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From recruiting to motivation, the people who work for you can be vital to business success

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"The biggest issue I have, and one that I’m getting advice on at the moment, is delegation. It doesn’t come naturally..." Kari Owers

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"Our biggest mistake has been relying on specific people for some of our software development – we now employ the..." Les Calvert

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"The i-snapshot team, which is my new exciting project, currently has six employees. It needs to expand to sixty in..." Alan Timothy

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"Christian and I both agree that, as well as delivering a service for clients, understanding PR and being good at it..." Antonia Clifford

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"Business goes in cycles. You know you’ve got the right team if you’re able to get through the bad times, not just the..." Steven Bell

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"I’ve found delegation pretty tricky. When you first start, the business is your baby and it’s very hard to let go and..." Louise Allcroft

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"I think the team has done extremely well, what with expanding so quickly without a HR department. We’ve created staff..." Phil Cronin

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"I’ve got a business partner, Sheldon, but we don’t have a 50/50 split. I’m not sure about other businesses, but I..." Chris Quickfall

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"It was a real shock to go from student straight to employer. I don’t think I’ve quite got my head around that fact..." Chris Quickfall

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-how I... guides>

"Quite soon after we started we got a big contract form Middlesbrough Council. At that time it was just me and my..." Paul Bell

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"Tanfield was thought about, conceived and developed in the North East, and there’s nowhere else in the world where we..." Roy Stanley

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"I went from being a twenty seven year old employee to the twenty seven year old boss. I was in charge of people twice..." Jamie Greenwood

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-mistakes to avoid>

"I think you have to make mistakes in order learn and to grow your business. I’ve worked with entrepreneurs for about..." Kari Owers

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"The biggest challenge for us by far has been recruitment. We need bums on seat to get the output, so I used to think..." Fiona Cruickshank

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"With a great team we can not only continue to grow our own business, we can support and nurture new businesses that..." Lynn Gate

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-challenges>

"Taking on staff has been a big challenge, mostly on a personal level. Your first and primary responsibility is that..." Ross Cooney

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-lifestyle stories>

"You’ve got to go out and have fun with your co-workers because they’ll be more dedicated to work for you, and more..." Jamie Greenwood

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-how I... guides>

"Business is about people and we employ 850 of them, so obviously it’s quite hard to keep that amount of people happy...." John Hays

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-support stories>

"You need support. I’ve got people around me whom I trust immensely; people like my wife who stayed with me when the..." Alistair McLean

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-successes>

"Walking out onto the shop floor gives me the most satisfaction. You’re relating to the people that you work with and..." Roy Stanley

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"For the entrepreneur, the biggest question you’ve got to ask yourself is, what are you not good at? We’re all good at..." Sir Tom Hunter

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-mistakes to avoid>

"In 1997 we’d grown to somewhere between £3.5-4 million. Because the market for database marketing was catching up with..." Alan Timothy

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-how I... guides>

"We found our members of staff fairly fortuitously. The first, Kirsty, was actually made redundant from her previous..." Christian Cerisola

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-mistakes to avoid>

"The biggest mistakes I’ve made have probably been in recruitment. It was a completely new thing for me being a..." Nickie Gott

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"We’ve made mistakes along the way. I guess one of the biggest was in recruitment. I’d been really lucky that those..." Derek Curtis

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-successes>

"To see my staff happy and performing well gives me real pleasure. I created those jobs and to see people that..." John Hays

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"In terms of employees, I would like to think that if someone’s not doing their job properly it’s not because they’re..." Greg Phillips

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-how I... guides>

"We’ve got 329 home workers. It’s a great business model because it allows people to have flexibility and take their..." John Hays

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"When you’ve got the right team, you can really go places and achieve great things. If one of the team is wrong, you’re..." Sir Peter Vardy

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-lifestyle stories>

"I eat, dream and sleep Shoo Fly. I’ve just taken on a small studio to rent in the Yorkshire Dales as a retreat for the..." Anne Curtis

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-lifestyle stories>

"People say that one of the downsides of running your own business is that you work harder and longer. But I don’t..." Jonathan Wells

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-mistakes to avoid>

"In the early days we contracted a marketing ‘expert’ whose advice led us down the wrong path, and cost us money, time..." Anne Curtis

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-how I... guides>

"I’m really keen to bring on young talent, and that’s something that I find really important. We do a lot of work..." Kari Owers

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"Recruiting people who weren’t right for the company was probably the biggest mistake we’ve made. We’ve lost a bit of..." Fiona Cruickshank

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"Motivating staff isn’t just about paying them more than anyone else is. It’s about creating an environment where they..." Sir Peter Vardy

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"I think the secret to success is keeping high standards and having staff who feel the same way." Linda Winship

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"You can’t be too precious about things, saying that’s not the way you would have done it. If the company’s going to..." Sir Peter Vardy

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"I think that in order to be a successful entrepreneur you have to be able to work with people. There are plenty of..." Phil Cronin

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"When you’re first starting out in business, you can’t delegate anything. You’ve got to understand the pain and..." Keith Miller

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-secrets>

"Most entrepreneurs aren’t financial directors, so what you need to know are Key Performance Indicators that are..." Sir Peter Vardy

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-how I... guides>

"Taking a step back in the business has definitely been a challenge. Before, if there was a decision to be made, even..." Greg Phillips

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"You’ve got to think, as I did, right, I’m going to do this and just go for it, and make sure the people around you..." Nickie Gott

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-successes>

"The people who you work with are so important. What gives me huge satisfaction in running a business is seeing..." John Elliott

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"Leadership is key, but only in the sense that you’re able to work with a group of people that you like and respect...." Simon Pearson

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-challenges>

"You’ve got to be big enough to hire people who know more about certain aspects of business than you do. That can be..." Sir Tom Hunter

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-mistakes to avoid>

"Part of being the boss is that you can’t do everything yourself, which means that other people will make mistakes as..." Jonathan Wells

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-how I... guides>

"I’ve got a great team around me. With lecturers, unless you give them the freedom to create and to be responsible as..." Angela Brown

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-mistakes to avoid>

"The biggest howler I’ve made in my whole career was not getting to know my business partners well enough. Getting into..." Sir Tom Hunter

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-mistakes to avoid>

"In terms of mistakes, I don’t think we’ve done many things wrong (we always made decisions based on the knowledge we..." Louise Allcroft

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-secrets>

"If something’s our fault and we’ve got something wrong, it’s important to be honest and analytical. We have to ask..." John Hays

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-how I... guides>

"Until recently there was definitely a sense of ‘them’ and ‘us’ between the office staff and the homeworkers. A staff..." Phil Cronin

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-successes>

"We’ve won lots of awards over the years, but the one that’s given me the most pleasure by far is when we were..." John Hays

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-aspirations>

"We’ve grown quite quickly since we started; we’ve got six people working for us and we’re looking for a seventh at the..." Paul Bell

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-mistakes to avoid>

"What I would do differently is not to have placed as much emphasis on employing people already in recruitment. Sector..." Peter Nixon

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-challenges>

"The business cannot be beholden on me, though trying to find good quality management for small businesses I believe is..." Alan Timothy

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-lifestyle stories>

"In my business, I come out with an idea and I get really excited about it and start bashing out code, and out comes a..." Ross Cooney

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-mistakes to avoid>

"Mistakes are something that you have to cope with; the only person who doesn’t make mistakes is a person who does..." John Hays

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-how I... guides>

"I ignore CVs. Obviously I need to check to see if they’ve got to a certain standard, but it’s all about attitude. A..." Jamie Greenwood

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-challenges>

"When you first start in business, you love living and breathing it with the people around you, and you do get involved..." Roy Stanley

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-how I... guides>

"If I can’t create the right culture at work, everything will come to a standstill in some way, shape or form. There’s..." Fiona Cruickshank

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-challenges>

"We’ve had difficulties finding venues and finding the right staff, but your reputation brings staff to you and retains..." Trudy Hindmarsh

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-mistakes to avoid>

"In business, you don’t tend to make mistakes; you just find more efficient ways of doing things. Every year we look..." Pete Hunt

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-secrets>

"In terms of dealing with growth it’s important to have the right people. Some employees might not be in tune with the..." James Robson

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-challenges>

"The business had really started to grow; I hadn’t expected it to be quite as successful as quickly as it was and I was..." Nickie Gott

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-pearls of wisdom>

"You can’t be on fire all the time twenty four hours a day, seven days a week. People aren’t built like that. People’s..." Sir Peter Vardy

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-mistakes to avoid>

"I think one of our biggest mistakes has actually been hanging onto people who clearly weren’t in the right job. We’ve..." James Robson

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-challenges>

"Getting the right people with a passion for what they do can be tricky. You can have the best CV in the world but..." Louise Allcroft

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-secrets>

"Give people the best training you can, and give them constant support whilst they’re carrying it out. We put a lot of..." Steven Bell

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-challenges>

"Getting the right people can be hard. Teaching is all about learning; you’ve got to get someone who wants to learn and..." John Elliott

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"The most important thing is to be good with people. Not just customers, but with people who you employ too. Take an..." Pete Hunt

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-challenges>

"As a single mum it’s been hard to maintain a business- like persona when I’ve got a son at home whom I want to be there..." Ann Oliver

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-challenges>

"One of the biggest challenges in business is making sure you have the right team around you. I used to do all the..." Alistair McLean

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-aspirations>

"As we’ve grown we’ve made more of a conscious effort to keep an eye on emerging talent in the region. We look to bring..." Satish Shewhorak

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-secrets>

"Hire the best possible people. It isn’t down to money or even the brightest person, you’ve got to look for people with..." Steven Bell

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-challenges>

"There were definitely challenges in going from a small business where you know everyone, you know their kids, you knew..." Greg Phillips

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-successes>

"The business has built up well but it took about two years to really blossom. It’s been in the last 18 months that we..." Clare Rutherford

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-successes>

"The business has been more successful in the first year than I ever dared think possible. The biggest success for us..." Kaye Winship

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-how I... guides>

"The company started out very much as a lifestyle business. I love to travel and I love to share my local knowledge..." Sarah Taylor

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-mistakes to avoid>

"When we sold Intelligent Database marketing the first time, the biggest mistake I made was taking my eye off the ball...." Alan Timothy

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Entrepreneurs>

Les Calvert: Property Abroad Ltd

"I started the business whilst employed as an IT Manager for a large North East travel company back in early 2000. I had..."

view Les Calvert's story

Sheila Stokes-White: Strategic Solutions Ltd

"I was a bad fit in a bureaucracy and am something of a rebel so had to work very hard to get promotion in a corporate..."

view Sheila Stokes-White's story

Fiona Cruickshank: The Specials Laboratory

"I was doing science A Levels when I picked up one of the Sunday newspapers and saw a table for graduate employment...."

view Fiona Cruickshank's story

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For more information please contact stephen@ifwecanyoucan.co.uk or call 0191 226 7491