Picture this: It’s pre-Christmas chaos, and just the mention of the holiday lead-up triggers PTSD in most parents. Amid this frenzy, I desperately needed a break. So, I announced that our skeleton staff would handle active clients while I pretended to take a week off.
During this time, I lost a client. Despite her graciousness in giving me feedback on why she felt the customer service level was below our usual standard without the recruiter in charge, her departure was a major warning sign. Frustration grew as inefficiencies began to affect our cash flow. But with a big trip overseas planned for a wedding, I needed backup.
I prepped the staff member, who had previously handled my clients, emphasising the importance of her role, coaching her, and reviewing her KPIs. Yet, as I packed my bags, she resigned due to personal issues, just two days before I went offline. I was shattered, frustrated to say the least, and forced to accept the reality that I couldn’t single-handedly fill a critical full-time role.
Scaling small-business peaks
Entrepreneurship is a rollercoaster ride of successes and setbacks. It seems for every major triumph, there are many more setbacks. For me, there were five major setbacks in as many years. I’ve faced problems that have shaped both me and my business. However, amidst despair, I discovered an inner strength – a determination to persevere.
Listening to Taylor Swift, I ‘shook it off’. Instead of letting setbacks define me, I embraced them as opportunities for growth. Here are the stories of two of them.
Setback 1: Key staff member resigning amid Christmas chaos
Let’s return to the example I started with: my recruiter suddenly resigning without notice. In the wake of this devastating turn of events, I suddenly found myself back in the thick of daily operations. I quickly realised that if I wanted to continue working on the business strategically, I couldn’t afford to spend all my time working in it. I needed to find a way to handle my recruiter’s full-time responsibilities in half the time or less.
Alone in a different time zone, I had to adapt quickly and be my most efficient self ever. At every step, I reviewed and trimmed processes – automating repetitive tasks and creating templates became my mantra.
For instance, we were receiving about 30 applications a day, and typically, we would call around half of these applicants the same day or the next if they met our basic requirements. Given my time constraints and the challenge of being in a different time zone, it was clear that this approach wasn’t sustainable. So, I decided to flip the process on its head. Instead of us making the initial call, I implemented a new step where applicants first had to complete a short application form and book a call with me. If they didn’t complete these steps, I wouldn’t call them. This small change drastically reduced the number of applicants in the pipeline to about 10-15 per cent of the original volume, allowing me to focus only on the most committed candidates.
Ultimately, the setback led to faster turnaround times, happier candidates and clients. It also resulted in a new Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) that we continue to use today. This experience taught me the value of constantly reviewing and refining our processes to improve efficiency and stay agile in challenging situations.
Setback 2: Cashflow challenges
When a crisis strikes, it throws everything into disarray, and maintaining balance becomes an immediate challenge. In such moments, I believe it’s crucial to prioritise essentials such as cash flow and reputation, to ensure the survival and long-term health of the business.
In 2019, just as we were gaining traction after transitioning to an agency model, COVID-19 hit. As an agency dependent on overseas travel, the closed borders meant our candidate supply dried up instantly. I felt like a failure and was on the verge of giving up after investing so much time and money. For months, I had to funnel money from my day job just to keep the business afloat.
One group particularly overlooked during this time was international students. With lockdowns in place, they suddenly found themselves without financial support, job prospects, or eligibility for local aid. Many of them had just arrived in Australia, barely started their courses, and were facing immense uncertainty.
Although my business was grappling with cashflow challenges, we chose to focus on doing the right thing. We stepped in to support as many international students as we could by placing them with families and negotiating on their behalf to cover their study expenses. One student, Angela, was on the verge of returning home due to financial hardship and isolation. We managed to negotiate a pocket-money rate for her and placed her with an entrepreneurial mother struggling with homeschooling her children and managing a business. Angela stayed with this family for nearly 20 months, which completely changed the course of her life.
During this time, we decided that focusing on our community and giving back was the best strategy. This approach generated a lot of goodwill and allowed us to thrive during the COVID years, even as other agencies went into hibernation.
Additionally, when interest rates rose, many of our customers fell behind on payments or refused to pay altogether, severely affecting our cash flow. There were moments when I wasn’t sure how I would pay our suppliers or staff, and I went months without paying myself, which put a strain on my own family.
This experience led me to change our payment model to protect the business financially. We updated our processes by introducing partial upfront payments, payment plans, and direct debit setups. We now review our Xero accounts every week to ensure all payables and receivables are up to date. This practice has improved our cash position over time, ensuring that our team and suppliers are paid promptly.
By focusing on these essentials, we’ve managed to protect our business’s cash flow and reputation, even in the face of adversity.
Looking ahead
The entrepreneurial journey is filled with challenges and uncertainties, but it’s also a journey of growth and transformation. By embracing setbacks, learning from failures, and refusing to give up, entrepreneurs can navigate the ups and downs of small-business ownership with resilience and determination.
Today, our business stands as Australia’s highest-rated au pair agency, known for delivering premium services that consistently earn top ratings from our clients. Looking forward, we are on a mission to become Australia’s best-rated provider of trusted in-home care services, delivering comprehensive support from cradle to grave. Our goal is to enrich family life and empower parents, aiming to support 10,000 families by 2030.
This article first appeared in issue 46 of the Inside Small Business quarterly magazine
