Not true, I read every page on my commute to London this morning. Also unfair when we’ve worked with those people & still work with those people.
There are a number of factors at play here, to be honest with you.
If I recall correctly, this thread started like others on our forum, with our regulars - duke, muttley, jazzy, herring, lord, hammy, samki, galesgal, myself, and the others giving our usual blend of support, teasing, light criticism, and with an overall quite positive tone. There was the odd snarky comment from people who aren’t regulars (that I know of), but nothing major, nor unexpected, in a competitive and small area of business ‘selly telly’.
Alex soon joined in, was kind, was open-minded and came across as a really good guy. He explained that it was Simon’s channel and his attempt to fit into a niche that Simon thought he’d found in the market. It was clear that you were a very small team, and just from Alex’s comments, it was also clear that you get on well and were trying hard to make it work.
Later on, just before things went awry, I feel that other, new, or infrequent members started to comment regarding their view (perfectly legitimately) - these seemed to claim inside knowledge, and I thought were generally much more critical of the channel setup, and sometimes personally so of Simon. None of these posters are regulars here that I’m aware of, and although some have post counts higher than others, I hadn’t really heard of them before. They did, to me, seem to be workers from other channels - to go by their post contents.
So.
In the end, it failed, and it failed really quickly.
Quicker than anyone has seen - but that might’ve been to limit the damage to what you could manage (which is actually a very good way to do business, I think).
There’s a lot of good here - it seems your team all do respect each other, and unlike previously failed channels, you seem to still be getting orders out- so I’m certain that receivers have not been appointed. That’s a real credit to all of you, truly it is.
People are worried that you are still soliciting orders. Well, if orders are being delivered, and you hope to continue trading, albeit on an alternative platform, then solicit orders is what you must do. And provided they are delivered, (and, of course that is our worry) then it’s not our business - but I can see, from experience, how people are worried. It’s natural.
We all saw the Wicker debacle at a previous incarnation of IW and it left a very sour taste.
For me, Alex comes out of all of this not just blemish free but as a star.
I’ll not worry about buying from Alex, if I encounter him in the future.
And your team’s loyalty is a huge plus.
Remember, though, that working hard and having a heart of gold are, sadly, not the only things needed to make something work - think of the metaphor of rearranging the deckchairs on the titanic - it’s hard work, but unless it’s the right work, then it all is to no avail.
I think people, including me, do consider there surely must have been a degree of naivety in the senior staff, such that an unexpected charge would wipe out the company - that charge, however unwelcome, must have been contracted for, (no one can charge for what has not been agreed in writing) so presumably the cash flow forecasts simply didn’t come up to the experience of reality, which is just sad.
As to what we regulars know about life ‘on the inside’, well, we don’t.
Whether these newcomers with very jaded views do, well, I just don’t know.
But for us regulars, how could we?
We’d love for you to tell us, because all we see are the results. Some great, some not so great, some (like my own area of expertise- the watches, and I mean primarily the Chinese made tat) really poor.
But you stand or fall by your product, and whether people buy it. Not by the work you do, the effort you put in, or even (within reason) the visual output of the channel - working life is just like that, sadly.
I do wish all of you the very best. I want selly telly to continue, and to be fun. It needs to tone down some of the outrageous watch claims, but I’m not happy you have failed this time. And again - I wish you well.
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