Life going totally tits up!

[LTB99withabunfightandamagicalchicken]

As the title. I have my own business and all was going well until the pandemic. Built it up during deep depression, kids, house, dh, life etc over 6 years.

The end of Feb 2020 I moved into a massive unit that suited business needs. Took on staff, we had a great team and we all worked together for moving the business forward.

Fast forward to now and I have had to let my staff go, I have gave up my unit and found a smaller one. I have added extra services to my business which is starting to pick up.

I have cut out everything I don't need in business and in my personal life. Business has dried up and I am totally panicking. I feel everything I have worked for has been for nothing and I am going to end up with nothing.

Can anyone please help me cut costs and make it through this. I cant sleep and constantly having panic attacks due to the stress.

I don't want to say what it is I do because I constantly see my line of work getting so much flaming on here.

Basically from the end of August all work totally ends and I have no income.

Thanks in advance

I'm sorry to hear that you're struggling and worried. Do you need to rent a unit or could you operate from home?

@Jewelanemone I did look into working from home but that wouldn't have a practical for the business. It's a catch 22 I need a unit to run my business but the unit costs are taking away my income.

Need to know what the business is really! I feel for you

Thank you 💐 I let out holiday homes.

I feel for you as well.
Is your market in general still depressed or is it something specific to your business?
What do you actually need your unit for?

Why would you need a unit to let out holiday homes?

How is this realistic, with unit costs on top, when you have to compete with Air BnB etc? Is it viable? Maybe if you are doing very high end exclusive holiday lets, but otherwise I don't see where your market is?

I also don’t understand why you would need a unit to let out holiday homes.

I also thought that 2021 and this year business was booming. What has changed OP? Where have the holiday homes gone?

I ran a business at home for ten years . Very up and down. When it was quiet I would rake a second job. I've done evening shifts in a pub. Stacked shelves at weekend at Asda. Mystery shopping, exam invigilator. Are you entitled to any universal credit to top earning up? Is there a second business you could do simultaneously such as selling on eBay?

Some businesses just don't scale up without at least at first going through a period of loss making or breakeven. Staying smaller can sometimes be the right decision. Did you take any advice when you grew in Feb 2020?

Also you've been in a strange market. Down here there was the pandemic years with holiday accommodation closures followed by manic lettings, plus where ever we are now (appears to be a double whammy of over supply and holiday makers returning abroad). This was always relatively predictable, although only "a risk" as we don't really know how it will all pan out.

You need advice on where you are exactly now and a plan to move forward. Do you have anyone who can help? A trusted accountant?

I am not sure how Leto g house holiday homes require a unit and also why it is drying up because you should be booming at the moment.

If there are/were more than a few holiday homes needing more than one person to manage and holding some stock (towels, replacement decor, cleaning materials, any number of things really) a unit might be required to work from. I don’t think that’s really the issue given the OP has been quite active in letting it go once it became an unsustainable expense.

Do you have a brilliant website with comprehensive up to date listings and very good photographs?

air bnb is online
skye cottages is online

infact I would say your business is uniquely almost always online?

i Thought let’s were totally booming. Can you show us an example of what you have in your books??

You need to go on line and hire a decent digital copywriter, who understands SEO. This will make sure your page gets seen and will increase your booking rate.

Can you identify why you aren't getting the business? I agree with the others - this is a sector which seems to be booming. Is your pricing right?

Do your council offer any business support grants you could use to refresh the website and move out of the unit?
Or the chamber of commerce or similar?

What are your costs at the moment? I’m also thinking this could be done from home. Can you do the cleaning yourself (at least some of it)?

it’s difficult to say without knowing what the industrial unit is for. do you use it for storage, or for face to face customer meetings? if it’s just for storage of supplies, storage containers are usually much cheaper than industrial units and with much more flexible contracts, so could you move any stock/products into those? As others have said, I don’t know why the customer service side can’t be done from home. If you needed an occasional meeting with a client you could then look into occasional room hire at local hotels/ offices for face to face meetings.

It sounds like you need more support with your online presence.
Not sure what you need a unit for.

Why would anyone flame you for letting out holiday homes?? How strange.

But yes agree with others - you don’t need a unit. You need better a social media presence and more networking etc. Unfortunately with airbnb and suchlike the market is quite saturated at the moment.

You don’t need a unit to let out Holiday homes, do it from home!