Going solo

1. Know what you want

The most important rule is to know what you want right from the start. You need to know your target audience before you do anything, especially before hiring a marketing expert. If you don’t know what you want then you cannot market it.

2. The art of marketing

Never underestimate the importance of marketing. When we left Gleeds to start APE five years ago we had three clients and we relied heavily on them. The problem was that we didn’t know much about marketing and didn’t realise just how time consuming it can be. We knew that we were good at going out and meeting people, but absolutely clueless about the rest.

My strong advice is to get the right legal advice before employing anyone

The problem is that when you first start off your own business it is unlikely that you will have enough of a budget to invest in a marketing expert. You therefore end up, like we did, conducting much of it in-house. We printed a lot of brochures and sent them out but found that we didn’t have the time to follow it up. You find that time flies and before you know it months have gone by and not enough has been done.

3. Seek outside advice

Managing the business side is the bit you will also need help with. We used a very good investment advisor for our business and even our personal stuff. He did our pensions, insurances and advised us on the business. It is easy to find a good accountant and from my experience it’s very important to bounce ideas off someone on the outside who is not so emotionally involved with the business.

4. Sort out legal issues

I have absolutely no regrets. It was the best move I've ever made

Myself, Paul Slater and Eric Biggs were friends as well as old colleagues when we started APE. It was easy to manage ourselves but when Eric left for Spain and we started to hire new staff, the whole set up became a lot more complex. We now have a building surveyor, two new QSs and an office manager. When you bring people in you have to set up the legal side and put things in place. My strong advice is to get the right legal advice before employing anyone.

5. Involve new staff

Have regular meetings and get your staff, old and new, involved. Help new staff feel like they belong to the business from the start. Encourage them to take part in some decision-making.

6. Don’t mix work and friendship

Even though you are mates, you have to view it as business and not friendship. But overall, I have absolutely no regrets. It was the best move I’ve ever made.