Secret
- Author:
- Keith Miller
- Business:
- Miller UK Limited
- Published:
- 10/11/2008 11:14:00
In 1991 when we were going through the recession, I was advised by my bank manager, my accountants, professional bodies and some businesses to, using a Geordie term, ‘bump the business.’ We had no orders, we had a huge amount of debt, and the bank pulled the loan and the overdraft facility from us. We really were up against it and we didn’t know which way to turn.
Everyone said, you owe quite a lot of money, why don’t you just open a separate bank account, go on holiday, and let the rest go. Go bankrupt basically.
I didn’t like that advice. I held an emergency meeting at the local pub with my brother and sister, and we said if we’re going to go bankrupt, let’s do it in big style. We sold all the assets that we had: the cars, trucks, everything that we had that we could sell. We then spoke to our suppliers and told them, yes we are going through a bit of a troublesome time, business has slowed down and we know we owe you some money. If you continue to supply us, we’ll pay so much each month off the old debt and we’ll keep the current debt up to order and pay the bills on time. If you don’t support us, you won’t get paid as you’ll put us into receivership. Because we were honest and transparent, we told everyone the story and explained the scenario and stuck to what we promised, we got through it.