Victoria Beckham’s new Netflix documentary offers an unusually honest account of running a luxury fashion brand. While it showcases her journey to becoming a fashion designer, it also provides honest insights into the financial challenges her business faced.
Despite David Beckham’s financial support, the business was losing millions – and the documentary reveals how quickly costs got out of hand.
For business owners managing their own finances, these revelations offer surprisingly relevant lessons, writes Preesha Chhaya, founder of Beaver & Bee Chartered Accountants.
- When losses become the norm
Victoria’s brand was “millions in the red”, kept afloat by her husband’s investment. In some cases, when you have access to funding – whether from a wealthy spouse, business loans, or reserves – it becomes easier to accept ongoing losses as temporary rather than addressing fundamental problems.
You can convince yourself that this quarter will be better, or that once you land that big contract, everything will turn around. Meanwhile, the underlying issues – pricing, cost structure, or business model – remain unaddressed.
Financial reviews should answer a simple question: does this business make money? Not “will it make money eventually” or “would it make money if things were different,” but does it actually generate profit today? If the answer has been “not yet” for multiple years, you’re not in a temporary situation – you’re in a pattern.
- How spending escapes scrutiny
Victoria admitted that £70,000 being was spent annually on office plants with a further £15,000 for someone to water them. Aside from the office greenery budget, she revealed other excesses such as flying chairs from one side of the world to the other and 15 different linings for outerwear designs.
Every business has its version of this. Perhaps you’re paying for premium office space. Maybe you’re paying for advertising that stopped delivering results or rolling over memberships and subscriptions which rarely get used.
In many companies, certain costs become invisible. They’ve been in the budget so long that nobody questions them. The invoice arrives, gets approved, gets paid. Month after month, year after year.
Breaking this pattern requires scheduled spending reviews where everything gets questioned. Which expenses directly support revenue? Which support essential operations? Which are nice-to-haves that have crept into the budget? That third category is where money often disappears.
- Know the difference between looking successful and being successful
From the outside, Victoria Beckham’s brand looked successful. High profile fashion shows, celebrity clients, extensive media coverage – all the markers of a thriving business. However, the accounts showed something entirely different behind-the-scenes.
A beautiful brand doesn’t guarantee solid finances. This disconnect is particularly relevant in the Instagram age, where entrepreneurs are under constant pressure to project success. Your social media, your office, your team photos, your press mentions – they all contribute to a narrative that might not match the company’s bank balance. It’s easy to convince yourself – and others – that a strong brand means a strong business. But impressive visibility can mask serious financial problems.
Sometimes strategic investments in credibility pay for themselves through the business they generate. Sometimes they don’t. A great brand can help you charge more, attract better clients, and compete effectively – but the business fundamentals still need to work. Your pricing needs to cover costs. Your margins need to be healthy.
Looking successful and being financially successful are different achievements. You need both, but financial health comes first.
- Why you need advisors who’ll challenge you
Victoria acknowledged that people around her “were afraid to tell her no”.
For business owners, particularly those who built their companies themselves, this dynamic is common. People hesitate to challenge your decisions. They assume you know best.
But running a business without honest feedback is like navigating blind. You need people willing to tell you when something isn’t working, when costs are excessive, when strategies aren’t delivering results.
As a business owner, you’re brilliant at what you do. It’s also important to accept that not knowing everything isn’t weakness. It’s smart business. Surround yourself with advisors who understand finance, operations, and business management and explicitly invite challenge.
The people willing to tell you uncomfortable truths are protecting your business – even when it doesn’t feel that way.
- Growth needs to pay its own way eventually
Victoria’s business grew substantially – more staff, bigger shows, double digit revenue growth. The company wasn’t necessarily growing because it was financially successful – it was growing because it was propped up by investor money rather than the company’s own earnings.
There’s nothing inherently wrong with that. Many businesses need bank loans, investment or to dip into their own profit reserves to expand.
The question is whether you’re investing toward a strong business or just covering ongoing losses on a bigger stage. Sometimes you genuinely need capital to expand – new equipment, resources or to bridge timing gaps. The difference is whether your business model gets better with scale or whether the problem just gets more expensive.
Before expanding, assess your current position honestly. If you stayed your current size, would existing operations be profitable? If not, what needs to change? Will growth address those underlying issues, or simply magnify them?
Growth should eventually generate enough profit to fund itself. If it doesn’t, you’re building on shaky ground.
The bottom line
For business owners, Victoria’s experience serves as a reminder that no one is immune to financial mistakes – regardless of industry, scale, or wealthy investors.
The business owners who build sustainable businesses aren’t the ones who never struggle financially. They’re the ones who recognize when something isn’t working and address it directly, even when that means difficult decisions or uncomfortable admissions.
Victoria’s honesty about her journey offers a valuable reminder: the fundamentals matter, no matter who you are.