Running your own business often means you will face many challenges. From the logistics to pleasing customers there are often times when it is tough.
Another key skill is knowing when to realise that maybe the business doesn't have a future and accepting it is time to walk away. This is a lesson Ryan Powell, who is from Bridgend, knows all too well.
He successfully made £100,000 in 30 days, during the height of the coronavirus pandemic, and lost it all. From reaching the highs of making £10,000 to everything crashing down and losing it all Ryan has experienced everything running a business has to offer.
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In November 2020, after going on a Tinder date to a drive-in cinema, Ryan decided he could run his own drive-in cinema. Despite having no experience in this area of business Ryan, who is 25, decided to give it a go.
He said: “I was like ‘I can do that’...surely it is just an inflatable screen and projector, it can’t be that hard.”
At the time Ryan was running a children's events company which was struggling to run during the pandemic due to restrictions. He said: “We were in desperate need…normally when people’s brain comes up with something like that you come up with all the reasons why you shouldn’t just start a business you have no idea how to run!”
After Googling if there were any drive-in cinemas at Bridgend or Porthcawl Ryan decided to go for it with his business partner Jake Weller. After using only social media to advertise, by asking 100 people to post about the cinema on Facebook in return for half-priced tickets, there was a huge demand.
And this was before Ryan had even set up the business, Firefly Cinemas, properly. He said: “It was bonkers. I had no experience of doing it...Our tactic was Chinese whispers, we stirred up hype for something that didn’t yet exist.”
Soon Ryan had sold out of tickets before he even had a screen. In 30 days Ryan had sold £100,000 worth of tickets and was successfully running a drive-in cinema at Porthcawl and a drive-through pantomime (on a screen) in Porthcawl, Cardiff, and Merthyr Tydfil.
However, trouble hit when a midnight lockdown was announced in December 2020 by the Welsh government. This meant that Ryan had to cancel and postpone many of his upcoming cinemas.
Aiming to re-run the cinema in April 2021 Ryan had everything in place but after checking with the local Porthcawl council they had to push the cinema for another week, at the last moment. This began to cost Ryan a lot of money and his £100,000 was slipping away.
Further problems such as bad weather, relocating, and then not having a licence to run the cinema meant eventually it was time for Ryan to admit defeat and close the business down. He said:
“You learn a lot about yourself…because it cost us so much time and energy and it was really hard, I don’t think I wanted to admit that the pandemic was a problem. So I kept going, kept putting on more events.”
“It is a really hard thing to accept because you put so many hours in.”
With the business failing around him Ryan lost his £100,000 and was forced to re-evaluate and accept what had happened. He said: “When that all came crashing down I had to move back in with my parents, which is proper gutting, I took a few months out...it was certainly very difficult."
Now Ryan is back on his feet running a marketing agency and his children's events business. He spoke about how he remains motivated since the experience.
He said: “It’s kind of a game…I am kind of like go hard or go home with it. To reach the really really high highs there has to be the lows.”
“I really do believe in getting one percent better each time...I am huge on legacy…to build something that stays here even when I am dead.”
Ryan has also written a book about his experiences called "How I made £100,000 in 30 days and how I lost it all" which will be available in early July.
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