He Built A £1.2m Business. Then It All Fell Apart.

John Lamerton (0:00)

Coming up on today's episode of the Ambitious Lifestyle Business podcast.

Ben Lovejoy (0:03)

The only way out was an insolvency solicitor, and it was just, nope, that's it, mate. You're done. My baby, 1.2 million, bam, gone. I rang my mom, I could lose my house here. I've got another three weeks, and then it's all over, because they're going to change the locks on the door. The writing was on the wall a good year prior. Six out of ten small businesses failed within five years.

This is common, but nobody talks about it. That's why I'm here today.

Jason Brockman (0:28)

What happens when business growth turns into a crisis, and the company you built suddenly collapses? In this conversation, Ben Lovejoy, owner of a textile factory in the Midlands, shares the moment he hit rock bottom. The people and practical steps that helped him recover, and why focusing on becoming better, not simply bigger, can change everything.

Ben Lovejoy (0:52)

It was about quarter past 11 on Monday the 15th, July 8, 2024, which was when I received a phone call telling me no more payment plan.

You have a month to find a lot of money. I do mean a lot of money to settle this, or we're going to be kicking out, changing the locks. We had a lot of money. I was bound to write, although slightly aggrieved perhaps on how it went about. There was quite a lot of, oh, no, you're fine. Just keep doing what you can. You're fine. You're fine. You're fine. And then bam, but cards on table, it was my decisions that took me to that largely. The only way out was an insolvency solicitor, and it was just, no, that's it, mate. You're done.

That was tough because I started it from a pair of kitchen scissors in a shed. My baby, 1.2 million, bam, gone. There it is.

I'm fortunate to have a circle of friends which you need not. You need support from people, especially ones who have been there and done it. My father had been there and done it.

Some friends of mine had been there and done it. I leant on those people a lot. So I'm very grateful for the people around me. Next morning, we had meetings with how we're going to go about closing down the business I started. That's before we get to what do I do next? What do I do about paying some wages? What do I do about the people I've let down? I was gutted at that.

How do you navigate things? Especially if you've never done it before, I've never done it before. And it's scary because that's everything, right? You're scraping a living and paying your mortgage, and then that stopped. So there was a lot of tears and conversations around how we're going to get through this. And the lowest point for me, that valley of despair, as I'm in a ball, crying my eyes out on the kitchen floor when my little girl walked in, the fear on her face was kind of what snapped me out of it. I just got up, gave her a cuddle, says, don't worry, daddy's going to sort it.

All the problems, not that she knew what any problems were happening. And I didn't believe it at the time, that staking the ground of determination. In that moment, my little girl saved me.

I'll sort myself out later. How do I get through the next hour? Forget next week. What are we going to do this hour? And I got a little plan together. I went around seeing and phoning the customers we were close to. I got quite stow it just around about this point. It was Dale Carnegie. One of the things he said, which is, like, peace with the worst-case scenario and then work to make it better. I rang my mom and said, I could lose my house here. Can we move in with you until I get this figured out? So, that was the worst case. Okay, I'm going to a bankruptcy court. That's inevitable. So, how do we make it better? And when you go through times of trouble, as Paul McCartney is saying about, don't even take one day at a time. For me, just the next half hour, what's going to happen the next half hour to make this better? And that was it. Next half hour, next half hour. Who's the next phone call? So, that was the way we were going whilst in the back of your mind is, I've got another three weeks and then it's all over because they're going to change the locks on the door. All our machines are there, all our stuff's there, all our everything's there. So, I'm winning orders on the Wednesday, not knowing how I'm going to fulfill them because the insolvency practitioner says, you're not allowed to buy any material unless you pay HMRC first. How the hell do you do that? We need to keep these customers happy, A, because first and foremost, I'm gutted, I've let people down. Secondly, if we're going to salvage this thing, we can't have any customers leave. Thursday, we're having meetings with staff. This is what's going to happen. We all know what's the writings on the wall. This is what's going to happen. I can't tell you any more than that because I don't know any more than that. Yes, some of you are going to be out of a job. I don't know who at this point.