We think everyone’s inspiring but in case you don’t have time to read hundreds of stories we thought it might be useful to highlight just a few. We’re always on the lookout for more entrepreneurs to write about – so if that should be you or someone you know then please get in touch.
“I was at an all time low last October (2010) - several factors meant that I had started to lose faith in my business. But I decided to focus, go back to my business plan and that put me back on the right track. It was a tough time but it made me a stronger person, and I have a better business now as a result.”
"The biggest success for me has to be having the courage to leave a ‘comfortable job’ and go into the unknown! It was hard to convince those closest to me that I was making the correct decision and overcoming negative thoughts – “Am I doing the right thing?”
I got through this by not rushing into the project, researching the market thoroughly, and having a positive attitude that the business will succeed."
"When a close friend who had seen what had happened when I was made redundant suggested I start up on my own, we both had a laugh about it, as I had no finance and no savings.
It's a passing comment like that, which can completely change your whole life. The seed was planted."
"I think you get two types of business people- the kind that just get their heads down and they’re not really interested in the outside world; they worry about their own thing. And then there’s the other kind, who want to pass on their experiences to other people. Personally, I love to mix with people that have the same kind of ideas and ambitions- we’ve all got the same problems, we’ve all got the same issues, but we can share those issues and help each other out."
"The wake of the 2008 financial crisis was a difficult time for any business to set up, and it was no exception for us. However as we come to the end of our third year, it feels like the company is at a tipping point in terms of growth and potential."
"A desire to gain a deeper understand your audience for the purpose of making their services and experience to that audience more relevant cannot be understated."
"I knew that I couldn’t remain as a one-person operation if the business was going to grow so I had no choice other than to start employing people."
"If great service is not a priority with the leaders of the organisation, it can't be introduced further down. That means that business leaders don't just have to talk service, they have to deliver it personally."
"I learnt what motivated people. People often talk about going out and motivating everyone who works with you. I don’t believe in that now, and I very quickly learnt that I couldn’t motivate anybody. What I could do was I could put across reasons why they could motivate themselves – so it’s self motivation."
"We went to other businesses to talk to people who’d been there, done that, people who were right up there enjoying huge amounts of success. We used that ‘help’ word instead of ‘time’ or ‘advice’. That word really worked and loads of people did give us help."
