Overcoming Disappointment

Speciality Bites with

Paul Hargreaves

Chief executive of Cotswold Fayre

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Over the last few days I have talked to at least ten people who, like me, applied for around £1000 of Olympic tickets (in the hope of getting 50%) and have received absolutely nothing

This despite hedging their bets to some extent and choosing some less popular events as well as those that would be oversubscribed. The 2012 Olympics is a once in a lifetime opportunity for all of us, and it is very disappointing not to be able to participate.

I suspect a much higher percentage of tickets has gone to the corporate sponsors than the Olympic committee is letting on – no doubt the press will be on this at some point between now and the Games.

This got me thinking about disappointment in life generally, but also in business. How many of us are letting past disappointments affect us in the present, and continue to affect us in the future? Well, probably all of us to some extent. But those that go on to succeed and be fulfilled and happy are those who can put disappointment behind them, learn lessons and move on.

It is said that most successful business people have at least one catastrophic failure behind them, and possibly they wouldn’t be as successful without this. Overcoming disappointment and failure would seem to be a key to future success. So, rather than getting down on ourselves, let’s pick ourselves up, dust ourselves down and move on!

If you have never experienced failure you may be wondering what on earth I’m on about – you are probably one of the lucky few, or maybe, just maybe, you haven’t stretched yourself enough? I will leave you to answer that yourself.

Bringing things back to the speciality food world, it has been a slightly tougher last three weeks due to the poorer weather, but generally the early summer sun seems to have been a boost to most of us. There is certainly no need to think about failure in many businesses within our market and it is most definitely still one of the best sectors to be in at present, and growing faster than most others.

Any business failing in this climate, whether retailer or producer, is far more likely to be due to the businesses being badly run, rather than the prevailing market conditions.

However, I would say that there are many businesses within this sector that really need to grow and expand. I am astonished at the low turnover of some fairly well-known brands within the sector – well under £500k a year.

It is my view that until companies break through the £500k barrier they are fairly unsustainable and more likely to be ‘hobby businesses’ rather than those that are going to develop, innovate and be an influence in the coming years.

Here’s to growth!