92: How Do I Move from Employee to Entrepreneur? with Steve Glaveski
I spoke with Steve Glaveski, Author and CEO, about being an entrepreneur; something in which it’s safe to say he’s an expert. He made the leap from a comfortable, corporate environment to a start-up of his own about seven years ago and he has no regrets.Lots of people dreaming of doing the same have asked Steve how it’s done, which inspired him to write his book, Employee to Entrepreneur, available now. If you’ve thought about a start-up of your own, this could be your manual of how to…
86: From a Desk and a Telephone to Floating a Business: with Jonathan Straight
Jonathan Straight is a Yorkshire-based entrepreneur, writer, photographer and television presenter. His story is a dream-come-true for entrepreneurs: Started his own business with little more than a desk, a telephone and an idea, ten years later floated that business on the London Stock Exchange. One of the most rewarding aspects of building his own business was that he was able to do it his way, eventually establishing a factory on eco principles when he set up in manufacturing after…
82: How to develop and launch your independent consultancy business, with David Mellor
David Mellor is an author of three books and an expert advisor working with career changers keen to use their industry experience to make money in their own businesses. He started life in the banking world where he ended up as a managing director working closely with early stage technology businesses at Deutsche Bank in an in-house strategic investment fund. He was effectively serving on the board of 15 new businesses and it was there that he found his mojo. The energetic, can-do…
75: Why job shadowing is a crucial step for your career change - Lucy Standing of Viewvo
Led by her love of psychology, Lucy Standing put her successful career as a head-hunter on hold to pursue her passion through a Master’s Degree. Afterwards, she honed her skills further as a graduate recruiter for investment banks. It’s an expensive and time-consuming process and she realised that the traditional series of interviews didn’t always yield the best results. Seeing that former interns had a higher success rate in terms of job matching and staying power, Lucy developed new…
70: Behind the scenes in setting up a cafe and restaurant with Paul Rawlinson from Baltzersens and Norse
How do you set up a cafe and restaurant with zero experience? This was the question I had for Paul Rawlinson, formerly a Platoon Commander and Training Officer in the British Army. I interviewed Paul in the new premises for his Scandinavian inspired restaurant, Norse, in my home town of Harrogate (North Yorkshire, UK). Upstairs Downstairs Norse used to share a small kitchen in the basement of Baltzersen's, Paul's successful (and also Scandinavian inspired) cafe. Service prep during the…
56: Turning down a grad scheme to set up a drinks company - James Shillcock, Founder of Vivid Drinks
In this interview I talk to James who is the dynamic founder of Vivid Drinks. James saw an opportunity to bring a healthy version of iced tea to the UK market. This category is huge globally but not big in the UK. The popularity of green tea has been rising in the UK and Vivid Drinks seems set to capitalise on a drink that focuses on improving our mental energy. Having worked for Deloitte for a year prior to university he was due to start on their graduate scheme but delayed his start…
MDE 55: Creating a network of ethical and competitive factories, co-founder of Ethical Apparel Africa, Keren Long
Passionate about textiles at school, Keren Long forged a career in retail with big names such as Marks & Spencer and then Asda's new retail arm 'George'. Her strength in maths led her to a career in merchandising. When Walmart bought Asda, Keren moved over to set up a sourcing function where she did 3 years looking after kidswear - spending 40% of time in Bangladesh, India , Turkey and China. This was the early days of the 'value' retailing, resulting in low-cost jeans as low as £4!…
MDE 54: Book Review of 'Start Something That Matters' by Blake Mycoskie, founder of TOMS
TOMS is one of those companies that have come up with a unique business model which is inspiring other entrepreneurs who are motivated by more than just money. From my generation The Body Shop showed the world how products could make a difference, and as soon as I heard about TOMS (which was many years ago now) I was excited as I knew this was a new kind of business model, one that was simple to understand and effective. For those of you are not familiar with the company, TOMS was…
MDE 53: Building an organic spice business committed to fairtrade and the environment, with Axel Steenberg
'There is no discernible logic as to why we set up the business' says Axel Steenberg of Steenbergs, which specialises in Organic FairTrade spices, herbs and Teas. A scientist and accountant by background Axel and his wife Sophie, a former journalist, set up the company based in North Yorkshire in 2003. Passionate about not only the quality of their products (they do rigorous product testing) but also the environment, fair-trade and treating their employees well, the company has grown to…
MDE 49: Uninspired by graduate schemes on offer he scratched his own itch, Rob Blythe of Instant Impact
Rob Blythe and his co-founder Felix Mitchell set up Instant Impact four years ago from a Starbucks coffee shop. They have grown their specialist recruitment company to 20 employees housed in an office in London and are on target to hit a turnover of £1 million this year. Meeting all their candidates face to face, and providing quirky guides to living in London as benefits for their candidates, the company is on a mission to help change the perception of the rather tarnished image of the…