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Last month Brendan Donnelly announced he was shutting his business, Coniston Stonecraft. Here he writes about that difficult decision and his plans for the future

Brendan says: "After winning a hatful of awards and almost repairing Coniston Stonecraft, the broken business I bought out of administration just before Covid struck in 2020, my small business has finally folded. The implications for staff, customers and suppliers are obvious, but what about the implications for me, a 60-year- old serial entrepreneur, who finds himself skint and jobless?

To have your dreams crushed is never easy, especially when for four and a half years it has occupied every waking minute of your time. The downsides of Closing Coniston Stonecraft have been many, my family's finances are destroyed, and with my daughter still at college that's very hard to accept. My pension is gone (Foolishly used in an attempt to keep solvent), my employment prospects to make good these issues are equally crushed: who would want to employ a 60-plus year-old ex- business owner? Please tell me if you see an advert where these qualities are required because despite trawling through the Internet neither age nor experience seem to be the prized asset that the lucky few in employment seem to believe.

So what to do? Well I could easily spiral into an abyss of self pity, drink and endless dog walking, but I believe you must face adversity as you face a business challenge and formulate a plan.

In my 50s I co-authored a book. I enjoyed that whole process and could happily write another, but this time by myself, after all I've got a fascinating story about Red List heritage craft manufacturing on the slopes of the county palatine's highest mountain to tell. Although Stonecraft didn’t survive we achieved some marvellous things in our sales efforts (supply agreements with Fortnum and Mason, Booths, etc.)

I feel that I still have too much to give to merely accept the life of a househusband and so I will look to use my experience in useful ways, I'm a qualified mentor so may be able to take part in government-funded mentoring programmes for SMEs and I have a business coaching slow selling to SMEs. My experience of selling is surely a saleable commodity, by most measures I've had a very successful career in sales. I stick rigidly to my slow selling principles preferring to build trusting long term relationships and win-win solutions rather than pursuing a simple old-fashioned sale to generate a commission.

I don't want to work all the time selling the same thing but I'm sure I can make a difference to a small company with a decent product (no prizes for guessing I won’t be selling Chinese imports).

So there you have it, too old to rock'n'roll but too young to retire, you've got to make your own happy place, a future. The disappointment of dashed dreams must make way for the possibilities of new challenges, doing good, and helping others, learning from my mistakes and still growing. I hope it leads me to some form of salvation and I'm sure that in one of these guises I can help, and if that person/organisation in need of help is you then why not get in touch. Tomorrow is a new day, let’s make it a better day…let's go."