I lost 78% of my business. Here's how I bounced back.

I was standing in our office when it happened…

Phone calls, texts and emails poured in by the minute.

Each time, my team who were handling them just gave me that look you give someone when it’s more bad news. 

One after another our clients were calling to cancel their future orders because of forced covid lockdowns. 

My instant thought was - Fuuuuck!

I checked my account balance (even though I knew the answer).

Barely enough for one payroll next week. 

Shit… 

But still, weirdly I didn't panic.

It felt like I’d been here before. 

Because a few years ago I was on the brink of bankruptcy and was forced to start again with nothing.

So in the hours following the news of Covid lockdowns, I forced myself to disconnect from the fear that was amplified in the media and search for an opportunity in the rough.

I remember thinking, ‘This is entrepreneurship - when the entire world is running in fear, we find a way to do the opposite’.

Think Jarrod…

Think. Think!

Then it came to me.

The same number of customers still existed in the world - They didn’t just disappear. 

They simply couldn’t buy our products through cafes any longer. 

So if we’re going to reach them, we have to meet them in their homes instead.

Well, that’s exactly what we did.

We lost 78% of our total revenue in those early days of covid which devastated our old business model.

But we built an e-commerce site in 2 days and launched a range of bakery products that people could proof and bake in their own home ovens. 

It was an incredible experience for customers and the perfect time to launch a product like it.

We became the fastest-growing food business that Shopify had ever recorded.

We quickly employed an extra 50 recently laid-off hospitality employees to become delivery drivers and started delivering bread and pastries directly to people's homes.

Some days we did over 1000 deliveries. 

It was absolute freaken madness!

But in the space of 2 weeks, we’d built more revenue than we’d had prior to Covid which saved our arse and meant we survived.

But that wasn’t the best bit. 

The hidden gem was that our behaviours during that time have shaped the type of organisation we are today.

And the reason I'm sharing it today isn’t to get a late applause from you.

It’s because last Tuesday I was invited to share my business experiences as a panel member in front of 50 other entrepreneurs.

The topic was about developing resilience in business.

I knew I was asked to be there because of that Covid story.

But in reality, resilience isn’t a one-off event. 

It’s defined as the capacity of a business (or individual) to absorb stress, recover critical functions and thrive under those new circumstances.

My honest opinion? That’s every day in the lives of us entrepreneurs.

But you don’t often look at it as a pillar of your success and therefore strategise ways to develop it in your team.

So today, I wanted to put it on your radar.

To encourage you to see it in yourself, find it in your team and explore ways to build it within your business so you create an adaptive and successful organisation in the future. 

Let’s dive into a few ways you can do that.

Redundancy

I’m terrified of not being able to deliver on promises.

So I make sure we’ve got a backup of all critical equipment and knowledge. 

Sometimes this is just second-hand equipment in storage or knowing someone who can help.

Other times it's things like running dual refrigeration systems that alternate their function to increase the longevity of equipment and protect us if one fails.

But it also applies to key people/knowledge. When they leave your business there’s often a huge hole.

It’s your job to make sure that doesn’t happen by building in cross-training and upskilling as a redundancy measure. 

Diversity

I like to split income between wholesale and retail to protect against loss in one income stream.

But you can also do that with clients in one stream. For example, our biggest wholesale client is only 2% of our revenue.

This means if we lose them, it would totally suck, but wouldn’t be catastrophic.

Modularity

After Covid we split our teams across two sites. 

It wasn’t strategic at the time, we simply took whatever space we could to keep the business growing. 

But looking back, it’s the trademark of resilience because in the event that one facility goes down, we’ve still got the other to keep things going.

Adaptability

It’s easy to say, just adapt...

Figure it out!

Find opportunities in uncertain times. 

But the reality is, you need to practice it beforehand so you’re ready.

So make trial and error part of your week-to-week activities. 

Experiment and innovate. Stuff some shit up and openly have a laugh about it! 

This process will set you up for building resilient teams in the future. 

Curiosity

When you train yourself to be curious, you naturally ask how things could go wrong.

You seek feedback, explore data, learn from case studies, and practice ‘what-if’ scenario planning.

All things that help position you for success in the future.

But probably the biggest challenge you’ll face as an entrepreneur is not only building resilience in yourself but inspiring it in your team and family.

See, at the time I was watching my business disappear at the start of covid, most people around me were exploding with fear. Crippled by potential loss and frozen by indecision. 

It’s your job to replace that fear with positive energy and opportunity. 

To align their thoughts with navigating through the wreckage instead of staring at the horrible accident.

Sure, easier said than done. 

But doable if you’re prepared.

That’s it for today. 

I hope it helps.