My Back To Business Strategy

By Barrie Smale, director of I2L Ltd t/as inspired2learn which offers training & coaching services including CMI management & leadership qualifications and ILM coaching & mentoring qualifications.

Summarise how Covid-19 has affected your organisation? 

We have continued operating throughout but have experienced a significant downturn in enquiries and new business.

What has been your plan to continue?  

We have had to use our contingency cash reserve and, as an additional safety net, defer VAT and tax on account returns that were due recently until 2021. Our cash reserve is being used to operate as normally as possible during this period. 

We’ve put the money due to HMRC aside in case we need it, but would prefer not to use it and build debt. Our key strategy has been to continue servicing the needs of our existing customers and continue marketing to remain visible and relevant for the future. 

We anticipate the trading environment is going to be difficult and different for a few years to come. 

How have things changed over the last few months?  

I’ll look beyond the temporary severe downturn in new income for this one! The biggest change for us has been the stoppage of face to face work with our clients (training workshops and coaching). We enjoy this approach and our clients have chosen this because it’s their preference. 

For some, switching what we were doing with them to on-line has been possible; but not all want this, and we are continually reviewing this with clients for longer term planning. 

We have used a blend of on-line and face to face learning for many years now. We have been able to continue our on-line based distance learning packages pretty much as normal.

What has been the most challenging aspect of all of this? 

A sense of not being valued as a contributor to the economy and given parity with other types of employees being supported. As a limited company paying ourselves by PAYE/Dividend mix, and not owning or renting business premises, we have not been eligible for any government grants.  

As directors, we have not been able to furlough ourselves because we have needed to continue working hard every day to ensure the survival of our business. The Bounce Back Loan is an option as a last resort if we get desperate. However, we have no appetite for taking on debt, other than using the aforementioned VAT and tax deferrals if needed.

This has elicited a curve of emotions from anger, to sadness and now to a resignation that we will not be helped. 

In a strange way this has made me even more determined to remain positive, crack on and survive. It has also made me very suspicious about how limited companies will be treated going forward and has deepened my distrust and lack of respect for many politicians. 

What has been the most positive aspect? 

Learning that our business model has some resilience, although we never expected it to be tested quite has severely as this, and we are not at all complacent as we move into the predicted recession! 

Also, so far, being able to continue engaging with our suppliers and freelance associate team as normal, with only a couple of temporary cutbacks.

Has it made you consider how you feel about other businesses/suppliers/customers/clients for good or otherwise? 

Not really. We’ve been more focused on what we are doing rather than what others are doing. We’ve been treated very well by our suppliers, even though I know many of them have been under significant operational pressures themselves. 

How important is this phrase to you – ‘buy local, supply local’? 

Buy local is important to us and we do this as often as possible where there is no reason to look further afield. Why? Good question. A sense of community and wanting to contribute to a healthy local economy, I guess. Supply local is also important but to be a viable business we need to (and do) sell anywhere we can in a wider market, in the UK and overseas.

What are your top tips at this time?  

I’m hesitant about doing this because I can only offer tips without any idea about the varying contexts and particular challenges and complexities of other businesses.  

For what it’s worth, and deliberately ambiguous:

1. Be prepared to continue adapting – don’t necessarily rush back to the ‘old normal’

2. Accept uncertainty

3. Keep a sense of perspective

How can we buy from you? 

We have temporarily removed (legally) VAT from our prices and made our instalment payment plans more flexible. This is to make our services more affordable for people paying from their own pocket and for small businesses who are not VAT registered. 

Your parting thought? 

It’s been interesting and I’m only too aware how many others are facing a much more torrid time than us.

For more information visit https://www.inspired2learn.co.uk/