Self made and successful
Discussion
Hi all. Has anyone on here started a business at some time in their life and has it actually took off and bought you money and success? I love hearing people's success stories when they have started a business, built it up and made a good living for themselves. Not necessarily become a millionaire but just comfortable enough to afford nice cars, nice big house, holidays etc. What line of work are you in and how long did it take? Particularly anyone on here become successful of building/trade work?
Speaking personally only (!) This is PH we are all powerfully built business demi gods who can teach Surralan a thing or two.
Not little rotund flabby gits dreading the VAT bill and struggling with GDPR.
Seriously if you find my “starting again” post it details sitting in my undies wondering what to do to sitting in my jeans wondering what I’m doing.
Not little rotund flabby gits dreading the VAT bill and struggling with GDPR.
Seriously if you find my “starting again” post it details sitting in my undies wondering what to do to sitting in my jeans wondering what I’m doing.
I suppose I qualify 
Started my business in 1997 and we’re still trading and I employ 11 people full time and many contractors as and when.
We build exhibition stands worldwide albeit this months life is a bit challenging!
I started at a time in my life when I decided to:
Leave my well paid job as a Sales Manager
Leave my wife/lovely children and get a divorce
Work in an industry I knew a bit about but not a lot
Perhaps a 33 year old mid-life crisis?
The first few months were spent in a fleapit bedroom and they were tough but I don’t remember giving up
I then moved into a house and used my bedroom as my office. I used to spend the evenings writing lists of potential clients from an old tatty Thomson Local whilst eating pot noodles or whatever only to spend the next day calling and pretending to be a much bigger company than I was or would probably ever be!
I remember thinking out of the box and for example when we sold a roller banner or pop-up display stand I would attached a label. The label was the best I could afford, glossy and with the best glue I could afford. Each label had a barcode on and as a result clients would leave the labels on the product thinking it was important.
What they didn’t know was I had 5000 labels with exactly the same barcode........
As a direct result of those labels we picked up Marks and Spencer, Waitrose and HSBC as clients who over a period of some years before the financial crash spent probably close to £2 to £3 Million with us - quite good for a £500 spend on labels!
I moved on from my bedroom to a room/office in the gasworks in Sutton (now gone) and myself and my wife worked there for a few years before we employed and subsequently moved to West Sussex.
After a year or three and now with more staff I decided to buy our own buildings and we moved into those about 12 years ago.
My company may not be the biggest in the world but we are financially secure and regardless of the fact only this week we have lost nearly £100,000 of work due to the virus we will be around fo the forceable future and until I get bored with it.
The buildings are paid for, I live in a decent mortgage free house, drive a new M5 (have had a selection of pretty decent metal which makes me smile as a petrolhead!), my Mrs still works with us and we have great a great standard of living.
I work hard, to be fair most who own a business work very hard and it’s not fun all of the time. We are constantly met with challenges that we have to find answers for, often common sense prevails and that’s the best course of action.
It’s not been easy but I wouldn’t have it any other way.
Not too shabby for a boy who got kicked out of boarding school in 1978 because I stayed out the night with my girlfriend and I was walked out of the gates of a fairly famous school I was told in no uncertain terms I was a waste of space and a loser in life.........
I have thought on occasion......those who can do, those who can’t teach
Started my business in 1997 and we’re still trading and I employ 11 people full time and many contractors as and when.
We build exhibition stands worldwide albeit this months life is a bit challenging!
I started at a time in my life when I decided to:
Leave my well paid job as a Sales Manager
Leave my wife/lovely children and get a divorce
Work in an industry I knew a bit about but not a lot
Perhaps a 33 year old mid-life crisis?
The first few months were spent in a fleapit bedroom and they were tough but I don’t remember giving up
I then moved into a house and used my bedroom as my office. I used to spend the evenings writing lists of potential clients from an old tatty Thomson Local whilst eating pot noodles or whatever only to spend the next day calling and pretending to be a much bigger company than I was or would probably ever be!
I remember thinking out of the box and for example when we sold a roller banner or pop-up display stand I would attached a label. The label was the best I could afford, glossy and with the best glue I could afford. Each label had a barcode on and as a result clients would leave the labels on the product thinking it was important.
What they didn’t know was I had 5000 labels with exactly the same barcode........
As a direct result of those labels we picked up Marks and Spencer, Waitrose and HSBC as clients who over a period of some years before the financial crash spent probably close to £2 to £3 Million with us - quite good for a £500 spend on labels!
I moved on from my bedroom to a room/office in the gasworks in Sutton (now gone) and myself and my wife worked there for a few years before we employed and subsequently moved to West Sussex.
After a year or three and now with more staff I decided to buy our own buildings and we moved into those about 12 years ago.
My company may not be the biggest in the world but we are financially secure and regardless of the fact only this week we have lost nearly £100,000 of work due to the virus we will be around fo the forceable future and until I get bored with it.
The buildings are paid for, I live in a decent mortgage free house, drive a new M5 (have had a selection of pretty decent metal which makes me smile as a petrolhead!), my Mrs still works with us and we have great a great standard of living.
I work hard, to be fair most who own a business work very hard and it’s not fun all of the time. We are constantly met with challenges that we have to find answers for, often common sense prevails and that’s the best course of action.
It’s not been easy but I wouldn’t have it any other way.
Not too shabby for a boy who got kicked out of boarding school in 1978 because I stayed out the night with my girlfriend and I was walked out of the gates of a fairly famous school I was told in no uncertain terms I was a waste of space and a loser in life.........
I have thought on occasion......those who can do, those who can’t teach
Edited by HoHoHo on Wednesday 4th March 21:13
Five years after graduating I was made redundant from an ad agency, and as there was a recession, couldn't find the next step on the treadmill. Then I had one brilliant idea - to use the skills and clients and suppliers from my agency days but to supply without the overheads (of 20 staff and two greedy directors) and go direct. That was pre-internet; when the web took hold the rug was pulled and after a few low years my hobby of (analogue) photography evolved into digital. Through a lucky break (on PH!), I found a niche in wedding photography. Not massive turnover, but infinite profit. And the surplus was always saved and invested. So I had one B2B business that was killed by the internet, and one very different B2C business that was designed around it. Never incorporated because it wasn't necessary and had no benefits for me. With no family to support, to use a cricketing term, I declared at 51. The slight downside is that whilst I'm always looking for things to do and people to play with, my friends are still slaving away for 5 days out of 7 with the only goal seemingly being a pension.
I've never worked hard, I worked smart. I loved every job I got; for me work was treasured - because it made money and if I did a good job I might get another one. I made sure I was never the slowest soldier in the chain. I did stuff right and I made sure it was right first time - because if a mistake got through, I'd be the one looking stupid. I owned every job and loved what I did. My friends all seem to hate their PAYE jobs, despite the fact they put a guaranteed amount of cash into their banks every month. Weird.
I've never worked hard, I worked smart. I loved every job I got; for me work was treasured - because it made money and if I did a good job I might get another one. I made sure I was never the slowest soldier in the chain. I did stuff right and I made sure it was right first time - because if a mistake got through, I'd be the one looking stupid. I owned every job and loved what I did. My friends all seem to hate their PAYE jobs, despite the fact they put a guaranteed amount of cash into their banks every month. Weird.
HoHoHo said:
I remember thinking out of the box and for example when we sold a roller banner or pop-up display stand I would attached a label. The label was the best I could afford, glossy and with the best glue I could afford. Each label had a barcode on and as a result clients would leave the labels on the product thinking it was important.
What they didn’t know was I had 5000 labels with exactly the same barcode........
As a direct result of those labels we picked up Marks and Spencer, Waitrose and HSBC as clients who over a period of some years before the financial crash spent probably close to £2 to £3 Million with us - quite good for a £500 spend on labels!
Sounds very interesting. I didn’t understand how the barcodes got you clients? Would you mind explaining?What they didn’t know was I had 5000 labels with exactly the same barcode........
As a direct result of those labels we picked up Marks and Spencer, Waitrose and HSBC as clients who over a period of some years before the financial crash spent probably close to £2 to £3 Million with us - quite good for a £500 spend on labels!
Edited by HoHoHo on Wednesday 4th March 21:13
shopper150 said:
HoHoHo said:
I remember thinking out of the box and for example when we sold a roller banner or pop-up display stand I would attached a label. The label was the best I could afford, glossy and with the best glue I could afford. Each label had a barcode on and as a result clients would leave the labels on the product thinking it was important.
What they didn’t know was I had 5000 labels with exactly the same barcode........
As a direct result of those labels we picked up Marks and Spencer, Waitrose and HSBC as clients who over a period of some years before the financial crash spent probably close to £2 to £3 Million with us - quite good for a £500 spend on labels!
Sounds very interesting. I didn’t understand how the barcodes got you clients? Would you mind explaining?What they didn’t know was I had 5000 labels with exactly the same barcode........
As a direct result of those labels we picked up Marks and Spencer, Waitrose and HSBC as clients who over a period of some years before the financial crash spent probably close to £2 to £3 Million with us - quite good for a £500 spend on labels!
Edited by HoHoHo on Wednesday 4th March 21:13
The label had the company contact details, nicely designed and printed along with shat looked like an individual barcode.
My thought process was simply to reduce the possibility of a client removing the label I had to make it look like it had a function. The barcode idea gave the label a sense of importance and would therefore it had a greater chance of being left stuck on the product in full view of those who might like to see who supplied it.
You have to remember 20 years ago or so roller banners and that type of product we’re all new and exciting and when a buyer from HSBC etc saw one of our products being used wherever they simply looked behind, could see the supplier details, made a note and called us and then asked us to quote and away we went.
I can’t remember how many times when asked where someone got our name the label was mentioned, but it was many and if I were to hazard a guess I would suggest bwetween HSBC, M&S and Waitrose we probably managed somewhere near £4m in oprder value
The idea of the barcode was simply to ensure the label wasn’t removed.
Does that make sense?
Edited for poor spelling on an iPhone early this morning
Edited by HoHoHo on Thursday 5th March 08:57
HoHoHo said:
Quite simple really....
The label had the company contact details nicely designed and printed along with a barcode.
My thought process was to reduce the possibility of a client removing the label I had to make it look like it had a function. The barcode idea gave the label a sense of importance and would therefore it had a greater chance of being left stuck on the product in full view of those who might like to see who supplied it.
You have to remember 20 years ago or so roller banner and that type of product we’re all new and exciting and when a buyer from HSBC etc saw one of our products being used wherever simply looked behind, could see the supplier details, made a note and called us.......asked us to quote and away we went.
I can’t remember how many time when asked where someone got our name the label was mentioned, but it was many
The idea of the barcode was simply to ensure the label wasn’t removed.
Does that make sense?
Brilliant idea. Well doneThe label had the company contact details nicely designed and printed along with a barcode.
My thought process was to reduce the possibility of a client removing the label I had to make it look like it had a function. The barcode idea gave the label a sense of importance and would therefore it had a greater chance of being left stuck on the product in full view of those who might like to see who supplied it.
You have to remember 20 years ago or so roller banner and that type of product we’re all new and exciting and when a buyer from HSBC etc saw one of our products being used wherever simply looked behind, could see the supplier details, made a note and called us.......asked us to quote and away we went.
I can’t remember how many time when asked where someone got our name the label was mentioned, but it was many
The idea of the barcode was simply to ensure the label wasn’t removed.
Does that make sense?
Although not in the building industry - I thought I’d post this because its relevant because I think what I learned applies in the building trade just like it does anywhere.
I was in IT sales, earning decent money (I’m nearly 50 now, so was working during the dotcom bubble) and was always frustrated that we let customers down on a regular basis.
I started an B2B ISP around 2003 and for the first couple of years it was hard. But I realised that just by picking up the phone when it rang and responding to customers quickly when they emailed, that alone, made us better than all the other companies in the industry. Our technology was bleeding edge and it came with issues, in essence we were more unreliable than our competitors. The upshot of this meant we had more outages and as a result, had to talk to our customers (apologize) on a regular basis. The lightbulb moment came in 2006, when we had about 300 customers and had a huge outage, lasting about 24 hours, crippling all our customers.
I recall spending a week with other colleagues visiting each customer and explaining what happened, how we fixed it and how it would never happen again. The response was so good, we could hardly cope with the upturn in business, they all loved us and the company went from strength to strength through word of mouth recommendation.
Instead of hiring new sales guys, we put our effort into support, even finding excuses to talk to customers as often as possible, helping them fix problems that didn’t even have anything to do with us. We were able to charge a premium for our services and our customers would encourage us to launch new services so that they could deal exclusively with us.
By 2012, we did a management buyout, valuing the business at £12M, by 2014 a secondary MBO at £45M, today the business is worth around £175M.
This all worked because I learned the value of treating the customer better than all my competitors - it really is that simple. The building trade is an open goal in this respect because the bar is set so low that to outperform your competitors all you need to do is turn up, quote and do a proper job.
I was in IT sales, earning decent money (I’m nearly 50 now, so was working during the dotcom bubble) and was always frustrated that we let customers down on a regular basis.
I started an B2B ISP around 2003 and for the first couple of years it was hard. But I realised that just by picking up the phone when it rang and responding to customers quickly when they emailed, that alone, made us better than all the other companies in the industry. Our technology was bleeding edge and it came with issues, in essence we were more unreliable than our competitors. The upshot of this meant we had more outages and as a result, had to talk to our customers (apologize) on a regular basis. The lightbulb moment came in 2006, when we had about 300 customers and had a huge outage, lasting about 24 hours, crippling all our customers.
I recall spending a week with other colleagues visiting each customer and explaining what happened, how we fixed it and how it would never happen again. The response was so good, we could hardly cope with the upturn in business, they all loved us and the company went from strength to strength through word of mouth recommendation.
Instead of hiring new sales guys, we put our effort into support, even finding excuses to talk to customers as often as possible, helping them fix problems that didn’t even have anything to do with us. We were able to charge a premium for our services and our customers would encourage us to launch new services so that they could deal exclusively with us.
By 2012, we did a management buyout, valuing the business at £12M, by 2014 a secondary MBO at £45M, today the business is worth around £175M.
This all worked because I learned the value of treating the customer better than all my competitors - it really is that simple. The building trade is an open goal in this respect because the bar is set so low that to outperform your competitors all you need to do is turn up, quote and do a proper job.
cashmax said:
Although not in the building industry - I thought I’d post this because its relevant because I think what I learned applies in the building trade just like it does anywhere.
I was in IT sales, earning decent money (I’m nearly 50 now, so was working during the dotcom bubble) and was always frustrated that we let customers down on a regular basis.
I started an B2B ISP around 2003 and for the first couple of years it was hard. But I realised that just by picking up the phone when it rang and responding to customers quickly when they emailed, that alone, made us better than all the other companies in the industry. Our technology was bleeding edge and it came with issues, in essence we were more unreliable than our competitors. The upshot of this meant we had more outages and as a result, had to talk to our customers (apologize) on a regular basis. The lightbulb moment came in 2006, when we had about 300 customers and had a huge outage, lasting about 24 hours, crippling all our customers.
I recall spending a week with other colleagues visiting each customer and explaining what happened, how we fixed it and how it would never happen again. The response was so good, we could hardly cope with the upturn in business, they all loved us and the company went from strength to strength through word of mouth recommendation.
Instead of hiring new sales guys, we put our effort into support, even finding excuses to talk to customers as often as possible, helping them fix problems that didn’t even have anything to do with us. We were able to charge a premium for our services and our customers would encourage us to launch new services so that they could deal exclusively with us.
By 2012, we did a management buyout, valuing the business at £12M, by 2014 a secondary MBO at £45M, today the business is worth around £175M.
This all worked because I learned the value of treating the customer better than all my competitors - it really is that simple. The building trade is an open goal in this respect because the bar is set so low that to outperform your competitors all you need to do is turn up, quote and do a proper job.
Love it I was in IT sales, earning decent money (I’m nearly 50 now, so was working during the dotcom bubble) and was always frustrated that we let customers down on a regular basis.
I started an B2B ISP around 2003 and for the first couple of years it was hard. But I realised that just by picking up the phone when it rang and responding to customers quickly when they emailed, that alone, made us better than all the other companies in the industry. Our technology was bleeding edge and it came with issues, in essence we were more unreliable than our competitors. The upshot of this meant we had more outages and as a result, had to talk to our customers (apologize) on a regular basis. The lightbulb moment came in 2006, when we had about 300 customers and had a huge outage, lasting about 24 hours, crippling all our customers.
I recall spending a week with other colleagues visiting each customer and explaining what happened, how we fixed it and how it would never happen again. The response was so good, we could hardly cope with the upturn in business, they all loved us and the company went from strength to strength through word of mouth recommendation.
Instead of hiring new sales guys, we put our effort into support, even finding excuses to talk to customers as often as possible, helping them fix problems that didn’t even have anything to do with us. We were able to charge a premium for our services and our customers would encourage us to launch new services so that they could deal exclusively with us.
By 2012, we did a management buyout, valuing the business at £12M, by 2014 a secondary MBO at £45M, today the business is worth around £175M.
This all worked because I learned the value of treating the customer better than all my competitors - it really is that simple. The building trade is an open goal in this respect because the bar is set so low that to outperform your competitors all you need to do is turn up, quote and do a proper job.
cashmax said:
But I realised that just by picking up the phone when it rang and responding to customers quickly when they emailed, that alone, made us better than all the others
This is exactly the ethos I apply to my company.I bought a going concern just over 3 years ago (auto industry). It was stuck in the dark ages - poor website, no social media presence etc. We had to work hard at first to get custom but now we are the most trusted firm in our field. That trust has come from giving first rate customer service (it's not difficult!), this has led to some amazing reviews (all 5 star - I am really humbled by this) and lots of repeat business.
Initially we were helped by the boom in the classic car industry but now that has ended and the market has 'normalised'. Our turnover is around the same as it was at the start but I feel we are much more stable, even with the uncertainty surrounding the car market.
I started my business nearly 20 years ago from a blank sheet of paper.
It then launched out of a spare bedroom before moving into a small office and later a big one.
A lot of hard work and complete dedication is a minimum requirement to success (as well as, obviously, knowing your stuff!).
Not everything will go as you planned and you have to adapt and change in line with client requirements, or you are toast.
Being in the finance sector (we provide fully managed ISAs, Pensions/SIPPs, General Investment Accounts, Automatic Enrolment Schemes, etc.) was helpful, as the bar on customer service levels is set so low that I put a huge focus on this area from day one.
I had a mantra that I adopted and later instilled into my growing team:
Do what you say you are going to do, do it properly, and do it on time.
The other important point was that if you do something wrong (which can happen) then just put your hand up to the mistake and fix it straight away, rather than try and blame someone else.
We soon got a reputation as a highly professional company you could trust with your money and grew solely from word of mouth an personal recommendations.
For recent client feedback from PHers here (we sponsor the Finance forum - https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&... ) see below from last week:
We are title sponsors of the Intelligent Money British GT Championship.
And this:
We also sponsor TF Sport & Aston Martin Racing
So we are very much looking forward to the race season with several hundred PHer Private Clients joining us for VIP hospitality, pit lane tours and grid walks at each event across the country!
BTW I am not from a wealthy or privieged background, have never benefited from an inheritiance and every penny that I put into launching IM came from my own money from previous hard work. So I am certainly self made.
I also turned away every venture capital and private equity offer to keep full control of the company.
Finally, whilst I train 5 days a week, that is for fitness and health and I am certainly not powerfully built!
So my advice for anyone wanting to become "Self made and successful" is to just do it, providing you understand you will have to commit 100% of everything towards this and things will certainly not always go as you planned!.
Edited for typos!
It then launched out of a spare bedroom before moving into a small office and later a big one.
A lot of hard work and complete dedication is a minimum requirement to success (as well as, obviously, knowing your stuff!).
Not everything will go as you planned and you have to adapt and change in line with client requirements, or you are toast.
Being in the finance sector (we provide fully managed ISAs, Pensions/SIPPs, General Investment Accounts, Automatic Enrolment Schemes, etc.) was helpful, as the bar on customer service levels is set so low that I put a huge focus on this area from day one.
I had a mantra that I adopted and later instilled into my growing team:
Do what you say you are going to do, do it properly, and do it on time.
The other important point was that if you do something wrong (which can happen) then just put your hand up to the mistake and fix it straight away, rather than try and blame someone else.
We soon got a reputation as a highly professional company you could trust with your money and grew solely from word of mouth an personal recommendations.
For recent client feedback from PHers here (we sponsor the Finance forum - https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&... ) see below from last week:
leef44 said:
Thank you Julian for offering free chat with Nik.
I had a chat with him today. He's been great, providing independent review of my financial investment position.
I'm looking forward to British GT Championship and just emailed him with my jacket sizes.
Thank you for wonderful service
I had a chat with him today. He's been great, providing independent review of my financial investment position.
I'm looking forward to British GT Championship and just emailed him with my jacket sizes.
Thank you for wonderful service
Gallons Per Mile said:
Dammit, you beat me to a reply!
Just to say many thanks for taking the time to explain things thoroughly, you're a gentleman
For everyone else that reads this thread: Don't be worried about askingstupid questions. Julian (and Nik for that matter) will happily answer anything you throw at them, explain it well, and not care how long it takes them to explain. I really don't know why people go anywhere else to invest money. The level of service is off the scale.
Today we are a £2bn investment management company and I can do fun things like this:Just to say many thanks for taking the time to explain things thoroughly, you're a gentleman
For everyone else that reads this thread: Don't be worried about asking
We are title sponsors of the Intelligent Money British GT Championship.
And this:
We also sponsor TF Sport & Aston Martin Racing
So we are very much looking forward to the race season with several hundred PHer Private Clients joining us for VIP hospitality, pit lane tours and grid walks at each event across the country!
BTW I am not from a wealthy or privieged background, have never benefited from an inheritiance and every penny that I put into launching IM came from my own money from previous hard work. So I am certainly self made.
I also turned away every venture capital and private equity offer to keep full control of the company.
Finally, whilst I train 5 days a week, that is for fitness and health and I am certainly not powerfully built!
So my advice for anyone wanting to become "Self made and successful" is to just do it, providing you understand you will have to commit 100% of everything towards this and things will certainly not always go as you planned!.
Edited for typos!
Edited by JulianPH on Thursday 5th March 15:35
cashmax said:
Well blow me down, it looks like there is a recurring theme.
Its really is the secret to business and it's so f
king simple - The only problem is that you can only make it happen from the helm.
I always say we are as good as the top 5% and better than the rest Its really is the secret to business and it's so f
king simple - The only problem is that you can only make it happen from the helm.Never over promise and under deliver and if you say you'll phone on Tuesday, phone on Tuesday.
I have a success and failure story....
A friend went to China to start a business to help people import products into the UK. So I started thinking about what I could import, had a chat with a random bloke in the pub who made windows and he suggested importing glass. I knew very little about glass, went out and flew all over China, visited 8 float glass factories (to put this in perspective there are only 7 in the whole of Europe), some had never had a European visitor. Found one which was immaculate with German machinery.
I imported one container of huge sheets of 4mm glass and had it tested and then supplied samples to window companies in the UK. This went from 1 container a month to 50 containers a month over the space of 18 months. It was great, the age of the blackberry, and I never saw the product, just directed containers around the UK via blackberry.
Then the recession hit, the pound crashed from $2 to £1 to $1.4 to the £1. My margins were wiped out, the building industry slowed so glass became cheaper in the UK. Overnight my business was no longer viable due to no fault of my own. A hard lesson that influences out of your control sometimes just fk things up..
A friend went to China to start a business to help people import products into the UK. So I started thinking about what I could import, had a chat with a random bloke in the pub who made windows and he suggested importing glass. I knew very little about glass, went out and flew all over China, visited 8 float glass factories (to put this in perspective there are only 7 in the whole of Europe), some had never had a European visitor. Found one which was immaculate with German machinery.
I imported one container of huge sheets of 4mm glass and had it tested and then supplied samples to window companies in the UK. This went from 1 container a month to 50 containers a month over the space of 18 months. It was great, the age of the blackberry, and I never saw the product, just directed containers around the UK via blackberry.
Then the recession hit, the pound crashed from $2 to £1 to $1.4 to the £1. My margins were wiped out, the building industry slowed so glass became cheaper in the UK. Overnight my business was no longer viable due to no fault of my own. A hard lesson that influences out of your control sometimes just f
k things up..skilly1 said:
I have a success and failure story....
A friend went to China to start a business to help people import products into the UK. So I started thinking about what I could import, had a chat with a random bloke in the pub who made windows and he suggested importing glass. I knew very little about glass, went out and flew all over China, visited 8 float glass factories (to put this in perspective there are only 7 in the whole of Europe), some had never had a European visitor. Found one which was immaculate with German machinery.
I imported one container of huge sheets of 4mm glass and had it tested and then supplied samples to window companies in the UK. This went from 1 container a month to 50 containers a month over the space of 18 months. It was great, the age of the blackberry, and I never saw the product, just directed containers around the UK via blackberry.
Then the recession hit, the pound crashed from $2 to £1 to $1.4 to the £1. My margins were wiped out, the building industry slowed so glass became cheaper in the UK. Overnight my business was no longer viable due to no fault of my own. A hard lesson that influences out of your control sometimes just fk things up..
Unlucky - I guess you just have to make hay while the sun shines with an operation like that.A friend went to China to start a business to help people import products into the UK. So I started thinking about what I could import, had a chat with a random bloke in the pub who made windows and he suggested importing glass. I knew very little about glass, went out and flew all over China, visited 8 float glass factories (to put this in perspective there are only 7 in the whole of Europe), some had never had a European visitor. Found one which was immaculate with German machinery.
I imported one container of huge sheets of 4mm glass and had it tested and then supplied samples to window companies in the UK. This went from 1 container a month to 50 containers a month over the space of 18 months. It was great, the age of the blackberry, and I never saw the product, just directed containers around the UK via blackberry.
Then the recession hit, the pound crashed from $2 to £1 to $1.4 to the £1. My margins were wiped out, the building industry slowed so glass became cheaper in the UK. Overnight my business was no longer viable due to no fault of my own. A hard lesson that influences out of your control sometimes just f
k things up..
JulianPH said:
Do what you say you are going to do, do it properly, and do it on time.
The other important point was that if you do something wrong (which can happen) then just put your hand up to the mistake and fix it straight away, rather than try and blame someone else.
Two things so simple and obvious, yet so elusive to so many it seems. I wasted weeks trying to get one supplier, then another, to quote for a brass nameplate. One had got the e-mails but never bothered to reply, the other said he had loads of fonts but I couldn't choose one because there were 'so many'. When the third supplier sent a proof back to me 5 minutes after I sent the brief I almost fell off my chair!The other important point was that if you do something wrong (which can happen) then just put your hand up to the mistake and fix it straight away, rather than try and blame someone else.
The one that sets my bells off is 'We tried to call you last week'. No you f
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