These 7 Mistakes Broke My First Business, Don't Let Them Break Yours
The 7 Mistakes Broke My First Business, Don’t Let Them Break Yours.
These 7 things would have saved me.
Not just my business—but my sanity, my time, and my energy.
They would have stopped me from lying on the floor, staring at the ceiling, wondering how I was going to keep it all together.
They would have given me predictability, freedom, and control.
But I didn’t have them.
And that’s why I don’t want YOU to make the same mistakes I did.
Because if you don’t have these 7 things in place, you might already be feeling it—the stress, the unpredictability, the sense that your business is running you instead of the other way around.
By the end of this, you’ll know exactly what I should have built, and how to fix these problems before they crush your business (and you).
No. 7 is what I really needed! & so do most businesses.
1️⃣ Aftercare Campaigns – The Money I Left on the Table
I didn’t struggle with losing customers—I saw them weekly, fortnightly, or every four weeks like clockwork.
But what I did struggle with?
👉 The sheer amount of manual work it took to keep them engaged, informed, and buying more services.
We actually had a really solid system inside our CRM:
✅ We listed out every service we could offer across all 12 months of the year, broken into each season.
✅ For every customer, we marked a simple YES or NO to show whether a particular service could be provided in their garden.
✅ When the time of year rolled around, we’d filter all the YES customers and send them an email offering that service.
It was a great system for staying proactive, offering extra work, and filling seasonal gaps.
🔻 The Problem?
❌ Although we pre-wrote the emails, we still had to manually send the bulk email.
❌ Every month, we had to filter the list, group contacts, and send the emails.
❌ It wasn’t the messaging that took time—it was the repetitive manual process when it could have been fully automated.
🔹 What I Should Have Done?
Instead of filtering lists and manually sending emails, I could have:
✅ Automated the whole process.
✅ Added a simple link click so customers could express interest easily.
✅ Sent it to every customer despite it not necessarily being relevant to them.
✅ Added in monthly updates on ‘what to expect in your garden this month’ this would have reduced customer complaints & queries)
This single system would have saved dozens of hours every month and removed all the stress of managing customer outreach manually.
Now, we build this for businesses at Pink Panda—because time is your most valuable resource.
But this only applies to customers, what about prospects that haven’t yet bought?
💡 This is where the next step solves that problem...
2️⃣ A Nurture Campaign – The Prospects That Slipped Through My Fingers
Every business owner knows that prospect.
The one who was interested but “not ready yet.”
The one you spoke to, had a great conversation with, but they never became a customer.
And why?
Because I wasn’t nurturing them.
👉 I should have had an automated system sending monthly, value-packed emails to my prospects.
👉 Emails that built trust, educated them, and subtly positioned my business as the go-to solution.
👉 So that when they were finally ready, they wouldn’t go shopping around—they’d come straight to us.
Instead?
I let them slip away. Thousands in lost revenue, just gone.
Now, these would save massive problems- so many businesses are losing out on SO MUCH MONEY without doing this- don't be like me back then.
Next, to tackle one of the biggest time killers for me...
3️⃣ An Entire Portfolio of Content That Showed My Expertise (Instead of Keeping It In My Head)
I was creating a lot of content.
I had a clear system in my head.
And it became one of the biggest success secrets in my business.
I reverse-engineered my entire prospect-to-customer journey and asked myself:
👉 What are the questions prospects always ask me?
👉 What concerns, doubts, and issues come up again and again?
👉 Why have they had bad experiences with my competitors?
🚨 And here’s what I realised:
It was all predictable. The same concerns, the same objections, the same worries came up every single time when I met a new prospect.
And I thought:
❌ Why am I answering these over and over?
❌ Why not turn them into content so people already trust me before they even speak to me?
💡 So that’s what I did.
📌 I took every question I had been asked before, turned it into videos, blog posts, and FAQs, and let my content answer the questions before I even had to.
🔻 The Problem?
I knew what I wanted to say.
But…
❌ I didn’t have the expertise to create high-quality content myself (yet)
❌ I outsourced it, but the creatives didn’t think like business owners.
❌ They focused on making things shiny and polished- not effective.
🚨 I didn’t want flashy videos. I wanted my content to sell before I even had to. (yes, flashy is nice, but I wanted the key focus on selling)
That’s where I struggled.
🔹 What I Know Now (And What I Wish I Had Back Then)
Creating content shouldn’t take up your time as a business owner.
💡 You need a system.
And that’s what I spent years building a framework.
✅ To take your vision and identify who you need to reach.
✅ To extract every critical message you need to communicate.
✅ Then turn it into content that works like a 24/7 sales team.
We use our A.S.S. framework:
Awareness: Show people the problems they didn’t even realise they had.
Schooling: Teach them how to solve it (& position your business as the expert).
Showcasing: Prove you’re the best person to solve it for them.
The mistake I made?
I was trying to do this all myself.
I needed someone who could take my vision and turn it into content that got me in front of the right people before they ever met me.
And that’s exactly why I built Pink Panda- so business owners never have to waste time figuring this out alone & stop spending so much time talking to prospects when they could meet you ready to buy.
Having all that content is one thing, but just like the emails- you've got to get them out!
Bring on the next problem to solve...
4️⃣ An Automated System to Share That Content Before I Even Spoke to a Prospect
Here’s what I used to do:
🔻 Get a lead.
🔻 Manually send them info before and after a meeting.
🔻 Waste hours.
The worst part?
👉 It wasn’t scalable.
👉 It was inefficient.
👉 And I was leaking leads left and right.
Instead, I should have built an automated pre-sale content system—something that worked without me constantly managing it.
I had the content! Just not the system. But this isn’t just about automating emails.
🚀 This is where I developed the framework that now powers Pink Panda—The GPCP Method.
I read every book I could.
No.
I studied books.
Read, practise, apply, iterate. Repeat.
And after years of trial and error, I finally built what Pink Panda now implements for businesses.
👉 A system that turns attention into action, action into trust, and trust into customers.
👉 A system that automates relationship-building at scale.
I call it GPCP:
🎁 G – Gifts (Give Info Free To Sell)
💡 The bridge between content & conversion.
✅ Free, digital resources that deliver VALUE before asking for anything.
✅ Quizzes, free guides, templates & checklists- help your ideal client instantly.
✅ These bring people onto your domain—so you can capture their data, learn about them, and start converting.
→ This is what I was missing in my garden company.
I was putting out content, but I didn’t have an effective way to convert that attention into leads on autopilot.
💰 P – Prospect Offer (The First Buying Step)
💡 A small-ticket service that makes it easy for prospects to start working with you.
✅ It’s not your full service- it’s a low-risk, high-value way to get started.
✅ The moment someone pays even a small amount, they’ve made a commitment to working with you.
→ This moves people from “interested” to “engaged.”
🚀 C – Core Offer (The Main Service)
💡 This is your full, scalable offering.
✅ By the time they get here, they already trust you.
✅ They’ve consumed your GIFTs, engaged with your Prospect Offer & see your business as the solution they need.
→ This is where the revenue compounds.
📈 P – Profit Pump (Maximising Lifetime Value (LTV))
💡 This is where the real profit is.
✅ Once they’re a customer, how do you maximise their experience?
✅ This is where upsells, add-ons, and cross-sells turn a £1,000 customer into a £10,000 customer over time.
Your Profit Pumps are exactly what you edicate your customers in point 1, the Aftercare Campaign.
It seems so obvious to me now, but back then I was doing the best with the knowledge I had.
Yes, I used scheduling tools.
Yes, I planned content.
But I was still missing a system that did more than just post content.
❌ I wasn’t automating follow-ups & nurturing leads.
❌ I wasn’t leveraging engagement properly (comments, shares, discussions).
❌ I wasn’t systemising outreach to build my audience consistently.
If I had this in place, I would have:
✅ Spent less time chasing leads & more time closing them.
✅ Automated follow-ups that kept my brand in front of people.
✅ Had a seamless process that moved people from attention to action.
You should never be manually pushing leads through your pipeline.
👉 Your content should do it for you.
So, where do you find these new leads in the first place?
5️⃣ A Process for Constantly Reaching Out to New People
You know what happens when you stop doing outreach?
🚨 Your pipeline dries up.
And that’s what happened.
I had word of mouth, some referrals, and a great reputation.
But I was consistently growing my network, but I wasn't consciously growing it.
👉 I needed an automated outreach system that was constantly connecting me with new opportunities.
👉 I needed LinkedIn, email, & networking working together to bring in new conversations.
👉 I needed a process that never let me become invisible.
Without that?
I was stuck in feast-and-famine mode.
Even as I grew.
6️⃣ A Constant System for Finding Partnerships & Collaborations
I did a LOT of networking. (still do)
And don’t get me wrong—it works.
I get referrals. I build relationships. I pass work around.
🚨 But here’s the problem:
👉 I didn’t have a system for partnering.
👉 Nor a process.
👉 Or even a clear list of business categories I wanted to partner with.
I was actively doing it by chance.
But I didn’t have enough of a formal process.
I didn’t have a system for ensuring it worked at scale.
And that’s where I left a fortune on the table.
Partners can literally act as sales affiliates...
They’re business you work closely with to refer each other, businesses that have the same client base as you.
We’ve all heard of sales affiliates—people who take a 5-20% commission for sending leads.
The problem?
❌ They must go out, drum up business & actively chase leads.
❌ It takes way more effort to make those leads convert.
❌ they take a big chunk!
🚀 But the right partnerships?
✅ Your partner is already in front of your ideal customer.
✅ They can seamlessly connect your service to theirs.
✅ The lead is already warm & ready to buy.
This makes referrals instant, seamless, and way more effective.
In my first business, I had customers who needed other services all the time.
✅ They needed cleaning services.
✅ They needed landscapers.
✅ They needed tree surgeons.
✅ They needed car valets.
✅ They needed landscape architects.
Did I have structured agreements with businesses to formalise and maximise those referrals?
❌ No.
Don’t get me wrong, I work closely with people- but the system to pass EVERY CLIENT wasn’t there- when it should have been. 🚨
Who are your customers spending money with?
💡 What services are they looking for when they come to you?
💡 What businesses are serving your ideal customers before, during, or after they need you?
If you’re not actively partnering with those businesses, you’re missing out on hundreds of free, warm leads.
At Pink Panda, this is what I’m building right now.
And what do growing businesses need?
✅ Accountants to keep their finances on track.
✅ IT companies to ensure their systems don’t break.
✅ HR companies to help them hire & retain the best staff.
✅ Recruitment specialists to find top talent.
So, what are we doing?
💡 Building structured partnerships with all of them.
💡 Creating a system where we refer to each other on autopilot.
💡 Scaling trust, reciprocity, and shared success.
🚀 Here’s how it works:
✅ Imagine you have 100 customers.
✅ You partner with a business that ALSO has 100 customers.
✅ Over the next few weeks, you both introduce each other to your customers.
Boom—100 new leads, instantly.
Now, compound that with 5 solid partnerships.
👉 You introduce 100 people to four other businesses.
👉 In return, you get 400 introductions.
🤯 400 warm leads—without any extra work.
If I had this system in place years ago…
Business would have been a lot easier.
Now, for the big one.
If you’ve skipped straight to no.7 go back, you need the steps in order. This is most important & should be left till last.
7️⃣ A System to Attract & Filter Staff WITHOUT Wasting My Time
🚨 Let me be blunt:
My biggest mistake in business wasn’t marketing.
It wasn’t pricing.
It wasn’t even sales.
It was hiring and retaining staff.
And it has cost me millions.
Repeat...
Millions.
I was great at bringing people in—but terrible at keeping the right ones.
And it all came down to one fundamental mistake.
📌 The first impression.
I focused too much on vision.
Now, don’t get me wrong—vision, mission & values are critical if you want to build a great team.
(And if you think they aren’t, you’re already losing your best hires to competitors who have them)
💡 Your vision doesn’t have to be huge.
💡 It doesn’t have to be world-changing.
💡 It just has to be YOURS—and it has to attract people who align with it.
And I was amazing at selling my vision. (still am!)
I could draw people in.
I could hire at any time—because people were excited to work for me.
But the problem?
I set the bar high. Too high.
A month in & people were pissed. I’d alienated them & they’d be out the door.
So, I created a system that works...
📌 The Refined 5-Step Process That Finally Fixed My Hiring Struggles
I used to have a 17-step process.
Yes, SEVENTEEN.
It was bloated, inefficient, and still didn’t stop me from hiring the wrong people.
Now? It’s five steps.
And it works.
️1️⃣ The Job Ad
Forget the boring, generic job ads full of waffly corporate jargon.
💡 Instead of leading with “We’re an amazing team looking for X,” start with: “Here’s what sucks about working here.”
👉 Why does this work?
✅ It makes your ad stand out. Imagine that a sea of identical job descriptions...
✅ It filters out people who aren’t a fit BEFORE wasting your time.
✅ It shows honesty, authenticity, and self-awareness.
And when I finally tested this?
It worked better than anything I’d ever done.
The best people- the ones who were actually a fit—respected the honesty and wanted in anyway.
The ones who weren’t ready for the challenge?
Filtered themselves out.
Huge time saver.
2️⃣ Make it all about them
Most people start by pitching the company to candidates.
I do the opposite.
👉 I make them tell me about their ambitions, goals, and career dreams.
👉 I learn if their values, work ethic, and goals align with the business.
Because if they don’t?
It doesn’t matter how skilled they are.
They won’t last.
3️⃣ Test Them
Instead of jumping straight to interviews, I set a challenge.
Something small, relevant, and telling.
🔹 In my garden company? “Send me a quick video explaining how to prune your favourite plant.”
🔹 In Pink Panda? “Make a 3-minute video on your top marketing tips.”
👉 Why?
Because it instantly shows:
✅ Their ability to communicate.
✅ Their effort level.
✅ Their willingness to step up and engage.
And the ones who half-ass it or don’t even try?
🚨 Filtered out immediately.
4️⃣ Trial Them
At this stage, I still haven’t met them one-on-one.
Why?
Because I don’t want to waste time with the wrong people.
I used to rush into hires and then spend months regretting it.
Now, I trial them in real-world scenarios.
🔹 In my garden company? They’d do a trial shift with my team.
🔹 In Pink Panda? I run group trial sessions where candidates collaborate on a real marketing challenge.
💡 Why does this work?
✅ It shows me how they work under pressure.
✅ It lets my existing team give feedback before we bring someone in.
✅ It saves so much time filtering the wrong people out.
5️⃣ Indoctrinate Them
Yes, indoctrinate.
No, that’s not a typo.
This is the first one-on-one interview.
The only difference?
👉 By now, I already know so much about them.
👉 They already know everything about us.
👉 We’re not having a basic Q&A.
Instead?
🔹 I make them sell ME on why they should be here.
🔹 I show them the roadmap of what they’ll be building.
🔹 I go deep into the company’s vision, mission & values (they often already know it)
By the end of this, it’s either a hell yes or a hell no.
And the wrong hires?
They never even make it this far.
Then, hire.
And if I’d figured this out sooner?
I’d have a team of 25-50 staff running my business smoothly.
Don’t make the mistakes I made.
Don’t put yourself through that stress.
I would lay on the floor in my office wanting everything to be gone from my life- let my pain & my mistake be your lesson.
If I had these 7 systems in place,
I wouldn’t have gone through the burnout, stress & constant firefighting that nearly broke me.
That’s why I built Pink Panda—to make sure you don’t make the same mistakes.
👉 If this has inspired or motivated you, let’s grab a coffee- drop me a message & tell me how this article has helped.
Just save yourself the pain that I put myself through.
And go build the business into something beyond your dreams.
Take our QUIZ to see how effective your marketing is & how you can improve: https://pp.pinkpanda.london
