Biography - First Business
1980 | 1999 | 2002 | 2003 | 2005 | 2007 | 2008
Aug 2003 - Dec 2004
Before Tim left his previous employment he had been working on a business with a colleague who had departed a few months earlier. He was working full time on the new venture while Tim built up some finances from his job to invest. As soon as Tim finished with his job he joined our newly formed company. Suppliers for a number of electrical items were already in place and work had begun on a e-commerce website specialising in top end home entertainment equipment and installations. This would probably have launched much sooner had they not decided to be foolish and act as the novices that they were!
They decided to setup another company exclusively focusing on one of the services offered by their previous employers, but geared up to be working as experts in only this field. An asbestos management service was launched and they quickly went about getting sub contractors in place and winning contracts. Very soon a front for the company was needed to hold meetings and for insurance purposes. They moved in to a 2 floor office space allowing each company to have its own area. The asbestos company was getting lots of leads, and winning many small and some sizable projects. The introduction of new regulations relating to the management of asbestos in buildings meant there was more work out there, but for brokerage firms like ours there was many grey areas when it came to insurance. This slowed growth as we had to reinvest everything in order to have the right accreditations and legal cover.
Meanwhile the original company was now well focused on the Audio Visual niche, offering bespoke home cinema and automation systems to wealthy clients. There was also a B2B arm supplying companies with rental AV items for exhibitions and conferences. At this point everything though being a little tight financially was looking positive, there was starting to be a good flow of cash pumping through both businesses.
Even with the costs scaled down further investment was needed to take the company forward - admin staff, contracts manager and a surveyor to handle the enquiries. Without offices this was impossible. Tim had already borrowed up to his limit and not taking a salary. At this stage with everything grinding to a halt Tim was staring grimly in to the dark eyes of bankruptcy. Many sleepless nights followed as he tried to save the company and himself. It seemed the only way forward was for to cut the company right back to nothing, do some final training and become a contractor for others, through the company as a surveyor….. Tim was about to do this despite hating the prospect of it. Cutting his losses, going bankrupt and returning to regular employment was almost a more attractive option than the sleepless nights!
One afternoon mid-December Tim was surfing the internet with no idea what to do next and stumbled across the domains he had registered 18 months earlier. A few hours of research later and the domain were ‘plugged in’ to an existing dating site and re branded to look like their own site. Within days it was making money.
