22nd February 2026.
Opening Reflection
I must say, I can’t get my head around something.
Why would someone spend years learning the theory of business — studying case studies, balance sheets, strategy frameworks — and then never go on to actually run a business?
I read recently that most people with an MBA never start or run a company. The qualification becomes a benchmark for climbing the corporate ladder.
For me, that’s like a boxer studying the theory of boxing but never stepping into the ring.
Because the truth is simple:
No amount of theory prepares you for the reality of running a business.
⸻
How Good Are You With Uncertainty?
I’ve been running my own business for over 20 years. No textbook would have prepared me for the emotional rollercoaster — the highs, the panic, the supplier disasters, the cashflow squeezes, the unexpected wins.
The most useful question anyone thinking about starting a business should ask themselves is this:
How good are you with uncertainty?
What do you do when you get punched in the face?
What do you do when you’re hit so hard you land on the floor?
That isn’t taught in classrooms. Those blows are between you and your character. They expose parts of your personality you may never have examined.
Business is less about intelligence and more about temperament.
⸻
Pivoting Is the Real Skill
If I’ve learned anything over the decades, it’s that adaptability is everything. The modern term is “pivot”.
When I started The Black Farmer, I didn’t wake up thinking, “I’m going to sell sausages.” I actually started making sauces. But after several months it became painfully obvious it wasn’t going to work. Crowded market. Wrong timing. Wrong positioning.
No amount of belief would fix that.
So I pivoted. Fast.
That pivot led me to launching gluten-free sausages — which became the breakthrough.
Here’s something I rarely hear said openly:
I don’t know anyone whose original business plan worked exactly as written.
Business plans are a useful discipline. But sticking rigidly to one can be fatal.
And that’s where investors complicate things. When people invest, they invest in the theory — the business plan. If you turn around six months later and say, “Actually, we’re not doing farm shops anymore — we’re doing surfing holidays,” that creates tension.
Which is why I’m a huge advocate for founders spending a long time discovering what their business really is before bringing in outside money.
The theory stage is the most dangerous time to add investors.
⸻
Hope as a Business Tool
I’ve spoken before about my cancer journey. Hope was not a fluffy concept during that time — it was survival.
And in business, hope plays a similar role.
This week, what started as a small launch with NBC Production has now multiplied into catering lunches for them. Something I could never have predicted. A godsend in a tight cashflow moment.
From shopkeeper to caterer — who would have thought?
It’s a reminder that opportunity often hides behind what initially looks like a small job.
Hope carries you through when cash is tight, customers are hesitant, and the weather is cold. Hope doesn’t solve the problem — but it keeps you in the fight long enough to find a solution.
⸻
When Life Intervenes
Being an employer means navigating human realities that textbooks never mention.
This week several members of staff asked if they could work from home during Ramadan. Fasting all day and then commuting without food is not easy.
These are the real-life considerations of running a business. It’s not just margins and marketing — it’s people, faith, empathy, practicality.
Business is human before it is commercial.
⸻
The Opportunity You Didn’t Plan For
It amazes me how life turns.
I thought I was building a farm shop selling artisan groceries and gift boxes. Yet suddenly, catering looks like a significant opportunity.
That’s what happens when you stay open. The market tells you what you are — not your original plan.
⸻
A Pub That Isn’t Just a Pub
This week I recorded a podcast with Suzie Stride at the Blue Dogs venue in Waterloo. It’s technically a pub — but it’s also a bowling alley, an experiential space, and a podcast studio.
It’s not transactional. It’s immersive.
And it left me thinking: what could we do as a brand to create that sort of layered experience?
Retail cannot just be about shelves anymore. It has to be about environment, atmosphere, connection.
⸻
What AI Can’t Replace
One of the greatest privileges of running experiential retail is meeting extraordinary people. Listening to their stories. Hearing about their lives.
That interaction with strangers — that spontaneous exchange — has been eroded by transactional high streets and online shopping.
I still believe this deeply:
What will trump AI, speed, and price is authenticity and relationships.
Technology can assist. It can optimise. It can enhance.
But it cannot replace genuine human connection.
⸻
Closing Reflection
Business is not theory. It’s not tidy. It’s not predictable.
It’s character under pressure.
It’s adaptability in chaos.
It’s hope when logic says quit.
If you can pivot.
If you can endure uncertainty.
If you can stay open to opportunity you didn’t plan for.
Then you might stand a chance.
And as long as hope is my companion, I’ll keep walking through this dense forest of hesitation and uncertainty.
Onwards.
