Inspired by the Entrepreneurs Forum

- …researched my idea >

"I’m studying for a marketing management degree at Newcastle University which has really helped me with my business. I..." Matt Scott
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- …handle cash flow >

"We used other people’s money. I borrowed £5000 from my dad, £5000 from the bank, but then suppliers gradually give you..." Sir Tom Hunter
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- …found my marketplace >

"The main hurdle that I faced was not what to do, but how to do it. My original dream involved a delicatessen / café..." Nicole Race
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- … compete against the big boys >

"We’ve got big industry competitors, some of which are essentially ‘factories’ which have all these huge pieces of..." Louise Allcroft
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- …deal with homeworkers >

"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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- …inspire my team >

"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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- …worked to gain accreditation >

"When I started out on my own in 2001, I tried to partner a local college so I could have a code of practice. I’d got..." Angela Brown
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- ...coped with financial planning >

"When I started out, I didn’t have a bottomless pit of money by any means; my family and I risked everything to do this...." Mark Ions
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- …deal with venture capitalists >

"I’ve had experience with venture capitalists, and those experiences have been good. Putting Tanfield together..." Roy Stanley
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- …got my product into the market >

"After a lot of hard work and persistence I eventually managed to get the product finished working closely with Food..." Geoffrey Johns
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- …got our first contract >

"In terms of building a client base, we made a list of everybody we had an opportunity to do business with, then..." Chris Quickfall
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- …trademarked the company >

"In the beginning I looked at other scientific companies around and they were usually spin outs from universities. They..." Louise Allcroft
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- …bounced back after the failure of the first business >

"On paper we were doing very well and receiving many benefits of having a considerable turnover. But because we’d grown..." Jamie Greenwood
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- …handle recruitment >

"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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- ...adapted the business in order to compete >

"Soon enough, the suppliers in the south started to compete with our business in the north. In the early days we were..." Derek Curtis
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- …ended a business partnership to grow my own business >

"Inter Nannies ran for a year and a half until our partnership broke up amicably. It had worked well at the start; I..." Angela Brown
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- …find and orgainse a trade sale >

"Each of my businesses has resulted in a trade sale. An unfortunate problem with a lot of internet companies is that..." Ross Cooney
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- … gathered advice and support for the company >

"Me and my business partner Hilary took a lot on ourselves. We went to other businesses to talk to people who’d been..." Carol Metcalfe
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- …marketed the company >

"Everyone kept coming up to us in the early days and asked us who did our PR. We were thinking, are we supposed to have..." Carol Metcalfe
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- …deal with increasing competition >

"Increasing competition creates constant pressure, but I counteract this by pursuing any value added aspect that I can..." Trudy Hindmarsh
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- …maintain client loyalty >

"We encourage everybody in the business to look at client relationships as a long term thing. I think people do..." Kari Owers
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- …marketed the company >

"I did a leaflet drop around our estate which was quite new and people were looking for beauticians and hair dressers. I..." Naomi Johnson
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- …decided if business was for me >

"Because I wasn’t sure about being in business, and didn’t actually know for sure if business was for me, I gave myself..." Chris Quickfall
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- …started and expanded the business >

"I started the Tanfield Group as a sub contract engineering company. I quickly realised that the future for sub..." Roy Stanley
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- …changed the structure of the business in order for it to be more personally rewarding >

"Although I’ve maintained a certain level of involvement within Health and Safety, the direction of the business has..." Nancy Haughey
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- …made and promoted my business plan >

"I began straight away by using a business plan template, and gradually building one up from scratch by myself. Soon..." Ceyhan Mihcioglu
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- …launched the product into the market >

"In the beginning, with the management buyout, I was buying a contract to supply a large chain of pharmacies. When that..." Fiona Cruickshank
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- …marketed the business >

"For the first company the advertising was based around Sunday broadsheet newspapers. But then we realised that there..." Alistair McLean
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- …found my marketplace >

"Regalo means gift in Spanish. Initially it was going to be a gift buying service but I realised I would miss out on a..." Clare Rutherford
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- ...got a big company to back us >

"In terms of finding contacts, I find the best way to create relationships is to do it face to face, not with the..." Chris Quickfall
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- …hosted creative networks to benefit the business >

"Not only did we want to promote our own brand, we also wanted to promote networking and creativity among other people...." Satish Shewhorak
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- … employ staff >

"We take all new employees on a lengthy induction course. As important in learning all the new technical skills is..." Simon Pearson
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- …protect intellectual property >

"It’s really important to protect intellectual property. We have incredibly secure employment contracts and we’re also..." Ross Cooney
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- …created a sideline venture to support the business financially >

"Prior to gaining funding from the Arts Council Cultural Business Venture to help me set up ‘vien ici’, I hand crafted..." Vien le Wood
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- …found my marketplace >

"I feel that there is a gap in the market for my product: a 50’s inspired, beautiful range of +DD lingerie for the..." Michelle Taylor
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- …encourage new business >

"The biggest challenges I’ve faced have been getting new business, encouraging new patients, and competing against the..." Kaye Winship
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- …marketed the company >

"In the beginning, I needed to get people to know that I was trading and build a big following among the first customers..." Steve Mbara
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- …formulated the idea and took the company where I wanted to take it >

"…formulated the idea and took the company where I wanted to take it My background is in science and research and I’d..." Louise Allcroft
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- …dealt with an event outside our control and grew the business as a result >

"In the first couple of years we didn’t grow as fast as my business plan had intended. It was interfered by an event..." James Robson
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- Flirtatious Limited specialises in retro >

"Flirtatious Limited specialises in retro, burlesque, handmade, quirky and quite frankly totally impractical lingerie!..." Fiona Houghton
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- ...maintain my belief >

"The hardest part has probably been maintaining the belief in what I know is a useful and worthwhile service because of..." Ann Oliver
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- …develop my skills to benefit the company >

"I decided to do a course in company direction (with the Institute of Directors) and when I got there, there were some..." Louise Allcroft
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- …value intellectual property >

"A lot of people ask me how I value intellectual property. It’s our most important asset; the only item of stock that..." Ross Cooney
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- …created the brand >

"I worked very closely with a web development company who did a fantastic job of designing the website. It needed to be..." Mark Ions
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- …started the business and refined my idea >

"I knew that the biggest challenges businesses face involve human resources and change management. When I visited..." Sheila Stokes-White
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- …work to gain accreditation to grow the company >

"We’ve been working on getting ISO17025 accreditation in place for paternity testing which is really going to help the..." Louise Allcroft
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- …grew the business organically >

"When I started the company it was just to provide PR services for predominantly North East businesses and..." Kari Owers
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- …raise finance >

"My more recent experience has been to do with raising money through institutions on the London market, either through..." Roy Stanley
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- …made contacts and got set up >

"One day I was walking with my daughter through a local playground. It was pretty run down and she said to me, ‘Mum..." Nickie Gott
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- …am re-branding >

"At the moment even though it’s the North East Bakery, the name above the majority of the doors is Milligans. So we’re..." Greg Phillips
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- …aim to grow and sell the business to a multi billion pound company >

"I made a risky decision to invest every penny Rocket Science has generated for the past two years, into i-snapshot...." Alan Timothy
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- …promote the company >

"I promote the classes in the local press and I changed the business name to Washington Dance Academy in January as I’m..." Susan Pluse
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- …set up again after losing everything in the first business >

"When you’re on a downward spiral it’s amazing how many people try to take control. So I was more determined to get back..." Lynn Gate
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- …found my market >

"The business provides a full safety management system; tailored to the needs of the client. Large companies have..." Terry Barnett
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- …found our first employee >

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

"Rozmic is a high cash burn business, so the risks involved are very very high. In order to cover those risks we’ve..." Ross Cooney
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- …refined my idea into a business >

"I knew that I wanted to have a business in the education sector as I’d worked in it before, but I didn’t have any idea..." Jonathan Wells
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- …kept myself afloat when I started the company >

"In terms of raising finance, I’d agreed (with my wife) that I would invest £100,000 of my own money, or rather money..." Jonathan Wells
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- …approach the global market >

"I’ve found that you need to stay in touch with the global market because it’s very dynamic. You’ve got different..." Roy Stanley
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- …expanded the business in the face of big competitors >

"The big guys, the national travel agencies, embarked on a really big expansion. They opened in Seaham and smallish..." John Hays
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- …gather knowledge and research for the company >

"We attend regular seminars at Northumbria University with lawyers, accountants and industry professionals. They taught..." Sarah Taylor
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- …work in partnership with other companies >

"I was sat in the Sunderland office when I got a phone call from a friend of mine from school. He had a travel agency..." John Hays
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- …integrate home workers >

"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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- …got the company’s name out there >

"To get our name out as quickly as possible, we sponsored a few events hosted by the CIPD which is the professional body..." Mark Ions
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- … put my idea into practice >

"The idea to go into party supplies came from personal experience as when I got married I struggled to find favour boxes..." Sue Harris
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- …market the company >

"Customer loyalty is fantastic. What I do is try and personalise things and not treat people as a number, but as an..." John Hays
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- …deal with recruitment >

"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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- …create the right culture at work >

"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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- …raised finance for a high cost start-up >

"I started to set up the company whilst I was still at uni, but when I graduated I had to take a job to support myself...." Chris Quickfall
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- …handle recruitment >

"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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- …delegate responsibilities to staff >

"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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- …utilised advertising to make the company more profitable >

"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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- …work with my business partner >

"I have a business partner, Brian. Some people say you shouldn’t go into business with other people, but for us it’s..." Fiona Cruickshank
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- …look after staff >

"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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- …recruit >

"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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- …changed our structure to make the business more profitable >

"We sold meal kits online through our website and that’s how the business ran for the first six months. The problem was..." Pete Hunt
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- …filled the gaps in my knowledge base and set the company up >

"Bearing in mind I had no idea how the technology worked, it was quite a challenge to create animated books that would..." Anne Curtis
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