New Start – up
72 INTERVIEW
New Start – up
New Start – up
Leon Hutchinson is the founder / director of Team Tradesmen, a web directory of local tradesmen which he established last August.
engage talks to Leon about his business, any challenges he faced in the start-up phase and asks him for advice for those planning on going into business.
QPrior to setting up Team Tradesmen, I
So, what inspired you to set up your business?
was working as an IT hardware engineer and also helped my father run his construction business. However, I was never really that good at building work, but enjoyed working with builders. I like how they have a certain amount of freedom and found most tradesmen take great pride in their work and were also funny and very interesting characters, totally opposite to people tied to a desk job in the city. I realised I was able to assist them through my office background knowledge in terms of helping them with their paperwork either through estimates or setting up a website for them. This in turn led me to do extensive market research and I discovered I could do this as a business.
I believe that with any successful project, it takes skill and team work and my motto through competitive team sports has always been Together Everyone Achieves More. As a result I called the company teamtradesmen. com. However it is not exclusive to just men.
QTell me a little more about teamtradesmen. com
Teamtradesmen. com is a newly and highly awaited interactive online community portal dedicated to helping professional construction workers connect and do business together. Through online networking and events it will enable them to communicate, inform, support and advise on all topics relevant to the construction industry.
Q
What challenges
( if any) did you face in the early stages of setting up the business?
Oooh tough question. I would say that I just had to have self-belief and stay focused. I had to develop and organise my home for operation which meant sacrificing a bedroom for my office and getting a lock on the door to keep the children out!
I also had to get a nightshift position so that I could concentrate on business through the day, which included going to network events and seminars in order to network and create business leads and develop relationships. This was tough going indeed as the working day turned out to be very long. engage | uk ISSUE FOUR 2007