Started a new business in the last 12 months?
Yay you! You’ve just taken a huge step towards living your dream and finding a different, more rewarding way to work.
Let me guess the main reasons why you did this…
- To earn more money
- To be your own boss
So here’s some food for thought…
When you started out, did you ever think how many people would be joining you on that journey last year?
Despite – or perhaps because of – the pandemic, 2020 saw an unprecedented number of entrepreneurs taking the opportunity to launch new businesses. In fact, if you’re based in the UK, yours was one of over 85,000 brand new businesses to get off the ground; and if you live in the US, you had over 835,000 people joining you on the entrepreneurial journey! Yep, that’s right – well over three quarters of a MILLION new starts in the US in 2020.
That’s a lot of people taking the same road you have chosen.
Some of them may become your clients. Some may become your suppliers. And some – undoubtedly – will become your competitors…
Now there’s no disputing that more than a few of these new businesses will have been launched by seasoned entrepreneurs who spotted a gap in the market caused by the pandemic, but a huge chunk of these will have been created by people who took the opportunity afforded by furlough to see if they could turn their side-gig or passion project into a real business. There will be businesses created by people who were made redundant. And there will be more still created by people who realised – in the stillness of lockdown – that they no longer wanted to be hostages to the decisions and whims of their employers.
Whatever the reason, it’s been the busiest year ever for business registrations – and could be the very thing that rescues our economies from a post-pandemic recession.
Why is this a big deal?
In the UK, around 48% of all employees work in a small business (0-50 employees), and they contribute around £1.6 trillion to the UK economy each year. And 96% of the UK’s businesses are very small – microbusinesses with under 10 employees.
Yet these microbusinesses – people just like you – generate 21% of the UK’s turnover.
If you’re living in the US, small businesses employ 48% of the workforce and contribute 44% to the US GDP – with 18% of US workers working within a microbusiness.
Yet, once upon a time, virtually every big business on the planet started the same way you have – with a dream and an outline plan.
I’ve worked with many leaders who started their businesses on the kitchen table (and in one case, literally, the linen closet) who have grown their organisations to £MM national and international operations, employing hundreds of people.
If you get it right, the world can be your oyster…
But before you took the plunge, did you know these hard truths?
For the majority of new business owners, the survival odds are not in their favour.
It’s a very sad, but true, fact that of all the millions of new businesses created around the world last year…
- Only 80% of these will still be around at the end of 2021
- And between 50% and 60% won’t see out 2023
Yet the impacts of failure are huge
- All that time, effort, and passion down the drain
- Financial worries
- Sleepless nights
- Loss of self-esteem and self-respect
- Damaged relationships
And sadly, some people won’t survive this, because certain countries and cultures (and I include the UK in this) are very good at stigmatising and punishing failure…
So why do businesses fail?
Businesses can fail for so many reasons, but over my 30+ years of working with business founders, leaders, and the organisations that support them, I can say that 10 key reasons why new businesses don’t make it to the magic 3 year survival mark are:
- No demand for the product or service
- Not enough funds to keep going until sales start coming through
- Poor timing
- Being in the wrong location
- Not sufficient market or competitor research
- Founders who think they know it all (or enough) – also known as Founders Syndrome
- Founders who lack confidence in themselves and their ability – often due to Imposters Syndrome
- Founders who are too proud to ask for help
- And too damn stubborn to pivot when it turns out the world does not want or need their better mousetrap
But the Number 1, gold-plated reason why businesses fail is…
Too many founders don’t know enough about the ins and outs of running a business when they take that first step!
30+ years of experience…
They start on a wing and a prayer, and a belief that the world is crying out for their new product or service – that they really do have a better mousetrap.
But to quote Roger Babson (not Benjamin Franklin): Those who fail to plan are planning to fail
And this is made worse by one really sad (and scandalous) fact: too many new start “business advisors” (and not a few business coaches) have never run – let alone grown – a business!
And yet there’s so much more to launching and growing a successful business than writing a business plan based on an off-the-shelf, one-size-fits-all, cookie cutter template.
And (trust me) having or taking an MBA is not the best route to successful entrepreneurship…
But hey, what do I know?
I’m Carri Nicholson and my clients call me The Leader Whisperer…
I’ve had 20 years’ as a business founder and leader. Learning the ropes the hard way.
I’ve had my share of failures as well as successes, and have 7 start-ups and counting under my belt.
I’ve worked with public, private and third sector organisations of all shapes and sizes and in virtually every industry. I’ve managed a couple of globally prestigious MBA programmes (hence the statement above), and even led the fight to save the red squirrel from extinction in England.
Service leadership has been part of my DNA from the moment I stepped through the doors at the Royal Military Academy, Sandhurst (where I was one of the more unconventional cadets!) in 1991, and I’ve had these skills honed by a stint with the world’s largest and oldest business leadership development organisation.
And before I became an entrepreneur and a leader in my own right, I had an awesome 12 years creating, implementing, monitoring and evaluating successful programmes across the UK and Europe that were designed to give new and small businesses the best chance of success. This included setting up and launching the first ever support centres for new and small businesses in Poland after the fall of communism.
In short – I know what works, and what doesn’t.
And most importantly, I know what good, bad, indifferent, and freaking awesome look like!
I’ve worked with over 1000 business leaders over the last 32 years – not just small businesses, but global organisations with thousands of employees – to find out what makes them and their business tick, and to help them improve what they do.
For the last 5 years, I’ve been using this experience to support business founders and leaders as they both grow their businesses and gain clarity and focus in their lives. I’ve helped them double and even triple their turnover, and increase their profits at the same time – because I know that margin is even more important than sales. (Free growth tip #1)
And that there’s no point in having gang-buster sales figures if your margins are buttons – or even worse, if you’re giving money away and you don’t even realise it!
I’ve also been lucky enough to work with, and learn from, some of the best global business experts and thought leaders out there on everything from finding your why to killer negotiation skills.
Why am I sharing this with you?
It’s taken me over 30 years to realise that I am freaking AWESOME at what I do (because I too suffer from Imposters Syndrome)
And now my mission now is to put a big hit in the business failure rates. To ensure as many wonderful, innovative, creative entrepreneurs like you not just survive but thrive.
Because with the right mentoring support, a tried-and-tested tool kit, a great route map and – most importantly, a growth mindset – you and your business will not only survive to 2025, but also be well on the path to achieving the success you’re currently dreaming of.
But don’t just take it from me…
“I really cannot recommend Carri highly enough, she has taken me and my business to a whole new dimension. She is practical, straight forward, challenging and simply quite lovely. Carri is an outstanding personal coach, leadership coach and business coach. She brings a unique combination of real world experience and professional qualifications and training, together with a focused approach and incredible emotional acumen.”
Kate Cooper-Fay, go-to Customer Experience guru for some of the world’s biggest brands, and founder of CXY Ltd
So do you want to beat the odds?
What’s it worth to you, to be able to look back in 5 years’ time and think “Look what I’ve achieved! I’ve built an awesome business – I’ve created jobs, I’ve got money in the bank, I’ve got a life I love, and I’ve bucked the survival odds!”
You can spend the next 5 years ploughing your own furrow, repeating others’ mistakes and still wondering why the dream of running your own business has become a bit of a nightmare. Why you are still working silly hours, feeling lonely, stressed, and running your business on a financial knife edge.
Or do you understand that if you find out what you don’t know about running a business at this very point in time – the stuff they don’t teach you in new start programmes and business schools – you can put a plan in place to gain the missing knowledge and skills. And that will make your life as an entrepreneur soooo much easier.
There are things you can do right now to shortcut the time, effort, and heartache involved in starting and growing your business – as well as giving it a massively increased chance of survival.
Like what?
You can take the first step now, by applying to join my exclusive short-course programme the New Business Rocket Launcher.
Over the course of 3 impactful 1-2-1 Zoom sessions – 1 each week for 3 weeks – we will explore your motivations, aspirations, strengths, and weaknesses. We’ll identify what you already know – and more importantly what you don’t.
At the end of these sessions, you will have a clearer understanding of the journey you will be taking, the barriers you might face along the way, and a big-picture route-map to growth.
And I can absolutely guarantee that there will be as some “a-ha” moments of blinding inspiration for you along the way.
I’m so passionate about helping you achieve your dreams that I’m offering you a real steal on this truly exclusive and absolutely unique programme, which has been 30 years in the making.
I only take four new clients a month onto this programme.
And I only work with founders who really have a passion for their business, a burning desire to see it grow and succeed, a thirst for learning, and an understanding that they need to invest in themselves as well as their businesses.
Is this you?
If it is – and you’ve read so far, so I’m guessing this resonates with you – you owe it to yourself to take your first steps to making sure you have a business that will not just survive to 2025, but one that is also well on the way to becoming a profitable £MM or $MM organisation.
Now – clearly – the best things in life are not always free. Equally, I know from decades of experience that without some financial skin in the game, people tend to equate cost with value. Your second business growth tip for free is that low/no cost = little perceived client value – and this is especially the case when it comes to service-based businesses.
So there is a cost – because my time is worth something to both of us.
Your investment in your future and in The New Business Rocket Launcher programme is only £1500 ($2100) as a one-off, upfront payment.
If the upfront fee is too big a dent in your current monthly cashflow, you can choose to spread the cost over 3 EasyPay monthly instalments of £540 ($756).
Seriously, this programme costs less than you will pay your accountant this year – but I know (and my existing clients could tell you) that the value you will get from our sessions in terms of what you will learn about yourself and your plans is actually priceless. And that’s without your big-picture growth route map, which is included in the programme.
So what’s it worth to you to be sure you’re on the right path to growth? Ask Abi Adamson…
“Where do I start with this amazing woman?! As a mentor, Carri has not only helped me with my confidence but also help me become more literate in understanding what it means to be a business owner. Her business knowledge is second to no one and she is very gracious in her feedback which is helping me grow every day.”
Abi Adamson, Diversity Advocate and founder of the Diversity Partnership
I can’t keep this offer open for ever. This month’s cohort applications will close in 5 days’ time.
Don’t miss out – submit your application form NOW!
