#7 Trials and Tribulations

One of the joys of being self employed is the ability to be really flexible when wanting to take time off. The flip side to that of course is that enforced periods off work mean I’m not getting paid.* This week I had surgery on my hand to straighten a wonky finger and now I’m facing 2 weeks of not being able to hold a knife correctly and safely - far from ideal. It means however that I’ve got time to catch up with some admin (well overdue), think rather than do (very important), and rest a bit (which is probably what I should be doing…)

* I am being paid obviously because I did an awful lot of prep in the previous two weeks to make sure we had fully stocked freezers – but we certainly can’t do any catering work.

One of the things I intend to do with this blog is be honest about the highs and lows of growing a business. There’s lots of positive things going on and I could talk about those endlessly, but every now and again you get hit by a low which really hurts. A couple of weeks ago one of the sports clubs we work with asked us to run a food stall on Friday evening to feed their kids teams and associated parents, as well as run a bar snacks service in the clubhouse the next day, and feed the senior teams after their matches that evening. Long story short we lost several hundred pounds over the weekend as people simply didn’t show up in the numbers expected. We’d spent hours prepping, I had a couple of staff to help on the Friday, the sun was shining and we were ready. By the end of the weekend we’d covered our food costs, I’d paid the staff but didn’t have anything left to pay myself for 20 hours work. You win some and you lose some of course, and you have to take it on the chin, learn from it and go again, but it’s still painful.

A few weeks ago I was asked to appear on The Marple Journal Podcast with the fabulous Sophie Cook. We talked about work and life, challenges in both, and had a thoroughly good natter. It’ll be live on all the usual streaming services soon – just search The Marple Journal. I also met Morgan, the owner of the studio Sophie uses. Now there’s an interesting man. He’s a Podcast Producer and Content Strategist and I’ll be meeting with him shortly because I suspect he’s one of those people who will be incredibly useful to know. We might not do anything immediately, but do you remember how I mused previously about doing this blog as a podcast or YouTube series….? Who knows what might happen, but let’s see what the professional thinks and go from there.

And briefly, what else is going on in this growth journey of ours? I met with one of the regions largest amateur sports clubs a couple of weeks ago to see how we can help with their catering and I hope to hear from them today. That contract could be really important, not just financially but in terms of adding weight and validity to our work in the sector. In fact Sales Guru Smithy and I are working on some sector specific branding and literature because the more we scratch the surface the more opportunities we think there might be.

So there you are – some of the trials and tribulations of running and growing a tiny business. Sorry it’s been a while since the last instalment – as almost all my teachers said, I really must try harder.

Dan

CheshireFood.co.uk

MarpleCatering.co.uk