Business mistakes and regrets

Mistake #1: We grew too fast.
When I first started in business, I was six months pregnant with my first son. I’d been working in telesales for a company that booked appointments for accountants. I loved it and I was good at it. Some days I’d book ten appointments a day, and I was paid really well. Then the company closed down. So I sat in my living room and thought, “I’m going to start my own business.” I called it the National Accountancy Network.
I spent £300 buying business data. One database contained accountants across the UK with two partners or more. The other contained businesses in their local areas. Every morning I would wake up, pick up my lists, and spend eight hours a day cold calling. First, I’d call the accountants and ask if they’d like us to generate appointments for them every month. It was only me, but I always said “us.” I signed my first accountant.
Then I used the business database to book appointments for them. Once they were happy, I signed another accountant, then another, then another. We reached eight accountants, and I brought in someone I’d worked with before. She was an incredible appointment setter. We’d sit together in my flat making calls all day. She was even better than I was. Some days she’d book fifteen to twenty appointments. We grew to sixteen accountants. Then we decided we needed an office. We moved into one of our accountant clients’ offices. Then we recruited four members of staff. Looking back, that was my first big mistake. We got help much quicker than we needed it. The business kept growing. We reached thirty-five accountants. Then we thought we’d move somewhere closer to home, so I signed a lease on an office literally across the road from my flat. We were excited. We used my IKEA card to buy beautiful furniture. Leather chairs, Desks, A sofa, a kettle,A noticeboard. Even a bell that people could ring every time they booked an appointment. Our accountant told us not to spend the money. We ignored him. My then partner, Terrance, worked in IT and stayed up all night setting up refurbished VoIP phones so everything would be ready for the team the next morning. Eventually we grew to six members of staff and two shareholders. The first person who joined became a shareholder. Another investor came in and gave us capital so we could expand even further. Everything looked like it was working. Then one decision came back to haunt us. We promised every accountant that if an appointment cancelled, we’d replace it. That worked when we had eight accountants. It didn’t work when we had forty-five.Every day became replacing appointments, I went to bed stressed. I woke up stressed, I went to work stressed. By then I’d had my first son and found out I was pregnant again. There are only seventeen months between my two boys. We brought in an office manager because I didn’t know how to manage people. That was actually one of the better decisions we made. She looked after the team while we focused on sales and growing the business. Then I gave birth to my second son. I suffered with postnatal depression. I didn’t even know I had it. Every morning I’d drop my son to his nanny’s, drive to the office, sit with my coffee, cry, wipe my face, and then start the day smiling as though everything was fine. Around the same time we realised the world was changing. Everything was moving towards CRM systems. We were still working with paper databases, handwritten notes and VoIP phones. Nobody wanted to move away from paper. Including me. Instead of saying, “Let’s learn this slowly,” I convinced myself everything was changing too quickly. So I closed the business. I started consulting directly for accountants instead, charging around £450 a day, helping them with sales, marketing and business development.
Meanwhile I was raising two young boys, one of whom had been diagnosed with autism, juggling school runs, clients, and trying to hold everything together while my partner travelled hundreds of miles for work to support us. Looking back now, I don’t think the biggest mistake was using paper. The biggest mistake was believing I had to change everything overnight. Sometimes change feels like a tidal wave. You think if you don’t jump immediately, you’ll fail. Looking back, I think we probably had another three or four years where the paper systems would still have worked while we gradually introduced new technology. We didn’t need to do it all at once. If I’d simply kept going, I believe that business would still be thriving today. It just needed someone willing to ride the waves instead of assuming they would never end. That’s one of my biggest business regrets. Tomorrow I’ll share another mistake.
I’d love to know yours. What’s the biggest mistake you’ve made in business that taught you the most