I thought I’d start this blog by giving you some context for the Ed giving me the title of ‘Wise Owl’. I’ve been working for over four decades and three of those have been running my own businesses. After two failed ventures in the 80s and 90s, my third start-up gave me the sweet smell of success and is all the stronger for the lessons I’ve learnt in tough times.
John Sollars, founder of Stinkyink.com
My first company was a small CB (that’s citizen band) radio shop in Kidderminster which I closed down, the second was manufacturing electronics which went bust in the last big recession in 1992. This cost me a lot of money and took 10 years to recover from, both emotionally and financially, but the plus side was these failures were good learning processes.
I turned to the web in the early Noughties and 10 years on am running a flourishing ecommerce superstore, Stinkyink.com, selling printer ink cartridges for every make and model of printer on the market.
Back at the start in 2002, I had absolutely no knowledge of how an internet business worked, just a burning desire to be in on the cutting edge. Calling on the right experts, I got to grips with ecommerce and back-office technology and have built a business turning over £3 million-plus with 14 staff.
Fraud almost stops play
In the early months of trading I almost came to grief; I was targeted by a gang of online fraudsters. Over a period of weeks I took £32,000 in fraudulent orders without realising. The scam ring was based not in Nigeria or Russia, but all over the UK, and the police could do nothing to catch them or get my stock back.
I remember sitting with my dog in the office at home when the full enormity of what had happened sunk in. I had to make a decision whether to bother going on, or to get out and go back to a ‘proper’ job. But I picked myself up, resolved not to trust anything or anyone in future and got on with it.
The fraud issue really coloured the first four years of the business as it made it hard to get credit with suppliers as our balance sheet was so weak. It taught me the importance of having cash in the bank and watching my P&L like a hawk.
To fight back I used email marketing and search optimisation to grow the database and website traffic and looked after my customers really well, so within two years the company was in profit. I’m looking forward to celebrating our 10th anniversary on 22 April – if you’re in Shropshire then, please join the party!
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