Solidarity and Support in 2022
Martyn Johnston
Public
Seen by 150
Hello everyone, I’m writing to you with regards to our current position, as we enter the new year we are experiencing a worrying cash flow situation, and kindly ask for support to help safeguard the future of our cooperative...
Without support of grants from government and other social enterprise support funds, we would not be here and continue to operate in a budget deficit. Furthermore, as a startup community business formed in 2018, we do not have sufficient reserves to operate in deficit for long without continued and reliable sources of income, and currently find ourselves in a precarious position once more having not received any grant income or significant agency commissions in the last quarter of 2021.
We are confident that our cash flow position will turn around, as it has done before, and we are hopeful to receive further grant support through the Additional Restrictions Grant administered by the local authority of between £10,000 - £25,000. We are also confident that both our creative agency Chapel Street Studio and Bread + Roses have the momentum they need to survive and achieve the sales targets to ensure we emerge from the pandemic more sustainable than ever before.
With up to date financial information we are in a position to create an accurate budget and cash flow projection for 2022 based on operating costs and sales income from 2021. We expect to have this ready and available to share with those interested w/c 17th January, and we have P&L with budget vs actuals from the first three quarters of 2021.
We've requested a repayment holiday from our landlord and a continuation of the 50% rent agreement into 2022. We remain in a repayment holiday for our Government-backed bounce back loan, which we used to refinance the expensive startup loans, and we have also contacted our bank to request a short term extension to our overdraft should we require it.
Over the past 18 months we have restructured and built a team of much more experienced people, improved our board and governance, and indeed our financial policies and procedures, and we have found optimism in the momentum and team cohesion of rebuilding our two cooperative businesses over the past year. And yet, the uncertainty of our precarious cash flow position looms large over this newly formed and confident team.
Our jobs, our livelihoods, and the future of our organisation hangs in the balance. In the context of another uncertain year and our current cash flow situation, I'm wondering if any other cooperative from the network may be able to support us by way of contracting creative services from our cooperative creative agency in the first quarter of this year to help us achieve our sales targets and improve our cash flow position in the immediate future?
Happy to meet to discuss our position or the services we can provide further with anyone interested.
Also hope this is a helpful thread to kick off in the new year, for others in the same position, and for us to call on the strength and support of our cooperative network in times of need.
Solidarity from Bradford, West Yorkshire.
Graham Thu 13 Jan 2022 1:59PM
inveigle - "Persuade (someone) to do something by means of deception or flattery.". I'm thinking you may have an unhealthy perception of what marketing is all about. If you understand the service you want to provide, and the type of client you want to work for, marketing is simply the process by which you bring the two together. No deception or flattery is required. In my experience marketing works, but you have to do it.
Simon Ball (Blake House) Thu 13 Jan 2022 2:11PM
yes I know the meaning. I suppose I can only choose words based on my experiences and indeed marketing works in two directions, as the client markets to the cooperative that they are the type of organisation a cooperative should want to work for. So for clarity the choice of word is the perception that we engaged in flattery while our clientele engaged in a form of deception. Maybe one for the pub/temperance society hey.
Martyn Johnston Tue 11 Jan 2022 1:10PM
Thank you Graham. We are pursuing that option and have engaged with Kevin the new Investment Manager at CCF. I don't know when but I may take you up on that offer of support when we have something specific for you to advise on!
Kayleigh Walsh Outlandish Tue 11 Jan 2022 3:54PM
Hey @Martyn Johnston (Chapel St) I am joining all of the people who have already expressed solidarity with you. I know what it's like when you're struggling to get work and finances become an issue, it's happened to us too and I know how stressful it is. In response to your start up question – from what I understand, (unfortunately) it's normal for small businesses to experience peaks and troughs so I think it's part of what running a small business entails. It doesn't mean it's easy though.
I have a few suggestions (that you didn't ask for) but have helped us in the past, so I thought I'd share them:
We've contacted previous clients with a few suggestions about what we could do to update/fix/progress work previously done
Tweeted/publicised that we're available for work
Got in touch with the networks that we're part of: CoTech/Tech4Good/Agencies for Good to ask if they need support delivering work
When it's got really close to the line, we (the workers) have reduced our day rate which in effect is lending money to the business to keep it afloat. It meant that some/all of us (I can't make assumptions) needed to make changes to our lifestyle for the time being, because we were taking on the financial risk by reducing our salaries, but it did help keep us going as a business. It wasn't obligatory.
More generally, we sell support to people which is a bucket of hours paid upfront and can be worked on adhoc. It means you secure the income straight away.
Much love and I hope you're all alright. I really need to say that I don't think any of this is easy, and I really hope it doesn't come across as condescending. I thought it might be useful to let you know that we've been there quite a few times, and share what's helped.
In solidarity
X
matt wilson Wed 12 Jan 2022 11:01AM
Really sorry to hear about your struggles. My own coop is also in a precarious place due to the pandemic, and there's little I can offer (through the coop or personally) to help I'm afraid - but one thought was that if you could write a separate text of your request to contract work from you then myself and others could send it around as an email, re-post, etc.
In solidarity.
Simon Ball (Blake House) · Thu 13 Jan 2022 1:51PM
ye I'm probably at the 'disillusionment' or 'bemused bystander' stage at this moment in time 😆 but i suppose marketing only works if you know the audience that you're trying to inveigle - so perhaps the hurly-burly i'm experiencing at the moment is due to not wanting to attract unambitious/pusillanimous consumers who waste your time!