Entrepreneurs Circle (EC) founder Nigel Botterill has revealed how his multi-million-pound business nearly collapsed twice but emerged stronger each time, offering critical lessons for business owners facing adversity.

Speaking to SME Today, Botterill detailed how EC survived a £600,000 financial black hole in 2015 and a potentially devastating pandemic crisis in 2020, ultimately doubling in size and recently securing a £4 million property investment to fuel future growth.

“The old saying that a smooth sea never made a good sailor also applies to business, explains Botterill.

“Every super successful entrepreneur has gone through some storms. 10 years ago, I almost lost my entire business. Fortunately, I got through the storm, but it was by quite some margin the hardest, most difficult and most challenging period of my entrepreneurial career.”

The first crisis struck in January 2015 when Botterill discovered nearly £600,000 missing from company accounts due to financial mismanagement. This led to a Creditors Voluntary Arrangement (CVA) allowing debt repayment over five years.

Rather than concealing difficulties, Botterill chose radical transparency with customers, generating extraordinary support that strengthened relationships.

When COVID-19 hit in March 2020, EC faced another existential threat when its major convention was cancelled days before the event. Expenses had been paid, but no revenue had been generated.

Botterill rapidly pivoted to create “Operation Protect” – transforming the cancelled in-person event into a virtual experience that attracted over 6,000 participants.

By offering free three-month memberships, EC gained 2,500 new members in one afternoon, many converting to paying customers. This bold move effectively doubled the business size during a period when many competitors were scaling back operations.

Botterill credits his wife Sue’s unwavering support as crucial to his survival: “I don’t know how an entrepreneur or business owner succeeds over the medium term without a completely supportive partner.”

Even at 59, Botterill continues to demonstrate entrepreneurial drive, recently taking on significant debt to purchase a £4 million building – creating a platform for EC’s next growth phase and challenging conventional retirement thinking.

His definition of success has evolved from financial metrics to impact measurement, focusing on EC’s ability to change lives through helping business owners access previously unimaginable opportunities, improving family lifestyles, creating jobs, and increasing charitable contributions from members.

Nigel Botterill’s advice on his biggest business battles and getting out of the sh*t:

If you are finding things tough in your business right now, these five lessons that I learned when the shit really did hit the fan will hopefully be helpful:

1. Get clear and specific.
   You have to have all the facts. What I discovered is that when you know exactly what the situation is, there are usually solutions, but most of the stress comes when there’s uncertainty.
   Exactly how much do you owe to every creditor?
   Exactly how much are you owed by your customers?
   Just focusing on collecting the cash can make a big difference.
   Giving yourself targets and not being easily put off by people that owe you can be the difference between surviving or dying. In my experience, when we’ve got certainty and an accurate picture, there’s nearly always solutions.

2. Get good advice.
   Getting good advice can be the difference between living and dying. Truth is, most accountants are rubbish. They’re spread too thin and they don’t give clients the practical help that they really need.

   Sometimes it’s an Insolvency Practitioner that you need to talk to. That’s the route I went down. I ended up putting my business into a CVA (Creditors Voluntary Arrangement) which meant I kept full control of everything and agreed with all my creditors to repay them in full over five years – which we did.

   This was transformational for me and overnight all the pressure and stress dissipated – but it wouldn’t have happened if I hadn’t talked with the right people.

3. Don’t hide from the true situation.
   Being able to think accurately and see an honest picture of where you’re at is paramount to fixing it.
   If you bury your head in the sand, pretend it’s not really happening, or wish that it just wasn’t, then you’re on the road to rack and ruin. No ostriches allowed in business!

4. Compartmentalise
   When you are in deep shit, it can be genuinely overwhelming and it sucks every minute of your waking day and quite a bit of your sleep time as well!

   It’s critical that you’re able to compartmentalise and free up at least a couple of hours each day to drive the business forward, to focus on the selling, on the follow-up, on the things that will bring in revenue and give you a path to a brighter future.

   If you spend all your time just dealing with the mess, then the likelihood is that you’ll wither and die.

5. Cash is what matters most.
   It might seem obvious, but I’ve met plenty of people who’ve taken solace in the profit numbers showing on their P&L. Truth is when you’ve got cash, you can survive, but when you ain’t got cash, you die.
   So focus on the cash. It’s why my Statement of Cashflows is the first piece of Management Info I look at every month. It’s often easier to get cash than most people realise, and taking on some debt can be a really positive thing for lots of businesses – and it gets you out of a hole.

In May this year, Entrepreneurs Circle moved into their new 15,000 sq ft HQ on Blyth Valley Business Park. Hundreds of members have already visited, as part of EC’s all-encompassing package of business growth workshops EC Plus+.

“This is way more than bricks and mortar,” added Nigel. “It’s a platform. It’s a signal of intent. It’s EC, turned up a notch. What I learned in those dark days of 2015 has made me a much more effective and better business owner. If I can help more entrepreneurs through their battles and onto bigger, brighter, bolder things, well, that’s an impact that I can be really proud of.”

You can listen to Nigel’s story on YouTube