FAILURE IS GOOD!?? REALLY!
I see that Andrew, Duke of York has recently helped launch a scheme for children to learn digital skills and set up on line businesses. He says that children should be “taught to fail” and his experience at school taught him that “failure was not something to be afraid of or something to feel guilty about, because so much of life is about understanding failure and the lessons to be learnt from failure.”
I’m usually a great supporter of the Royal Family, but I beg to disagree in this case.
Andrew says his daughters have inherited an entrepreneurial streak from his former wife, the Duchess of York. Isn’t that the same Duchess that was on the brink of bankruptcy a few years ago after a series of business failures and reported to have debts of around £2 million? Not many people have a former husband that can come up with a £2 million bail out.
For ordinary people business failure can be devastating. Losing one’s income is bad enough, let alone the family home. And, it takes a long time to rebuild credit scores and start again.
So often a business failure comes at the wrong time of life – there’s no time to start again in one’s 50’s or 60’s and it must be particularly hard to readjust to a standard of living that is significantly lower than what you’ve been used to. Going into business should have a “Government health warning”!
I spend a lot of time telling business people to plan to succeed – not fail, or don’t bother to start a business at all. This means that they have a carefully mapped out business plan that takes into account of the things that can go wrong. “Work closely with professionals” I say. Be aware of all the liabilities within the business – watch out for personal guarantees and the small print. Don’t put the family home at risk if you’re not prepared to sell it to pay off bank liabilities. Don’t listen to Andrew!
But, if you have any clients or contacts that have financial warning signs (e.g. overdraft at maximum, bounces cheques) with their business please ask them to get in touch with me or Richard for a free, confidential chat – we will be able to help! In many cases a formal insolvency can be avoided – the sooner we get involved, the sooner we can help put a survival plan together.
Call Tim Corfield or Richard on 01922 722205 – we’d be pleased to help.
