HOW I ...Grew my company

Oct 28 2008 by Karen Dent, The Journal

HOW I ... is a column in conjunction with the Entrepreneurs’ Forum that looks at the gems of advice shared by our top entrepreneurs on dealing with issues in their daily lives. Each column explores three different takes on an issue.

Judith Cavanagh, The Pilates Studio, based in Newcastle:

“Pilates in general was becoming very popular at the time and we realised there was no dedicated pilates studio in the area. We thought, ‘Let’s do it first’. We believed we had nothing to lose – if it didn’t work out, we would have gone back to our old jobs.

“Lynne [my sister] had visited a few pilates studios in London and in other areas around the country, seen how well they worked and was keen to get something similar set up in Newcastle. We searched for over a year for a suitable space but finally found one, formed a partnership, agreed on our roles within the business and got ourselves an accountant.

“Interest in pilates was really growing and as a result, we were able to quickly build the business through word of mouth with no need for expensive advertising and only a small financial outlay.”

Greg Phillips, of the Newcastle-based North East Bakery:

“An opportunity came to take on Milligans bakery.

“Prior to that, we’d put our own money in, ran it on a fairly small basis, we could just grow it organically. But this was the first time that we had to convince other people to back us. It was like buying a three to five-year strategy. We needed bigger premises and we wanted more shops so we could increase the brand and the presence of our business throughout the North East. So it was a case of going to the bank and asking them to support us in doing that. Luckily the bank was prepared to back us and the deal was done.”

Pete Hunt, of Newcastle-based caterers Fresh Element:

“We had to make enough products but because we use fresh ingredients, they have a short shelf life.

“The wastage was quite high if the demand wasn’t as much as we anticipated. It was quite a horrible situation to be in really.

“We wanted to give our customers enough choice that they would order, but to prevent wastage we needed to limit it.

“We didn’t completely change our focus; we just decided to become customer-led.

“We had a group of customers constantly asking us to do things we didn’t have the resources for, like catering for big occasions.

“When we tried it, we actually discovered that we were quite good at the catering thing, and buying stuff to order meant that wastage was virtually zero. Listening to our customers meant that we had a much more profitable business after that.”

For more How I ... tips go to www.ifwecanyoucan.co.uk , which is inspired by the Entrepreneurs’ Forum.