Director James Smith tells us how he was inspired by his dad to start up his ‘dynamic, reliable, competitive’ business delivering ‘weird and wonderful’ products to his diverse clients
I was inspired to start my business by …
My old man! Many years ago, he manufactured umbrellas and parasols for large brands such as Coca-Cola and Royal Mail. From an early age I would visit his factories and get involved where possible packing boxes. In later years I even got involved in printing.
My favourite thing about running my business is …
Working with such a diverse range of clients and helping them get their logo on the products they really want. Some weird and wonderful products we have created include underwear, footballs, onesies, bean bags and the rest!
The three words that best describe my business are …
Dynamic, reliable, competitive.
Sheffield City Region is a great place to start a business because …
It is a great place to be at the moment as a start-up business. The city centre is receiving much needed investment which is seeing businesses open new stores and even move to fresh offices. We are also home to some very large businesses such as McLaren and the Advanced Manufacturing Park which could be lucrative to businesses in line to offer them services.
Sheffield City Region is a great place to grow a business because …
Sheffield is seeing so many success stories in not just business but also sport, theatre and music. It’s a hive of activity and there are so many options for all types of businesses to grow and prosper within the city and beyond. Sheffield is a very close-knit city and there are lots of businesses out there to support and assist.
The best advice I ever got was …
Provide a great quality product at a competitive price and make sure you get paid!
The worst advice I ever got was …
Spend just £600 a year and sit in the same room each week with the same ‘like-minded’ businesspeople as yourself who will go out and get you business… yeah right!
The organisations that have supported me and my business include …
Recently Fortay Media have been outstanding at producing a short promotional video to showcase our in-house branding methods. They have gone above and beyond to look after us.
The main challenges facing my industry/sector are …
Sustainability. We are now more conscious than ever about the footprint our businesses are leaving on the planet. Branding and creating products inevitably creates waste, but we are focusing on how we reduce this impact and cut down on avoidable waste.
In 5 years’ time I expect my business to …
Branding even more products in-house thus driving down prices and providing a wider range of products. A lot of promotional gift/clothing suppliers will be outsourcing all the production whereas we have that competitive edge that means we can provide no minimum order quantities, shorter lead times and better pricing.
