Covid was tough, as is the recent economic downturn. You quickly realise your success can be hugely affected by what happens in the economy and the country as a whole.

Running a small business means managing the big picture while also doing all the small things which are needed to make the big picture work. You have no job description, so end up doing whatever needs to get done. That’s a very different mindset from the corporate world and takes some time to adjust to.

You’re accountable for everything which happens, and there is no-one to blame if things go wrong. That makes it a lonely place sometimes, which is why its important to have a support network and people you can talk to when things go wrong, as they inevitably will.

Our business is all about people, and these are the heart of our business. My best decisions have been to hire the people who are in the business now and give them a chance to develop and grow.

My view has always been that we need to provide value to our customers for us to remain relevant. That’s value which they see and can measure, not just what we believe we are doing for them. The test is always “do they want to keep working with us”.

We get consistent feedback across both businesses that we understand our customers challenges really well. Both businesses are nimble enough that we can respond to our customers quickly and innovatively.

Our people, pure and simple.

We kept the team together during COVID and kept close to everyone throughout that time. Everything we did back then was as a team and we kept the whole team together, even when it didn’t make financial sense to. It's a balance of making sure we retain the best talent to ride out the short term challenges for the greater long term.

Everyone we employ is very good at what they do, so my expectations are not around their role but how they engage with me and their colleagues. I want honesty, openness and kindness in how they deal with people in and outside the business.

I say to new employees that they know the industry better than I do, so I want their thoughts on what we do and how we can improve. Some of our best ideas have come from people asking why we do things a certain way and why don’t we do something different. Having our team be open to this is a big part of why we are successful.