THE START UP

There’s no doubt that starting a business is one of the most exciting things you can do! The line of Only Fools and Horses comes to mind, “this time next year we will be millionaires” — Rodney. However, it’s never that easy and so it shouldn’t be, and this might be the key to longevity.

In 2019, the failure rate of start ups was around 90%… This is an alarming rate, but running Ish Fish, I can see why the swings of highs and lows take some getting use to as some days you go from having the perfect productive day, to days where you’re checking if the website still works due to the lack of orders.

Nevertheless, what does help is having a good team around you. Joel and I may have an unconventional way of hiring as Becky got the job due to being a black belt and Richard came in like a whirlwind and sold himself (he hasn’t shut up since, haha) but in all seriousness, we do have a great team and I appreciate them both very much! Not to forget, Dan (our web-design guru), who has gone above and beyond to make Ish Fish as vibrant and accessible as a website can be and also Lindsay, writing the copy for us and helping us set Ish Fish up from the beginning.

Starting up, we were so consumed with how insufficient the packaging was in competitors that we didn’t look at the online fish market to see if the business was viable. Although Covid-19 was terrible and brought a lot of sadness to some people, it did benefit Ish Fish because more people had to turn to online shopping.

One thing starting up a business has shown me is the constant desire to never stop learning, and even if Ish Fish finished tomorrow (don’t worry, it won’t), I would be a better person for what I have learnt over the last few years. We have a saying in sailing “you can never be fit enough or strong enough for the sea” and I think this also applies to business as there is always more you can learn and further knowledge you can source.

There’s my thoughts and I know many of our great customers are also business owners and have given us some great advice.

Ish Fish is not easy but, we are here to stay and make our families, friends and customers proud of what we have achieved!

Garry