How to beat the recession: One summer party, two stories to share

Two entrepreneurs. Two businesses. One recession. One business is booming, one isn’t. Why? Robert Craven explains.

It was summer 2008.

Alice ran a graphics studio. She employed 12 young artists and turned over a tad under £1m. Lovely lady. Lovely business.

Jason ran a web design company. He employed four webbies and turned over a tad under £350,000. Lovely man. Lovely business.

And then came the recession.

At a summer barbeque, Alice openly confessed to me: "We don't do all that marketing stuff. We hate it, all that asking for the business that you reckon small businesses should do. People know how good we are and that's an end to it!" She wouldn't listen to me.

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