Maria Hatzistefanis - How to Make it Happen: Turning Failure into Success

Maria Hatzistefanis

HOW TO MAKE IT HAPPEN

Turning Failure into Success

Contents

About the Author

London-based beauty entrepreneur, Maria Hatzistefanis started her career as a beauty writer before moving to New York where she received an MBA from Columbia Business School. She founded her ground-breaking skincare group, Rodial, in 1999 by identifying a niche for treatments targeted to specific skin concerns, with evocative tongue-in-cheek names such as Snake Serum and Dragons Blood.

Maria now runs two brands Rodial and Nip + Fab with products selling through 20,000 doors across 35 countries worldwide. Today, the cutting-edge products are available in the most prestigious stores around the world, with support and praise from high profile names in the fashion and beauty industries.

Introduction: How I made it happen

No one is more shocked than I am. Im a bestselling author, Im @MrsRodial with over a million followers, Im the CEO of an international beauty brand, the Sunday Times s Style magazine says Im worth over 100 million, after 18-plus years Im an Overnight Success and Ive just finished my second book the one you are holding. I am rewriting the introduction because as of right now all of the above means nothing in fact its all gone horribly, horribly wrong.

Deep breath. Just say it. Im not worth 100 million. Far from it. In fact, as I write this Im in danger of going completely broke. Things are bad. Really bad.

Why am I telling you this? God knows Ive been trying to keep a lid on it for a while, so why you, why now? It seems Im not what you think I am, so why should you listen to anything I have to say about business or success now?

You should listen because I am not a quitter and, shocking as this whole situation is to me, I know I will get through this. The lessons I learn will make me stronger. This is a mountain to climb for sure, but its just another mountain. Ill reach the top, Ill conquer it. I have faith.

Thats what this whole book is about. Its about believing you can do it believing you can make it happen. As my business problems swirled around me I had put this book on the back burner, but then I came to realise that everything I needed to know and use to get through these problems I had just written down right here, handily separated into chapters. However, the fun intro Id written didnt sit right any more: name-dropping tales of jet-setting and Fashion Week parties werent working for me given the current situation. I took a deep breath and decided to rewrite this introduction, and tell you that this is what life and business are really like. There is failure, there is rejection, there is pain. This book gives you the naked truth about how I face up to life and business, and how these lessons will help to get me up that mountain. I hope they help you too.

OK, Ive been vague so far, but I guess youd like to know what actually happened.

Despite 20 years in the business Im still new to this Ive never run a company thats been going for 20 years before! It was my fault: I just couldnt stop saying yes. Yes to this, yes to that. I was going with my gut these were great opportunities. The stores will give us more space for more product, orders will be huge, well double the business suddenly we had 60 product launches all happening over the course of 120 days. Thats one product launch every two days! No one was properly checking how all this would work in terms of cash flow, but we have always pushed the boundaries and danced on the edge a little. This is another bold move, sure, but it will all be a grand success. Wont it?

It all comes suddenly into sharp focus when my financial controller calls for an urgent meeting. She doesnt mess about, she just tells me straight. We are about to go 2 million under and only have an overdraft of 600,000. For a company that is turning over tens of millions and has always been profitable, this is shocking. I am numbed. A cold wave washes over me as I shiver and blink out of a stunned daze and back into the room. OMG. How are we going to pay salaries, suppliers anybody? Am I going to be bankrupt, am I going to get sued, am I going down? Btw, what colour are the jumpsuits in debtors prison? Something hideous no doubt. OK, snap out of it, this is serious.

I immediately call the bank to try to get a bigger overdraft. They suggest they might be able to squeeze me in for lunch in about two weeks? TWO WEEKS!?!? This is a life or death situation over here! I dont have two weeks! OK, can I send them a detailed plan of how we will get out of the red? Action stations! For 48 hours myself and a small, trusted team worked on the plan no sleep, lots of coffee, lots of numbers it looks good. This will work. Send to the bank.

After an agonising wait they come back to me no solutions, just more questions! Arrgh! My bank is really letting me down. Meanwhile, days have passed and the situation has got worse. My phone is red hot. I have suppliers, landlords, salaries all overdue. We are behind on Every. Single. Payment.

Time for drastic action. First I call my suppliers and work out a payment plan. These are the most difficult, humbling calls I have ever had to make but I have great suppliers and they (mostly) agree to the terms to give me some time. I am in need of a therapist, a coach and multiple meditations to get through the day.

Next I cut down all the office budgets. Staffing, PR events, digital, office biscuits all slashed. My staff are confused, obviously, and it occurs to me that I still havent told them. I cant, its just too hard. Well be fine theyll never know. Just a few more days, but those days are long and I want to keep this contained. Loose Lips Sink Ships.

Now Im taking control of stock orders, and stopping or delaying as many things as I can to reduce future payments. We have to go out of stock on several lines. There is no other way. My sales teams are screaming at me to re-stock but Im telling them to drive sales, we need new business to keep going. Im attacking this from every angle I can and my teams are getting really pissed off and confused, but they are not the ones having sleepless nights. I dont I cant care what they think or say. I have to do what I can to save my business.

Finally, the bank calls. They will increase my overdraft to 1 million for one month. Great news but with a catch. They want personal guarantees. Meaning if I dont repay the million at the end of the month they will take my personal possessions. Ill be homeless, my kids wont have a school to go to, Ill have nothing. Being an entrepreneur is not for the faint at heart. I feel like I have been hit by a car.

Did it work? Am I homeless? Do the debtors prison jumpsuits suit my skin tone?

Well, Im not homeless yet. It did work, I did pay back the overdraft and am still in business. But it was a hard lesson and its not over yet. We are still paying back suppliers, catching up on debts, keeping a close eye on the office biscuit budget. I am still learning, just the same as I was when I started out.

Now as then, I realised that I just had to have faith. I had to have faith I could get through this, that I would find the answers, that it would all be all right. Just as 20 years ago I had to have faith that this crazy business idea would work. Even at the darkest times I had the faith that I could Make It Happen.

In the middle of all of this stress and panic, when I was still putting on a business as usual face, one of the things I had to do was a speak at a conference. Here I was, being touted as an inspirational business woman when I knew the ship was going down in flames underneath me.

At the event, everyone thinks I am in control, but everything is moving around me so quickly. It is not a winning season Is this it? Is this a failure too far?