It may not seem too difficult to turn a great business idea into a profitable company but the sheer hard work and planning that’s needed cannot be underestimated. Paul and Laura Clark admit that as The Phat Pasty Company took off life became more hectic than they had ever imagined it could be.

Paul says: “It’s been a great experience and I would recommend it to anyone but it means you have to live and breathe the business and give total commitment. If you have a clear plan and firm goals and keep focused then you can grow a business very rapidly but you also have to be careful to keep control and maintain your quality standards.”

Paul and Laura’s eye-catching idea was to launch a high quality office lunch service from a specially converted camper van – The Phat Van. Pasties were of course top of the menu but soups, baguettes and salads were all included. They of course became the Phat Controllers!

Now the company has a fleet of Phat Vans, has won national awards, been featured on television, and has successfully launched a new buffet lunch delivery service and franchise business.

Laura says that as a start-up business the only real option had been to work from home which was never ideal.

She says: “As soon as we could we moved to a unit at the Milton Keynes Business Centre. We moved there because it offered us quality premises that matched our own high business standards and we felt the overall deal represented good value.

“We were also able to take the unit on a simple monthly licence and so were not tying ourselves into the commitment of a long term lease. It also left open the option to take more space as we needed it without the hassle of moving location.”

Paul says the growth of the new buffet office lunch delivery service and the launch of the national franchise meant the company quickly needed bigger premises.

He said: “It was ideal to be able to take a further unit at the Business Centre. It was easy to arrange the move and it was a big plus not to have to worry about any property issues. The Centre staff simply took care of everything and that gave us more time to concentrate on the business.”

Paul and Laura work very much hands on and still get out on the road delivering lunches.

Laura concludes: “Keeping close to our customers is all important and ensuring that The Phat Pasty Company deliverers its high quality offer each and every day.”

March 2010

After working for 17 years in the fitness industry Karen Cook thought she knew a thing or two about how a gym should be run. She had been an instructor and then a manager at the facilities of top hotels and health clubs and was also a qualified massage therapist.

She thought this was an ideal combination of skills to run her own fitness business and so she opened Results4Girls at the Greenway Business Centre on Harlow Business Park. Now in its second year the business is doing well and Karen is delighted to be her own boss.

Karen says that the Business Centre has proved to be an ideal location which is popular with her customers.She says: “Some women can be put off or even intimidated by mixed gyms and sometimes gyms don’t have the best locations. We have a very bright, light and professional setting here and there is plenty of parking available. “Our aim is to provide a friendly and personal service and we want our customers to feel comfortable and unwind. We have space for a large range of equipment and separate facilities for massage and beauty. Customers from nearby businesses are pleased to see a gym right on their doorstep.”

Karen was particularly pleased that she could take space at the Greenway Business Centre on a flexible monthly licence with no long term commitments. She also does not have to worry about property management matters which are all taken care of by a Centre Manager.

She adds: “I had more than enough to do setting up and running the business on a day to day basis so it was great to have the Centre team take care of some of the routine things that can take up a lot of time. It’s important for us to concentrate on our customers and make sure that they feel special.”

For more details on the Greenway Business Centre or to arrange a viewing call Manager Lorraine King on 01279 408100 or visit www.capitalspace.co.uk.
For more details on Results4Girls call Karen Cook on 01279 408184 or see www.results4girls.com

 

October 2009

Kriss Tottman and Kieron Cronin know what it takes to be fit and how far you have to push to be super fit. They’re top trainers and like nothing better than setting ambitious targets and achieving them. So when they channelled their enthusiasm into setting up the personal training business HealthPro they weren’t going to let a little thing like a recession get in the way.

Kriss says: “After racking up a large set of training qualifications and working in some premier training jobs we both felt the next step had to be setting up our own business. Unfortunately it wasn’t brilliant timing and the recession came along just as we launched. At times it hasn’t been easy but we’ve built the business steadily and now we are ready to expand further.

”We’re used to working with highly motivated people, including F1 Drivers and Olympic hopefuls and so we know what it takes to set a goal and head for it. We did the classic thing and first worked from home and then moved to the Milton Keynes Business Centre as our client base built up.”

Kieron agrees that making an early move to the Centre was crucial to the success of the business.

He says: “We wanted very professional and upmarket premises to reflect the standard of service we provide and needed the right amount of space for personal training and a separate area for therapy. Our clients also had to be able to get to us easily and the ample parking was just what we needed.”

The most important factor that sold Kriss and Kieron on the move was the ability to take space on a simple and flexible monthly licence. They weren’t tied into a long lease and could increase or reduce the space they took on a monthly basis to match the needs of their business. In fact HealthPro has gone from strength to strength and secured a 25% increase in business in the last quarter.

Kriss says that all the indications are that we are becoming more health conscious. They still work with professional athletes and serious amateurs but the main part of their business is with those simply trying to achieve good personal fitness. Weight control may be a concern or it may be mothers getting back into trim after childbirth.

He adds: “The important factor is personal motivation but you have to have a plan and a clear idea of how to achieve your aims. For some it’s straightforward but for others, including those recovering from injury, it’s often more complicated. We work with them and show them the best way to go.”

Kriss and Kieron would now like to grow their business in the UK and even expand abroad. They are convinced that the message that being fit brings a better quality of life is now widely accepted and that fitness business is set to become big business.

September 2009

Shelley Abela is a first rate secretary and she knew that she would be an asset for any company for which she worked. The trouble was she didn’t want to work for someone else’s company, she wanted her own!

The solution was to set up Abela Secretarial Services and create an independent secretarial service. Shelley knew she needed a smart professional image to build a good client base and that a home address just would not be good enough.

Becoming a virtual tenant at a business centre seemed the right way to go and so she signed up with a monthly licence at St George’s Business Park.

She say: “It was a low cost way to get into the professional secretarial market and as a virtual tenant as well as a business centre address I had access to other centre services including use of meeting rooms when I wanted them.

“The business took off well and soon I found I needed an office and moved from being a virtual to a real tenant. This was again available on a monthly licence and so I could try operating from an office with no long term commitment. If it didn’t work out I could just go back home.”

In fact Shelley’s client base grew fast and she now has a large client list with an impressive range of professional firms making use of her executive secretarial service.

Shelley adds: “It’s consistency that’s important and our clients know they can count on excellence as the normal level of service with personal attention to detail. We have long term arrangements with many clients as well as occasional one off special assignments.

“When clients come to see us they are impressed by the good quality offices and professional presentation of St George’s Park. Ample and easy parking is also a bonus.”

Shelley’s business is still growing and her latest move has been to take on more staff and move to even larger offices. She still though keeps a direct involvement with all the work and makes sure clients have exactly the service they want.

She concludes: “When it’s your businesses you want to make sure that everything is just right. That’s also the attitude we see from St George’s Park and that’s why we’ll be keeping the business here.”

For details on St George’s Business Park call Manager, Leigh Kedwell, on 01795 432605 or see www.capitalspace.co.uk and for Abela Secretarial Services call 01795 432727 and see www.abelasecretarial.com.

 May 2009

 

Chris Smith is a gaming enthusiast and knows what makes the gaming community tick. He saw emerging business opportunities at an early date and decided to turn an enthusiasm into a hard headed business.

It was a big step and Chris was determined to keep a tight control on business costs from the outset and plan for steady and well controlled growth. So the first move was to try out the business from a home base.

Chris was sure that there was a market for high quality accessories that were matched exactly to requirements of top games. This proved very successful and he decided that LIME (Live Interactive Media Events) needed a professional face to match the level of service given.

Chris then chose to sign up as a virtual tenant at CEC’s St George’s Business Park at Sittingbourne. It gave his business a prestigious business address with the additional benefit of call answering and access to meeting rooms if needed.

Soon the business was growing too big for the house and Chris found that living with the business meant he never switched off. The logical next step was to take business space at St George’s Park and Chris became a real instead of a virtual tenant.

He says: “We took a deep breath and decided that we needed offices to take the business forward. The Centre made the move easy and with a monthly licence we knew that we were keeping our options open either to move back home or to expand.

“Very soon we needed more space and recently we have taken on more staff and moved again to a larger unit with a mezzanine floor. We haven’t had to waste any time on searching for new premises and knew we would continue to get a good deal at St George’s Park.”

As LIME is based on internet sales Chris needed to be sure that the latest in IT was available and that secure and well serviced connections were available at all times.

Chris adds: “We stand or fall by our IT capability and we needed to be sure that we could obtain a reliable service. St George’s Park provided all we needed and I know we can count on them.”

Chris is already rapidly taking advantage of the capacity of his new unit and further growth is on the cards with his next goal an even bigger unit at St George’s Business Park!

For details on St George’s Business Park call Manager, Leigh Kedwell, on 01795 432605 or see www.capitalspace.co.uk, and for LIME see www.limexb360.co.uk.

May 2009

 

By starting small and thinking big many successful businesses have got off the ground and gone on to realise long held ambitions.

So when Alan Stenson with the help of his father Mike decided to launch a merchandising company that would be truly global in its reach they also decided to try out the business basics at home first and only move to commercial premises when the company was established.

The strategy worked well and now Ethical Nation is growing fast at the Milton Keynes Business Centre and has just had to take on additional office and warehouse space.

The driving business idea behind the company is to make it easy for companies and organisations to source and obtain ethically and sustainably made products.

Alan Stenson says that many companies and organisations are committed to high standards of corporate responsibility but often lack the resources or time to source goods which are produced in a socially and environmentally responsible way.

He said: “Responsible organisations and companies don’t want to be found using goods that are produced in dubious ways which fall far short of established international standards. That’s where we come in and advise on product sourcing.

“We can then go on to obtain, store and deliver products to meet our customers’ deadlines. Most importantly we can also arrange for independent verification of the ethical basis on which these goods are produced.”

Ethical Nation has initially specialised in the supply of promotional goods which are often produced in less economically developed countries or in newly industrialised nations. T-shirts, polos, jackets and hoodies were among early products sourced together with pens, keyrings, lanyards and USBs.

Alan and Mike at first worked from their own homes but things soon became a bit too crowded. The world might be headed for recession but Ethical Nation was growing apace.

Mike says that taking on good quality business premises with the right mix of offices and workshops was made easy once a visit had been made to the Milton Keynes Business Centre.

He explains: “We didn’t want to commit ourselves to a long lease and the monthly licence was an ideal alternative. We were impressed by the quality of the premises at the Centre and the team there helped us to move in quickly and without any hassle.”

Alan says that the move to the Centre has opened up new possibilities for the company.

He adds: “Our new unit has given us the space to grow and run even more efficiently, and having the use of the conference facilities is fantastic when holding meetings or presentations with customers.”
Ethical Nation is an officially rated carbon zero company and all the goods it supplies are carbon offset. So Alan and Mike were pleased to see that the Milton Keynes Business Centre aims to reduce environmental impacts whenever possible. The Centre has a woodchip fired boiler using sustainable woodland resources as part of its heating system, encourages recycling and has a green travel to work strategy.

For details on support for start-ups and growing businesses at the Milton Keynes Business Centre call Manager Lynn Patey-Smith on 01908 698700 or see www.capitalspace.co.uk and for Ethical Nation call 0845 094 5976.

March 2009

 

When in 2007 Patrick O’Connor and Denise Moore began to think seriously about launching their own business the economy was not doing too badly and going independent seemed a natural next step. A few months later in 2008 the business news just seemed to be getting gloomier every day but Patrick and Denise were still convinced that they had the right business model to succeed and so they pressed ahead and turned their ideas into a practical business.

Patrick says: “Every business has to go through good and bad times and if you are confident that you have a business that will work there are even advantages to launching in a downturn. You do not have any unrealistic expectations and you have to build a strong business that can take any challenges in its stride.

“It certainly focuses your mind on the important things and we made sure from the outset that we had the basics right. We knew that the business proposition that we could offer customers had great potential. It was a way to ensure that business vehicles are used in an environmentally friendly way and offered an immediate impact on the bottom line through fuel savings. It was also an easy way to check on the latest Health and Safety legislation with which businesses have to comply.”

Finding the right offices and location for the company was a crucial decision as Denise explains: “We needed to set the business up to tight deadlines and had to ensure that we created a sound initial customer base and the right framework for steady growth. This meant that time was at a premium and we just did not want to get tied down in searching for premises or developing offices from scratch.

“We required good quality offices from which we could offer services to companies and access to meeting rooms to run our training sessions. For all this the Capital Business Centre was ideal with the Centre Manager taking care of the property management matters and providing us with a complete turn-key solution to offices.

“We saved lots of time by simply choosing the offices we wanted to start in and then signing the monthly licence. We moved in straight away and were up and running in days. All the time consuming stuff like arranging phones and other services was sorted for us.”

FleetCSR – the initials stand for Corporate Social Responsibility – arranges training for fleet and business drivers who want to get the very best economy out of their vehicles. Eco positive driving can save up to 15% on fuel costs, which is a big bonus in today’s tough business climate.

The company also advises on safe driving and compliance with Health and Safety Regulations. Many businesses simply fail to realise that they are not complying with the law which is detailed and covers everything from LGV lorries to executives cars being driven on company business.

FleetCSR can audit the vehicle use of businesses and set out a route to full safety compliance together with a blueprint for cost savings. Minimising environmental impacts also allows businesses to meet their Corporate Social Responsibility targets. Patrick and Denise have found an open door so far and they are optimistic about growth prospects.

Patrick adds: “Obviously it’s not been easy but I would say to anyone if you have a good business idea then make a plan, check your figures, and don’t let the downturn stop you. Remember you will be in charge and nobody’s going to tell you that you’re being let go!”

For more details on the facilities for start-ups at the Capital Business Centre call Centre Manager Carol Matthews on 0208 916 2000 or check out other CEC centres at www.capitalspace.co.uk. For more on FleetCSR phone Directors Denise Moore or Patrick O’Connor on 0208 916 2218.

March 2009

 

Being made redundant may be a big shock but thinking positive can turn things around. Ask someone like Tim Waterstone, who after being sacked went on to launch a hugely successful chain of bookstores.

His example is now being followed by many redundant executives who find themselves victims of the current recession. Some of their businesses eventually may well be as successful and profitable as Tim’s but it’s taking the first step that is all important.

When IT specialist Mike Rolfe heard the bad news, he had 13 years of diverse experience and had already thought quite seriously about starting his own business.

He says: “It’s never good news to be told that you don’t have a job but it did force me to take a hard look at where my career was going and what I really wanted to do next.

“IT skills are still very marketable and getting another job was a realistic option but I wanted to have my own business and to be able to determine my own future. Frankly it looked much more secure to be your own boss.”

Mike has worked for large public sector organisations and for blue chip companies as well as smaller businesses. Based on this experience his Intelogix company will be offering a full IT support service and management and deployment services.

Intelogix will focus initially on services for small and medium sized enterprises but Mike believes he will also be well placed to provide support for larger businesses.

He says his decision to take space at the Milton Keynes Business Centre was based on the need to have high quality offices that would be in line with the level of professional service that his company offered.

He says: “The Centre has a smart and professional appearance that strikes the right note. I can invite my clients here with confidence and can use the meeting rooms for training sessions.

“Another attraction was the monthly licence which avoids the commitment to a long term lease and also avoids the legal expenses of leases. It was easy just to sign the licence and move in.

“Access to good reliable telecommunications services was also important. The Centre has state of the art systems and I know I can count on these being well maintained with any problems sorted quickly.”

Mike wants Intelogix to be known for providing a high quality personal service to clients. He believes that many businesses are still often frustrated rather than assisted by IT support services and he is sure that with a competent and friendly service he can establish a growing client base.

For details on support for start-ups and growing businesses at the Milton Keynes Business Centre call Manager Lynn Patey-Smith on 01908 698700 or see www.capitalspace.co.uk, and for Intelogix call 01908 698935.

March 2009