Do I think there will be a recession? If I didn’t I’d be arguing in the face of all the newspapers and financial experts who in one way or another are predicting bad things.
And given I blanched when I filled up my car as it touched the £100 mark I am not oblivious or excused from the problems. Because unless you are a multi multi millionaire (and actually they will hurt as well – I just don’t have the same level of sympathy) no one is safe from what’s going on.
That said I am not frightened. Nor have I suddenly decided that I can ONLY buy from Poundland or B&M - shops I have loved way before the latest problems.
Like many I will not give up all my little luxuries, I am still going on holiday and I’ve been putting on an extra jumper to keep warm for years because he who must be obeyed says so as we have another battle with the thermostat!
In short I may invest in some thermals if it gets crazy but I am not walking around thinking the world is nigh or that I am doomed.
And nor should florists.
Because whilst I know it is quiet and some of our readers are desperately scared, I can’t help thinking that a lot of it is more down to the fact we've all been running on empty for so bally long (the pandemic took it out of everyone) and what is happening now seems like the last straw.
And I get it ... I’ve battled too. In my working life I’ve been at the point when I really wondered why I was bothering, worried about paying the staff/rent/bills, sweated over whether I could fend off the VATman AGAIN and had my credit card eaten by the hole in the wall!
It was dreadful. But whilst I did get through it ... albeit with a lot less money than I started with ... I have never regretted battling on.
What I do deeply regret is that I didn’t know then what I do know now and I didn't listen to advice ... I was convinced I knew best.
I didn't. Because if I had been smarter, braver and more forceful I could have avoided a lot of the problems.
Like trying to be nice to everyone, thinking I owed it to my staff to use my savings to pay wages, taking on loans I couldn't afford, doing work for less just to generate cash.
Truth is that if I had spent more time cutting costs, held my ground on pricing, sold harder rather than letting fear get the better of me, not let pride get in the way of common sense and basically kicked butt a lot more forcefully, my losses would have been less, my sanity not so challenged and my family less trackled by my mood swings.
So please read my article Getting your ducks in a row. Because it isn’t written just to fill space, it’s based on real life experience ... mine and all the other florists I have had the privilege of working with over the last three recessions who are also still around to tell the tale.
Oh yes and invest in some rubber ducks. I've always found there’s something very pleasing about them bobbling about a bath (especially if you have a water pistol!) that can make you smile however cruddy the day has been!
