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My 14 years’ experience of growing a business from £0-£100m as well as the life that goes with it.

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Simon Says

Winformation This Week...

In our first year in business, we made a mistake that nearly finished us. Call it too much trust, call it new founder naivety. Whatever it was, it cost us more than just money to escape its clutches! Looking at it now, it’s probably a common mistake (maybe not to that scale), so in today’s One Idea to Win in Business I tell you what exactly happened and the very simple one thing you can do to avoid making the same mistake!  

I’m not sure whether it's my newly found “middle age” or the fact I’ve hit 15 years in business, but I really think recovery now is so important...and no before you start I’m not talking filming yourself in an ice bath and posting it on TikTok. I mean proper mindful recovery. The type your body, family and bank balance will thank you for. The Danish have a word for it and a practice for it. And no one can argue that the Danes aren't amongst the most successful and happiest of us human beings on the planet. 

In today’s One Idea to Win in Life, we look at the simple, practical steps our Scandinavian cousins use to stay happy, rested, and successful.  

One Idea to Win in Business

Something to Protect Your Processes

The Founder Mistake That Cost Us £200k and What to Do Instead

We almost didn't make it to toast our first anniversary in business. Year one was littered with the usual small mistakes we all make. But there was one big issue that almost finished us. It wasn't a big error; it was drip fed, slowly getting worse week on week. And it was an area we thought someone else was handling.  

What’s worse is that we ignored every warning sign too.  

Not far into our first year, we realised we didn't have the time or the expertise to “credit control” our invoices. Making sure our invoices were being paid on time and being paid correctly. We outsourced this to a company that was affiliated with a major UK Bank. They are a huge household name...they wouldn't let us down.   

Sorted.  

Or so, we thought.  

We concentrated on what we did best, selling. Every sale we made, we punched the air thinking it was extra revenue to build our company with. Little did we know that every sale was making it worse. 

You see our clients were paying us, but the money coming into our account wasn't being allocated to any particular invoice.  

So, in the eyes of the bank...the invoices were unpaid, which was costing us bank charges, even though we had the money sat in the account.  

Then the calls started. First from our clients that had started receiving letters from our bank about non-payment, even when they knew they had. Not a good look.  

Then from our bank itself. “When are you going to start allocating these invoices? It's getting out of hand,” our Account Manager said.  

“What do you mean” we said... “that’s your job. We outsource credit control to you”.  

“Most of your clients haven't paid in the way we like them to pay, so we haven't got time to go through each one line by line” came the reply.  

So, we had a pile of cash, and thousands of invoices, and no way of knowing which ones were which. Who paid? Who hasn't paid? What made it worse was that the inward bank entries didn't match a single invoice as most clients had paid multiple ones at once.  

We had assumed it was handled. It wasn't.  

We were screwed.  

The final bill to sort it out was way more than money, it was 3 months' work which cost us the momentum we had built.  

We were petrified to make any more sales until we had both sorted the mess and redesigned the process to make sure it wouldn't happen again.  

...and so here is the lesson.  

Here’s what to do instead 

Your outsourced partners need to be more tightly managed than your own actual employees, not the other way round. Once we understand this, you can reap all of the benefits of outsourcing parts of your operation as well as vastly reducing the risks.  

But how? 

Be a good client, treat them like a team member and probably the neediest at first.  

Meet them and check everything weekly. Input some KPIs. Invite them to your Christmas party along with your team, whatever it takes. Build relationships like you would with people you work alongside every day. You need them onside, but please remember you manage them like you manage everything else.  

You need their discretionary effort. You need them to prioritise your work over their other clients. You need them to go the extra mile too. 

Outsourcing buys you acceleration, not abdication. I learned that the very hard, please don't make the same mistake.  

One Idea to Win in Life

Something to Recharge Your Energy

The Danish Recovery Ritual You Should Copy

High performers are brilliant at one thing. Driving forward. But this can spill into “life” too.  

The next habit to track, the next 15 seconds to shave off your 5k. The next meal to log in to your calorie app. The issue is that most of us are terrible at switching off.  

The Danish have a concept called Hygge. It roughly translates to comfort, calm and connection, but not as a reward for a hard day's work...but as part of the system in the first place.  

Here’s one way to apply it. 

Create a weekly Hygge ritual. 

Same time each week. Same rule. A boardgame with the kids. Walk with your partner. A homecooked meal from scratch.  

No phones, no work chat, no bloody tracking calories. 

These are small moments without striving. Because the calmer you become outside work, the sharper you are when it’s time to go back to the stress palace!  

Win or Wonder?

Ask Me a Question…

No matter where you are on this mad journey. Starting out, scaling up, or somewhere in the messy middle feel free to ask me anything.

Business, life or mindset, I read and reply to every question. The best ones will get featured in future editions of Winformation, with your permission of course!

To ask, just hit “reply”, type your question and send. That’s it. No forms. No fuss.

Until next week! 

Let’s win, together!