I have a routine every Saturday morning. Unless I am away or there is something I must go and do, I have the same routine every week, and have done so for many years. After I have got up and showered, done my exercises, and had breakfast, the first part of the day is spent in front of my computer. Not very exciting, I know, but it is just one of my rituals, and we all need rituals, don’t we?
Over the years I have spent that first hour on a Saturday catching up on tax and accounting, watching various training videos. But for the last couple of years, I have spent my “Saturday hour” watching recordings of live presentations by some interesting and impressive speakers. I am a member of BNI and I access these videos through the BNI website, although you can pick them up on YouTube as well. Anyone can watch them.
Anyway, this morning, I watched a fascinating presentation by Adam Markel. He is from New Jersey in the States and for 18 years he was a lawyer working long hours and doing all those things that lawyers, accountants and the rest do, to earn a living in their professions. After 18 years and a bit of a health scare, he adjusted his life, and by making the small adjustments to his life over a few years completely transformed his life, eventually leaving the legal profession and becoming a successful speaker with a multimillion dollar training company. You can see what he does at adam.markel.com. I must say that I have not met many lawyers like that….. or accountants!
There is obviously a lot that he has to say and even in my hour this morning there was a lot of content, but one thing that he said resonated with me. You see, he has written a book called Pivot. In that book is a chapter on resilience. In his presentation he said that the book was in reality about resilience and a chapter in the book of resilience is Pivot.
It struck me at that moment that I knew a team that epitomised that very thought. The guys at Cru Holdings in Inverness operate 6 venues between Inverness and Nairn and make their living through their bars and restaurants. Then Covid derailed everything. So, what did they do. Well, just like so many other retail businesses they moved online. How do you take a bar online? They launched MYXD. Check it out at www.myxd.co.uk.
They create premium handcrafted cocktails, inspired by your favourite drinks, delivered direct to your door with free delivery on orders over £40 within the UK. So, you go online, order you favourite cocktail, or a box of your favourite cocktails and sit back and await delivery. Now, I have never really been a cocktail drinker, but I am assured that these cocktails are something rather special. The concept worked and the business is going from strength to strength.
They have delivered thousands of drinks to customers in its first year of trading serving customers across the UK from its base in Inverness, providing premium mail-order cocktails that allow people to enjoy their favourite drinks at home. Founded in June last year by award-winning mixologist Grant Murray, the firm aims to bring the bar experience to people’s homes.
So what comes first, the resilience or the pivot. Adam Markel says that resilience is the ability to experience setbacks or failures and use them to create momentum. What the guys at Cru have done and Grant Murray in particular, is to experience Covid and out of that experience created something which could one day be their biggest and most successful business. So, their pivot came as a direct result of their reliance.
Let me ask you a question. Of all the hospitality businesses that experienced Covid, how many have turned it to their advantage in such a spectacularly successful way?
Some of us like to think we are resilient because we can endure all the knocks that life has thrown at us without buckling, but what have we actually achieved apart from just managing to continue to exist.
The guys at Cru have show us all the real meaning of reliance.
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Alan E Long
The Long Partnership
07770 738770
