Sponsored by
Video: My fatal mistake, by ex-Dragon Rachel Elnaugh
FORMER Dragons' Den star Rachel Elnaugh yesterday urged Yorkshire's business leaders to nurture talent within their company and avoid the "fatal mistake" that led to the collapse of her business.
Ms Elnaugh told the Business Yorkshire event at Doncaster Racecourse that her company, Red Letter Days, got into trouble after over-expanding and over-spending.
She regretted taking a back seat and "parachuting in" a chief executive to run Red Letter Days, which sells vouchers for activities such as motor racing and hot air balloon flights.
She said: "It's so much better to groom someone from within a business over a period of years that is culturally right for you."
Ms Elnaugh, who was one of the original members of BBC TV's Dragons' Den, said: "I have been through the whole roller-coaster ride of business, from starting my first business from scratch, nurturing it and seeing it grow to a market leading brand and then losing that business 16 years after I started it."
She recalled: "I decided to bring in a firm of management consultants to help me. It led to about 30 different projects (for Red Letter Days) as part of this plan that we needed to implement to 'step change' the business. To implement 30 was actually commercial suicide."
In 2005, Red Letter Days was placed into administration, shortly after it opened a regional office in Leeds. Entrepreneur and fellow 'Dragon' Peter Jones teamed up with former Millwall chairman Theo Paphitis to purchase the goodwill and assets of the company.
Ms Elnaugh said she had found happiness in her new career as a mentor and best-selling author.
She told the 100-strong audience: "The moment I decided to let go (of Red Letter Days) there was a feeling of total relief and liberation that the nightmare was over."
She believed in a "Thomas Edison" approach to growing a business; through trial and error. "Once you get a formula right a business can take off effortlessly, " she said.
But she also warned about the dangers of acquiring large overheads at an early stage in a company's development.
"So many companies go under because they run out of cash, '' she said. " When you are in a state of success you are most vulnerable, because you think you have the Midas touch."
She said all entrepreneurs needed self belief, adding: "In business the fastest, most instinctive decisions, are your best ones.
"It took a really soul-destroying 18 months to get Red Letter Days off the ground. I came close to giving up on my idea so many times."
After Red Letter Days "crashed" in 2005, she received "amazing" emails of support, often from strangers.
Ms Elnaugh was the keynote speaker at the Yorkshire Post Business Breakfast at Business Yorkshire, one of the UK's largest business exhibitions and conferences. The breakfast event was hosted by deputy business editor Greg Wright. The Yorkshire Post is the event's media partner.
Scott Hider, managing director of Nationwide Media Group, which has organised the event, said: "Although it's been a tough year for the SMEs (small and medium-sized enterprises) in general, the exhibition has fared very well.
"We have about 3,000 to 4,000 people registered to attend. Last year we just broke through the 3,000 mark and we expect similar numbers this year as well.
"This whole event is designed to give business people in the region routes to information, inspiration and business contacts that they can develop new business from."
From the front room to the Dragons' Den
Rachel Elnaugh started her working life as an office junior. At the age of 24, she created the market leading 'experiences' brand Red Letter Days on a shoestring budget from the front room of her home.
Red Letter Days went on to generate more than 100m in turnover in the 16 years she ran it. This earned her an Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year award in 2002. In early 2005, she became one of the original panel in BBCTV's Dragons' Den.
After the crash of Red Letter Days in 2005, she stepped away from the media spotlight and has been working in the small business sector ever since.
Other speakers at the two-day Business Yorkshire event at Doncaster Racecourse, which continues today, include Brad Burton, the founder of 4networking, the national business network for entrepreneurs.
Email to a friend
Print this page- Leeds lose Ward to Palace: Is there anyone they can afford now?
- Sheffield Wednesday leaving it late to hijack Leeds United over Ward
- As Snodgrass dithers over Leeds, Warnock throws a lifeline
- Ball is in Leeds United’s court over contract - Snodgrass
- Police turning blind eye to Asian voter fraud, says MP
Looking for...
Featured advertisers
Jobs
Search for a job
Motors
Search for a car
Property
Search for a house
Weather for Yorkshire
Saturday 26 May 2012
Today
Sunny
Temperature: 9 C to 23 C
Wind Speed: 17 mph
Wind direction: East
Tomorrow
Sunny
Temperature: 9 C to 23 C
Wind Speed: 15 mph
Wind direction: East
