Let them eat cake – how can entrepreneurs navigate tough times?

 Being an entrepreneur and running your own business is amazing. You are in charge of your own destiny. That is until a cost-of-living crisis, stagnant economic growth and skyrocketing costs hit. 

While no one is immune from the global turbulence we’re seeing at the moment, a story last week about how a small high street bakery always sees sales rise in a downturn, got us thinking. Cakes, apparently are one of the last things consumers cut back on in tough times. 

There are always those outliers, businesses that just outperform others and seem immune from the issues that drag others under. With the latest stats showing more small businesses expect to shrink rather than grow we decided to explore how some of our members have navigated the toughest of times – and come out the other side, only slightly ruffled. 

Bristol-based Ruth Bradford recently admitted that she was having to accept her business model wasn’t working. “There have been a lot of tears about it all, a lot of frustration. If I'd been talking about this six months ago, I'd have just been really gutted that my business was going so badly.” 

The founder of The Little Black and White Book Project decided to reinvent her business model and launched a podcast and a newsletter. She’s not giving up, but she’s realised she needed to adapt and ‘that most of what was happening was out of my control’. Read her compelling story here. 

Building contractor MD and business coach Andrew Sperring had a similar experience. Over lockdown his company JAS Building Services saw sales drop 100% - but at the same time he could see other contractors doing very well. He asked them what they were doing differently. You can read his story here.   

Is it OK to accept that things aren’t going well?  In a world where only the good bits are shared, aren’t we in danger of failing to learn the lessons we need to help us avoid these problems as they hit? 

Enterprise Nation change and technology adviser Tarnia Gonzo thinks we are. “If you try to hold on tightly to one plan, it can feel overwhelming. But if you stay flexible, you will find a way through and often end up somewhere better,” she told us. 

And she is not immune to change herself. She said: “I had to learn that my abilities weren't fixed and that pivoting wasn't a failure, but a chance to learn.” You can read Tarnia’s helpful tips here.  

And yet and yet – when you’re at the coal face it feels hard.    

The truth for a lot of business owners right now is that it isn’t obvious what to do. That’s scary stuff and anyone telling you that there are easy solutions is usually selling them. 

We want to start a revolution of togetherness. As small businesses, we need to unite, to share our stories, our lessons learned, our products and services, our connections, and our passions just like our members have this week. Because as brave and bold as you are, we will be even stronger together. 

Over the course of the next 12 months, we are going to add new features to our platform and change how we connect with you with this very aim in mind. Our new newsletter and podcast is just the start of that. 

We want to make sure we are doing even more to celebrate your success, giving you a place to be seen and heard, making sure you feel like you are part of the community of small businesses that we strive every day to create. And when required, being your voice for change. 

We are – together – Enterprise Nation. And as difficult as things might seem right now, we believe there is nothing we cannot overcome when we act as one. 

So tell us what you need. Share what you know. Join the podcast. Hit reply to the newsletter. Let’s build this together.