How My Last Business Wasn’t a Failure, but Instead a Really Expensive Life Lesson
I want to think my perspective on this subject is unique. In fact, it’s the basis for my current business. I believe that not unlike many business owners, funding my retirement was largely predicated around the success of my former business and how I would transition that business into my golden nest egg. Well, the fact that it was “former business” should give you an indication of how that plan worked out.
My former business partners and I had a very successful office furniture company. In fact, we had three separate companies that were all very profitable from the mid-1990s until 2005. We grew from around $5 million in sales to more than $30 million. We went from 15 employees to almost 70 employees. We went from a 7,000 square foot facility to more than 30,000 square feet. We went from one truck on the road to a fleet of more than ten.
I don’t tell you this to beat my own chest. In fact, it’s just the opposite. The world looked pretty good from where I sat, and there didn’t seem to be a better investment than to reinvest back into our own company. We had a lot of retained earnings, but we also needed the capital to fund our aggressive growth plans.
What we didn’t necessarily forecast was switching major suppliers and the difficulty in transitioning from one to the other. The banking crisis of 2008 was responsible for a currency swing of more than 30 percentage points almost overnight. It also created huge layoffs, and increased trepidation in the employment practises of almost every business. We went from full capacity to marginal capacity within a few short months.
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#lifelessons #failure
