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3 June 2022
Courier Weekly provides inspiration and tools to help you work better and live smarter.
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Brought to you this week by Microsoft.
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Your weekly round-up of briefings, trends and news.
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Making it work
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It's a tough time to own a company. While spending boomed after a tough 18 months of pandemic restrictions and lockdowns, the bigger indicators are flashing red: inflation is hitting double digits, the stock market is dipping, buzzy tech companies are starting layoffs and interest rates are set to rise. A ton of businesses are feeling the pain, whether through rising supplier costs or fewer customers as the cost of living rapidly increases.
While that doesn't necessarily mean you should close up shop, it does mean that it's high time for some changes. Business owners are viewing the downturn as an opportunity to focus on the fundamentals and find ways to run operations more efficiently and get creative with offerings.
Here's how businesses are building resilience with the uncertainty ahead.
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Cut costs, for you and your customer
Everyone's costs are going up, from suppliers to delivery drivers. One option for your business is to pass these higher costs on to your customers, but the risk (especially for non-essential products) is that you'll be cut out of increasingly tight budgets. That's what concerned Simon Cook, co-founder of stationary bike company Apex Rides, especially as the demand for Peloton, his brand's competitor, dropped. The company responded by streamlining its supply chain and working directly with its manufacturers to find places where it could make production more efficient – recently, it dropped the price of its bike from £990 to £599. ‘We wanted to put ourselves in a position where potential customers would be less likely to rule us out,’ says Simon.
It's also possible to discount if you sell a service. Wellness retreat marketplace Basubu offers last-minute sales for any remaining spots on retreats.
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Accept that you'll need to do more with less
With investors – whether venture capitalists or friends and family – tightening their purse strings and interest rates set to rise, making bank borrowing more expensive, the external funding environment is likely to be difficult. For companies that have just raised funding, that means justifying spending with real metrics. Charlotte Guzzo, chief operating officer of early-stage health brand Sano Genetics, which has just raised funding, says that while the business' growth goals haven't changed, it does have strict revenue targets to hit before it brings on new employees, even if it would have preferred more resources sooner.
‘It generally takes 12 to 18 months to get more certainty on macroeconomics conditions, but the uncertain geopolitical environment is a new factor,’ says Laurent Laffy, founder of SeedLegals, which works with early-stage businesses that are raising funding. ‘Entrepreneurs need to adapt their plans accordingly. Those plans need to combine high growth and reasonable burn rates, [and] dual attention to top line [gross sales] and to bottom line [net income].’
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Diversify your revenue streams
With customers becoming more discerning with their spending and building an investment cushion harder than ever, the next step is to rethink what you already provide. Dana Publicover, who runs a sales communications agency, is focused on selling short-term contracts (as long-term contracts are often the first to be cut) and offering lower-priced tools for customers who need the help but can't make a big investment.
Laura Richards was looking at raising pre-seed funding for her marketing analytics platform Maeva earlier this year but, instead, she's pivoted that energy to making more products. ‘I'm developing a number of revenue-generating work streams that can be offered immediately, helping to bring in cash flow and start to build a community around the platform pre-launch,’ she says.
If you've already diversified your revenue, consider your customer base. Aniyah Freeman, founder of streetwear brand TheZenStudioNYC, has seen how the cost of living in the US has chipped away at her customers' purchasing power. Her next step is to target emerging markets. ‘This way, I can still grow with the situation going on here,’ she says.
For more stories on getting through tough times, check out these 25 lessons from small business owners.
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Our top five stories online
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Inspiration for the home, plus things to eat, drink and wear.
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You got the sauce
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Four brands that'll spice up your cooking.
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Vegan sauce brand NUJU makes sauces from just fruits, vegetables and herbs, with no preservatives or added sugar. Its cauliflower sauce can be used in pasta and curries, or as a dip. |
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Secret Aardvark, a condiment brand that describes itself as ‘seriously unserious’, has developed a Caribbean-Tex-Mex hot sauce with habanero peppers and roasted tomatoes. |
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Cult chilli oil company Fly By Jing offers Zhong Sauce, a mixture of aromatic fuzhi soy sauce, slow-brewed with brown sugar, mushrooms, garlic and a blend of spices. |
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For something that'll brighten your pantry and palate, try Speaking in Tongues from Sbez Hot Sauce – it's a green hot sauce made with serrano and bird's eye chillies, charred green onions and meyer lemon. |
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Is there a brand you love that you want to share?
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BRAND PARTNER: Microsoft
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Small Business Connect and Learn event
Learn digital skills to help grow your business – whether you're running a startup or an established business. Join us on 16 June at the Microsoft Experience Centre in London to hear from entrepreneur Dominic McGregor and other leaders for insights and actionable advice to help your business thrive.
Register for the London event
In the US? Join us online on 22 June
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Tips and tools to become better at life and work.
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Three founders on… digital burnout
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Many business owners have experienced an overwhelming build-up of stress caused by being attached to their screens for way too long. In the UK alone, 50% of adults look at their screens for 11 hours or more each day. But being in front of a screen is inevitably how you get business done. Here, three founders share their experiences with digital burnout – plus tips on avoiding (electronically) burning the candle at both ends.
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Sophie Belle, founder of online breathwork studio Mind You Club
‘The exhaustion I felt when sitting on yet another Zoom call was triggering. The never-ending notifications and tension headaches from staring at a computer meant that I felt on edge and anxious constantly. I had to start sleeping with my phone in another room and stop screen time between 9pm and 6am. I started to do breathwork throughout the day, which helped me to reset, ground, become a lot more present and come back focused, rather than feeling overwhelmed.’
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Flo van der Spek, founder of PR agency FLO PR
‘The issue was that, during lockdown, I was regularly working 9am to 11pm from my laptop because I had nothing else to do. This was when my business took off, because I was working all the time, but I'd have no energy to do anything but work – everything else felt like effort. Now, I'm really strict with my work hours. Having an office means I can leave my laptop behind, plus I finally got a work phone. Downloading F.lux [an app that makes your screen color warmer] on my laptop also helps with blue light and makes my eyes feel less strained. Plus, I'm trying to take more meetings face to face. Everything is so much quicker online, but it also takes out the human connection and relationship building you get from meeting in person.’
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Lucy Jeffrey, founder of bamboo-sock brand Bare Kind
‘I've recently gone through a bout of digital burnout that really knocked me for six. I struggled to even look at emails without feeling massively overwhelmed. Meetings would emotionally drain me – the only thing I could do was completely switch off and step away from the business to recover. Now, I try to reduce my email inbox to zero every day, snoozing emails for a couple of days if I can't deal with the issue immediately [and] archiving the rest. I also try to look at emails only once or twice a day.’
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Want more tips and tools on working effectively and living smarter?
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Other great stuff we loved this week.
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