Looking at the multi-billion rand business that Margaret Hirsch and family are running, one would think it was all smooth sailing 1988, Hirsch’s was doing incredibly well. Margaret recalls that their house and cars had been paid off, and they had R2m in the bank. A friend advised them to buy another business that was owned by a man who wanted to retire. “I asked how much he wanted and he said R2m. And I thought to myself this must have been meant to be.”
They bought the business with no idea of the turmoil that was about to follow. “When he showed the books it seemed that he had paid everybody, but he had held back R3m worth of cheques he still needed to pay. “And the minute I signed on the dotted line and gave him my money, he released R3m worth of cheques. So I went from having R2m in my account to an R3m overdraft in one afternoon.”
In one day Margaret and her husband had lost everything they had worked for. They had to start all over again, this time with R3m in debt. She says, “We worked really hard to get it back.” With the courage to persist, they rebuilt their wealth from the ground. Margaret believes entrepreneurs need to learn from their mistakes. “The first time it is a mistake. The second time you are an idiot. So don’t make the same mistake twice,” she chuckles.