Building resilience

0:01Student 1:There's going to be definitely ups and downs, and at times, I just wanted to burn all my books and just stop the whole thing.

0:07Student 2:It's very disappointing, especially when you hear about the failures.

0:11Student 3:Sometimes you just need a good cry to let it out. And then brush yourself off, stand back up and keep going.

0:18Krutika Adatia:Hello, I'm Krutika Adatia and I'm a chartered accountant. I now support accountancy students through their training. And as an educator, I'm regularly up close and personal with some of the common issues people face while studying for and sitting their accountancy exams. So in this series for the ACCA, I'm chatting to experts about strategies we can all use when facing some of life's challenges. This week we're looking at keeping going when the going gets tough. That's right. We're talking resilience.

0:49Krutika Adatia:How do we pick ourselves back up after a loss? Why is it important to not let failure get us down? And what strategies can help us all keep pushing forward? This is On Your Marks. Because you'll never know until you try. Getting going again after things haven't gone your way, whether that's a failed exam or a disastrous first date, can feel really difficult. I remember when I was in my early 20s, I started learning how to drive. And after failing my driving test, not once, not twice, and I won't tell you how many times, my confidence was rock bottom. It really got me down. Practically, it was really frustrating, but also emotionally. Up until this point, I had passed every exam I'd ever sat. I did manage to persevere and eventually pass, but keeping myself going back again and again was the real challenge. So to talk about not giving up, today I've got Josh Wintersgill with me.

1:42Krutika Adatia:He's an entrepreneur, Great Britain's Young Entrepreneur of the Year in 2019 in fact, and founder of able Move and creator of the easyTravelseat. As a young entrepreneur, he's faced his fair share of new business setbacks. So Josh, I'm going to open with what I think is quite a big question. Do you think you are resilient and what does being resilient mean to you?

2:03Josh Wintersgill:Yes, is the answer. I'm definitely resilient. I think growing up with a neuromuscular condition has taught me lots of things in life, and one of the key things that I always refer people to was a statement from my nan growing up as a child, which was, " Put can't in your pocket and pull out try." And it's a mantra that stuck with me for my entire life. So whenever I get into difficult situations, I always remind myself that if there's something I can't do, I can. I've just got to put can't in my pocket and pull out try.

2:32Krutika Adatia:I really love that saying. Can you tell us a little bit more about your business, Able Move?

2:36Josh Wintersgill:Yeah. So Able Move was founded in 2018 off of the back of some bad experiences traveling by air as a wheelchair user. Growing up as a child, I could kind of walk on and off an aircraft and as I got older, I got heavier, less mobile, and it got to the point where I was required to be physically carried by my family from my wheelchair onto an aircraft and then into the seat. And it got to the point where my family could no longer do that, and I was then relying on airport staff to actually physically lift me from my chair into this tiny little chair to then take me onto an aircraft and into an aircraft seat. And that whole experience was rather traumatic. And back in 2018, I was reading a wonderful book called Start with Why by Simon Sinek. So any students that haven't read it, I highly recommend reading it. And it got me really thinking about why I was doing certain things at that point in my life, both from a personal point of view, but also from a professional point of view. I realized that I couldn't necessarily answer my why that clearly and easily, and that's when I started reflecting

3:36Josh Wintersgill:on life and travel. And that's when I realized perhaps maybe I can go down a different road and start looking at improving the way other people with physical disabilities access air travel. And that kind of sparked off the whole idea of creating a sling that could be used for people in wheelchairs to be lifted on and off an aircraft.

3:54Krutika Adatia:I love that. I'm actually a big fan of Simon Sinek myself. So you've spoken to us a little bit about your purpose being driven by the challenges that you faced with mobility. And I guess as a business owner, you probably face challenges in everyday operations, everyday decisions you make. So can you tell us a little bit about some of what those setbacks might be?

4:14Josh Wintersgill:Gosh, there's loads. I mean, I remember when it was starting out, it was kind of like, " My God, where do I go for help? Where do I start?" And I remember my lodgers that I was living with at the time, they bought me a small handbook on starting out a small business, and it got me thinking about all of the things that I kind of think about in life or what are the things that I value and started writing them on paper. And then started tying that into a business plan and a marketing strategy. And I'd managed to find a template by The Prince's Trust on starting out a business as an entrepreneur. And I remember reaching out to Business West in the southwest of the UK and they provided lots of support on intellectual property, sales, financing, investment, IP, and it was a really great place to start. That kind of got me on the right tracks, but then I soon realized I didn't really have much money to get a business going. I had at the time maybe like 7 or £ 8, 000 in my bank account. And a lot of that got swallowed up on trying to put a patent in place, and IP attorneys are actually very expensive, so my money got swallowed

5:16Josh Wintersgill:up really quickly. And I was then thinking about, now I need to try and get some investment, and all of these things start going through your head and you have to control your thought process and eat the elephant in small chunks as it were. But I was very lucky through some networking, I got told about an awards program called the UK Disabled Entrepreneurs Award, which was founded by Sir Stelios, the founder of EasyJet. And in partnership with Leonard Cheshire, they every year run a UK Disabled Entrepreneurs Awards program where individuals put forward their businesses in hope that Stelios and the team at Leonard Cheshire had taken an interest in it and they give out cash grants to those business owners. And fortunately for me, I got £ 30,000 that year that I could then use to start my business. And this is a pun I suppose, but I did land on my feet through those awards and I got very lucky in the fact that because Sir Stelios owned an airline and here I am with a product that's benefiting passengers to access his airline, he took quite an interest in that as well from a business perspective. And he decided to actually invest £ 70,000 into my

6:20Josh Wintersgill:company along with the £ 30,000 grant. So here I am at the age of 25 with 100 grand, and I'm like, I've now got the money to do everything that I need to do. And I just got really lucky. And I think the harder you work and the more doors you knock, the luckier you seem to get. I actually started manufacturing in 2019.

6:41Krutika Adatia:Wow, that sounds incredible. And congratulations on that journey and getting that grant as well. That must've been an incredible feeling.

6:52Josh Wintersgill:It was. I remember coming out of ... I'll never forget. I came out of Sir Stelios' office and my dad was outside and we just basically high- fived as soon as we got out to the end of the road. And I remember Stelios standing there and just watching me and my dad walk off, and I think he was pleased as punch really. And as were we.

7:07Krutika Adatia:You mentioned earlier that you had, was it 7, 000, £8,000? And at that point you were trying to think, " Right, where am I going to get the funds from?" I can only imagine that when you are thinking about starting up your own business, there's probably going to be moments where you just feel like you want to give up. I mean, did you have any of those moments? And what made you feel that you could continue going? Talk to us a little bit about that.

7:30Josh Wintersgill:Yeah, I think at the beginning it was very much adrenaline based. It all happened very, very quickly within the space of about 12 to 18 months. And I think the profile of the awards and the weight that that carried got recognition in other areas. But actually the real challenge for me started probably sort of towards the end of 2019. So within the first, I think 8 or 9 months, I'd burnt nearly 50 or 60 grand in cash. I was putting money into staff to kind of get sales going and business development. I was committing money to stock, and all I was doing was seeing ... You see 100 grand in your bank and you're like, " Holy crap, that's a lot of money." You've never seen money like that in your life. You never expect to have that sort of money just sat in a bank. So to see it going down and down and down and down, I mean, I was up having sleepless nights thinking, " What am I going to do? Oh my God, this is not working. I'm selling, but I'm not selling enough. What can I do more of?" And it was kind of like you were kind of doubting yourself all the time. Is this product actually any good? And I was just freaking

8:32Josh Wintersgill:out. And then all of a sudden, sales started to pick up sort of backend of 2019. We only did £ 25,000 of revenue in the first year and with a loss of nearly 50, 60K. That doesn't even touch the sides. So basically COVID then came in 2020. So as sales started picking up towards the backend of 2019, I thought, " Bloody hell, 2020 is going to be a good year." And then lo and behold, bang, the travel industry stops, no sales coming through for six or seven months, and somehow to this day, the company is still going.

9:06Krutika Adatia:And can I just take you back to that moment when you mentioned that you had all this money leaving your account? Can you take us back to the sort of emotions you were feeling and what was the conversation happening in your head to try and get you out of the mind frame to keep persevering, to keep going?

9:21Josh Wintersgill:Yeah, it was really weird because I remember kind of having conversations with a couple of people that I employed saying, " Look, if we carry on at this rate, I'm not going to be able to keep you around and I'm going to have to let you go." And I'd only had them like, what? Four to six months? And it was kind of really scary. So in some respects, I probably hit the ground a bit too soon with people and not focused enough on the core product and trying to push it myself. So I then had to start going, okay, well clearly the projections of sales that I was expecting isn't coming in and having to make those difficult decisions and have conversations with people to say, " Look, I'm really sorry, but I'm not on the projection that I thought we were going to be on. And unfortunately, we're going to have to let you go" kind of thing. So they're just difficult conversations. And I think when you are 26, 27 and you've not been faced with those challenges before, and it's not like I have a HR department to go to and ask for support, you've just kind of got to bite the bullet and do it. So there was a lot

10:17Josh Wintersgill:of learning at the same time.

10:19Krutika Adatia:Earlier you mentioned that what motivates you is circling back to your why, thinking about what is the purpose of what you're doing, but really just if I was to ask you what motivates you when you feel like things aren't going your way?

10:32Josh Wintersgill:It is very much the why. It's reminding yourself of the value that the product is aiming to achieve or what you want your business to do for people. And constantly reminding yourself if you believe in that and you believe that it's having a positive impact on people's lives, on those times where you're having your low days. And bearing in mind, these low days, they don't just hang around for a day, they can be over a sustained period of time that it's so important that you remind yourself of the why you are doing it and the values and the impact. And if you just keep plugging away day in and day out, eventually you'll come out of that kind of divot or that hole that you are in.

11:09Josh Wintersgill:It's hard. It's a hard slog and there's no easy answer to it. Everyone will get to that point and everyone will have to keep pushing through. I don't know anyone that's ever had it plain sailing, to be fair.

11:19Krutika Adatia:Yeah, I think everyone always faces some sort of challenges, and it's how you deal with those challenges and come through it. So how do you know when it's the right moment to keep pushing and keep going forward to take a chance? When do you know it's the right time to not?

11:35Josh Wintersgill:I always remind myself or try to remind myself, and it's really hard to stick to it, but always go with your instinct. Your gut generally leads you in the right direction. I sometimes have a little bit of paranoia creep in on stuff that I do, but I do try and stick to that instinct. So to give you an example, when COVID hit, I realized that one product isn't just going to make a success of this company. I'm going to need to add new products and I'm going to need to change the way I sell it and also what it does and how can I offer something slightly different. And then I got thinking about some of the other challenges that I had with getting in and out of a swimming pool and my wheelchair cushion getting really wet. And I remember one year my nan went down to a market in Tenerife and she got ... This is top secret, nobody knows this. But she got a blanket down at the market for about four euros, and it was absolutely huge. And she got a pair of scissors and she cut it out into the shape of my wheelchair and put it over my chair, and it stopped my wheelchair cushion from getting wet. Anyway, I didn't think anything of

12:41Josh Wintersgill:it until when COVID hit and I had all this time to reflect on certain things. And I thought, well, why don't I introduce a new product? Why don't we create a waterproof wheelchair towel that will stop water from getting through the wheelchair so when somebody gets out the bath or the shower or the swimming pool, they can have this product? And we created it and it's our bestselling product now. So again, that was stemmed from just going with my instinct and trying to use the bits of cash that I had to get something to market quite quickly and know that it was going to make a difference for people.

13:16Krutika Adatia:That's great. And that's fabulous that you sought out opportunities during COVID, which would've been a really tough time for so many businesses.

13:24Josh Wintersgill:I just think you get presented with different challenges and you can either face them and get on with it or you can choose to ignore it. But if you choose to ignore them, they generally come back round and bite you. So yeah.

13:36Krutika Adatia:That's great. I love the attitude and the approach that you have, Josh. And so would you say that your attitude in business has actually been shaped by also your personal experiences?

13:47Josh Wintersgill:100%. It all stems back to my childhood really, and how I was raised and that perspective and outlook on life to always make sure that you don't give up. I mean, don't get me wrong. There are times when you do need to go, " Enough is enough and I'm going to stop maybe investing money in this because something isn't working or I'm going to stop this activity that I'm doing because I'm just really not enjoying it." There is something quite smart about saying enough is enough and calling it a day. It's difficult because when you are really passionate about something, it just kind of keeps you going. But yeah, I think everything for me does stem back from that kind of aspect of being resilient as a child through the need to not give up with my condition. Because if I stop exercising and I stop doing things, that means that I will deteriorate in terms of physical ability. So when you know that you're going to deteriorate, if you don't exercise, you kind of have to exercise. And growing up as a kid, I didn't really enjoy exercise, but what my nan did was that she made it fun. So we'd sing songs, we'd catch

14:55Josh Wintersgill:a ball, and it would be like there would be some sort of competitiveness to it as well. And all of a sudden I was doing exercise without even realized that I was doing exercise. So it's just tricks on the mind, but it worked.

15:07Krutika Adatia:Well, your nan sounds like an incredible person, by the way, Josh.

15:10Josh Wintersgill:She's a good egg. Yeah.

15:12Krutika Adatia:Brilliant. I just want to ask you one more question actually. You mentioned that your resilience comes from your childhood. I'm just thinking, is resilience something that you are born with? Can it be cultivated?

15:22Josh Wintersgill:I think it's something that people learn. You'll have certain things that happen in your life where everything could be all hunky- dory, and then all of a sudden, you lose a family member, you lose a partner, a marriage ends, you have kids, you go in a different direction in life and you go, "Oh my God, what am I doing here?" And it's kind of like everyone gets to a stage in their life where they have to go through something that's difficult and that will naturally shape you as a person.

15:47Josh Wintersgill:And I think it's how you then deal with that afterwards that really then defines whether or not you're actually resilient or not. And I just think it's hard for some people because some people don't necessarily have a good support network around them. So it's then even harder. If you've got no one to lean on, it's where do I turn to? Where do I go next? So I'm not saying it's easy by any stretch, and I think that you learn through experience, life experiences, I'd say.

16:10Krutika Adatia:And what about other areas of your life? Have you had to deal with resilience there?

16:14Josh Wintersgill:Yeah, I mean, outside of kind of the business world, I've done various things, but one of the things I'm trying to do at the moment is become a Paralympian in air rifle. So I am on the Great British Pathway program at the moment, and shooting is one of those sports where it's very isolating. It's you and a rifle and you spend a lot of time in your own head. So if you've got a busy, hectic life going on outside, it's really difficult to stop that coming into your head when you're looking down a rifle, trying to shoot and stay still and as calm as possible. And I picked up the sport probably back in 2000 and I want to say 17, and I've gone through various stages. So going back to this, having a plan and having values and goals, I said to myself, " If I'm going to start out on this journey to do shooting, I want to get to the top." And that has always been my focus. And so in my spare time, I spend a lot of time training, traveling away from home. And it can be very debilitating at times when you're in cold ranges, you've got a lot going on in your head, you don't want to be there, but you know that you are capable of getting there and

17:23Josh Wintersgill:you're good enough. And there's always a conflicting battle in your head of, " Oh, I really should just stop doing this, but I enjoy it. I know I can get there." And then there's the financial issues of plowing loads of money into going to training because it's not cheap, and the cost of equipment is very expensive. And then when you're on the range, you're thinking, " Oh, I've got to do this for the business. I've got these other opportunities." And you've got loads of things on in your head.

17:50Josh Wintersgill:And so it sometimes can be very, very hard to channel all of that. But that I did get to a stage in my life a couple of years ago where I wasn't living in my own place. I was living with my nan, the business was really struggling, I had lost a very good relationship or what I thought was at the time, and it got me reflecting on a lot. And I just wanted to stop shooting. I wanted to stop the business. I was kind of struggling a little bit with my mental health, well, quite a lot actually. I was actually diagnosed with depression through COVID, which I didn't realize, and it was a really tough time. So all of these elements of not necessarily living independently, struggling with the business, questioning whether or not I should keep shooting, it was all very overwhelming. But it kind of all ties back into this why piece of why am I doing the shooting? Why did I set the business up? I know I'm capable of being so much more.

18:43Josh Wintersgill:And I think it's having that self- belief that you are capable. And I suppose when we were talking about these periods of long- term challenges or these long- term downsides, it's just making sure that you keep turning up for yourself every day. And it can be hard, but if you do it, hopefully you get to the other side. And I'd like to think I'm now at that other side and hopefully based on what I'm seeing from a financial point of view of the business and from my scores and everything in training as well, I'm on that upward trajectory now, which is quite exciting.

19:14Krutika Adatia:Thank you so much, Josh. And before we wrap up, just want to end with three strategies that you can give our listeners about becoming more resilient.

19:22Josh Wintersgill:Okay. Put can't in your pocket and pull out try is one of them. Always make sure that you have a plan because a plan is better than no plan. And then I would say just make sure that you go with your instinct and that whatever you choose to do is something that you enjoy doing because if it isn't, it's going to be a very, very uphill battle for you.

19:42Krutika Adatia:Brilliant. Thank you so much. That's it from this episode of On Your Marks. Thank you Josh for talking with me today. For more information about ACCA exams, you can go to www. accaglobal.com/ exams. See you next time. I'm Krutika Adatia and this is On Your Marks.