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The Entrepreneurs' Forum
Defining Moment

I don’t think having my own business has always been on my agenda, but after a period of time there were certain reasons which really got me thinking about it. I was always very self motivated, but whilst I was in employment in the supermarket industry,… read more

Lifestyle Story

When it comes to business, I think what you’ve got to look at is, are you going to love what you’re doing, are you going to get up in the morning and be really motivated? Luckily I still feel like that now. I’m always the first one in the office… read more

Mistake To Avoid

We won a big client in 2002 which actually caused us loads of problems. They came to us with a £150,000 budget, but we didn’t realise how much we would have to restructure our business to take on that client, but also, more worryingly, what would happen… read more

Secret

During the first few months, I was thinking about planning the cash flow, getting the business plan together, and who I would want to be working with me. I think when you’re setting up in business it’s really important to have people, and not just… read more

Secret

If you’re thinking about starting up a business, I would say it’s very important to do the ground work and make sure your idea is going to run the distance. There’s no fool proof way to do it because you have to constantly change and adapt with the… read more

Secret

Research who’s in your market, what they’re doing and what you’re going to do which will make your proposition that much better. I’m not sure you always know when an idea’s right, but you do know if it’s wrong. If it feels wrong, as our first idea did,… read more

How I...

My first idea was a marketing and design agency. Unfortunately the business failed but looking back, its failure played an important part in me getting a better foundation for Explain Research. For example, in the first business I set out to do too many… read more

How I...

I still haven’t found a foolproof way of making sure that new people are absolutely right and work to our ethos. What we try and do first of all, is see if we’re actually going to like working with this new person, then go further into their… read more

How I...

With regards to clients, the potential trap that you could fall into is that you will start to put more effort into looking after new customers. We work incredibly hard in the company to make sure that we don’t take existing clients for granted. We… read more

Pearl Of Wisdom

I think all sorts of hurdles will come up, especially in the first few years, but somebody who is seriously intent upon being successful will be able to tear the walls down, brick by brick, find ways of going round them, or getting a little bit of help in… read more

Challenge

One of the biggest challenges we’ve ever faced was to do with people. It was when we had just decided to cut off a lot of business and just go for a market research company. It was the only time when I had a situation where some people were doing… read more

Success

The great thing is that success breeds success. We’re able to take more people on as we grow and although Explain isn’t that well known nationally, we get a lot of recommendations when people move. For example, a senior person in one organisation who we… read more

Success

Some people would judge success purely in financial terms, and whilst that is a guideline, I would judge success in different ways. I know that I’ve put a lot of effort into my business, and to see something that you’ve produced that is tangible and… read more

Support Story

My friends and family were a great support. I think that when you’re setting up in business, the people closest to you are incredibly important to you moving forward, and helping you through the ups and downs that go along with owning your own business.… read more

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