & personal bankruptcy.

In many respects, this might have been easier, but I knew I wanted to make sure no one else suffered… And so I started rebuilding the Business Coaching practice, which had taken a wee bit of a back seat for The Common.

This gave me the income I needed to start repaying the debts.

Except Covid also created a challenge...

Many businesses were uncertain about what to expect & in April 2020, for the first time in 15 years of being a business owner, I had zero income for 3 months.

That was challenging & not much fun ??

But still, I continued…

And now in August 2022, I am celebrating because last week I paid off my old landlord. And in the last two years (even with the struggles of gaining regular income due to Covid), I have not only paid off this debt but also one personal Harmoney Loan & 3 serious credit cards, used to fund the business.

In total, outside of the landlord's debt, this came to an additional $95,000 of debt.?

I’m not there yet – I still owe family & friends – however, I have now knocked off all the interest-bearing debt… And when some of that was a 21.95% interest, you can imagine what a relief that is.

It also means that I now have more available funds to pay off the remaining debt… which I am confident will be paid by mid-next year.

So, it’s not quite the end of the journey, but it is a significant milestone. And I don’t think that we, as Entrepreneurs, celebrate the small wins… And this time I wanted to.

This bottle of champagne was gifted to us by the Life Education Trust, for our delayed wedding. And we brought it with us because we knew we couldn't afford those kinds of luxuries for a while... At least not until all the debts are paid off.

And after 3 pretty tough years without a true holiday (more than five days), & living a budget lifestyle, Steve & I are taking a 2-week break to relax, refresh & recharge.

It’s still a budget break in a budget campervan in the South Island & we can’t afford much in the way of holiday, so we’re freedom camping & we’re cooking all our own meals, but we are in such a fabulous spot, so where better to celebrate?

I am sharing this story in the hope that some of you will relate to it & it will give you some hope if you are having tough times.

Losing almost $1million isn’t fun & I certainly wouldn’t recommend it, however, it’s also not the end of the world.

We can always earn more money & provided we learn from our mistakes (even if they weren’t strictly in our control) then we can move forward.

I am grateful to be still doing what I love, with people I love. I know that I am making a huge difference in other people’s lives, as well as my own. I am fortunate to be compensated appropriately for the difference I make & I sometimes have time to pursue other passions.\

It would be easy not to take a break, to say that I can’t afford to, but I know that when I get back from this trip, I will be in a better space & be able to offer more value to my clients.

So, from 25 Mile Stream – Cheers - here's to all of our successes & to a better business, better life! ??

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For all those that have stuck by me & supported me – I thank you.

For all my clients, who trust me to help them – I thank you.

For the family & friends to whom I still owe money to – I promise you it will be paid.

For my darling husband, for his unwavering support (as well as your life savings) - I am hugely grateful.