The Forum always keeps us on track

Nov 4 2008 by Karen Dent, The Journal

Name of business: Bond Solutions Ltd.

Location: Enterprise Park, Sunderland.

Line of business: Provide small to medium sized businesses with business management solutions.

Director: Derek Curtis.

When did you launch? December 2001.

What have been the biggest achievements so far? Still being here in 2008 and that our first five members of staff are still with us.

What have been the biggest hurdles so far? Learning from mistakes as quickly as possible.

Where do you go for advice? Entrepreneurs’ Forum. Whenever I go to their events I always meet someone who has been through exactly what I have been through.

How is running the business different from the early days? In the early days it was all sales, sales, sales but now it’s more about looking at all aspects of the business. Making sure projects are delivered on time and to our quality standards and working with staff that actually know more than me now.

Have you met your financial targets? Not always, but overall I am very happy with progress.

How do you attract sales? Mainly through networking and referrals. PR is something we are seeing great success from lately. The next big thing is to overhaul our website.

How has your business plan changed? Considerably. Our offering is much larger now and new market opportunities have opened up.

What does the future hold? More of the same; continue to build a happy and loyal customer base, continue to be at the forefront of business management technology and working with the leading industry companies such as Sage.

Are you glad you did it? No doubts, just wish it had been sooner!

The Next Step is run in conjunction with The Entrepreneurs’ Forum, a membership organisation which runs events and a mentoring programme.