A Hunch & Commitment

How many of us have an idea or a hunch that they think will work and you spend a mad 30 mins rattling the ins and outs of how the idea would work and how amazing it would be and probably take over the world………and make it a better place?! Yes, probably all of us. How many have put the idea into practice, risked your current job, family re-location, maybe borrowing a bit of money, and literally work for nothing for long periods, and finally, actually make a living from it? Sensibly, only maybe a couple of us! Well this is our little story of how a hunch became, hopefully, a living.

Iain and his wife, Clair, owned a café and deli called Byfords in Holt, Norfolk. The café had an enviable following for cakes, but in particular, quirky traditional SPONGES – the other cakes quivered in their shadow, and comment was often made, that the product could be shared on a wider scale……there was a hunch that SPONGE had something special. However, bogged down with the day to day running of the business, it was highly unlikely the ‘SPONGE hunch’ would ever come to anything.

One of Iain’s regular customers was a chap called David Joll. Well respected in business, David was at the helm of Bernard Matthews for many years and a relationship / friendship developed over the years – David as customer and watching the development of the young business, and Iain as entrepreneur seeking David’s approval in what was being done. A coffee one afternoon turned into a 3 hour meeting, the meeting un-earthed the Sponge hunch, and the sponge hunch set up a chat between David’s son Mark, who was looking to re-locate in Norfolk from a purchasing post with Compass contract caterers in Holland. Both in their mid to late 30’s, there was chemistry between the 2, but importantly opposing skills – Iain with decent vision, Mark focused with the detail – both wanted the same thing, a business that was commercial but run the right way, with good values, but to own it actually meant something and added to our lives. We did not want to purely exist, doing a day to day job just for money, just to get by. Honesty was essential, a product that did not pull the wool over its customers eyes, and a business where its team new exactly where they stood and all driving towards the same goal. With so much bad business around, this would be a good one.

We removed Sponge from the Byfords packaging and environment and took it to a couple of the county shows. We needed to see if it was the retail environment that made the sponge sell so well, or did the product stand up on its own 2 feet. The feedback was great, sales good, we had a laugh……….and decided to go for it. This ultimately meant that Mark packed in his job with Compass and moved to Norfolk to start a new life with his wife and young daughter. A huge commitment and ultimately, the one that has made Sponge a possibility.

For all those who have an idea and are thinking of having a go – a few pointers from our short experience so far:

The idea needs to be solid. We watched Sponge trade for 8 years before we wanted to take it further.
If your going to start any business its got to be for more than money. If money is the single driver, you will fail, and may as well sell drugs!
Have capital if poss. We both worked hard to save and set this opportunity up in our late 30’s. We have not had to go to the bank yet, which is one less person to manage at such a critical point in the business.
PEOPLE, PEOPLE, PEOPLE!!! Get the mix of people right and make it clear who is doing what from the outset. So many of us try to do everything, whereas in reality we would be better to do the stuff that we love doing and are good at, and getting somebody else to do the other bits that they love doing. Honesty and self awareness are key – to say I am not very good at that can you help, actually shows great strength rather than weakness. David identified that Mark and I had opposing skills and could work well together – that takes years of managing people and great intuition to indentify who will work well with who and a key moment for Sponge . We formed our areas of expertise very quickly – probably in the second meeting of getting to know each other. Mark would run the business and make Sponge happen, Iain would help with the vision and how the new brand would communicate. We knew we needed to recruit in production and sales which we have done and tried to find people with the right values for Sponge. In our opinion, always recruit the right attitude rather than the right skills. The skills can be taught, but attitude if often set.
The idea bit is the easy bit, the commitment part needs a lot of thought. A new business can often mean no income for a long period as the business establishes itself. In addition, a new business is thirsty on time, therefore, difficult to fit in another job whilst trying to get the business off the ground. Mark tried this and progress was slow – penny rich, pound poor – once complete commitment was there Sponge really started to make ground and ultimately the commitment in the end is the thing that makes it happen.
Allow way more time than you actually think. We read this in Innocent’s book of how frustrating the set up process was and kind of took it on board but hoped we would not suffer the same issues. Nine months from the point of Mark giving up his job, we were going to market! Bearing in mind we already had the product, this time has been excruciating and costly.
It takes time to form a brand that means something. Sometimes things need to organically evolve. We have our ideas at the start of how we would like the business to look, however, things will change and some of the initial ideas seen as a bit weird! The brand needs to take shape through experiences and input from the team to get the context totally right. You see so many brands these days that look so pretty and graphically correct but you can tell that they are not owned by the people who are involved within them. Decisions can take a long time, as long as when they are made they are consistent and the right one for the brand. Sponge is still in its nappies but we are loving developing the brand and making the necessary moves to fulfil our initial values of running a great business.