For yesterday’s Enterprise Gateway, I was joined by Paul Smalley. Since 2004, Paul has been the Managing Director of Paper Mountain Solutions Ltd – my company’s‘engine room’. I always find it more of a challenge to interview people I know well, but it’s also fun – and I think Paul enjoyed it more than he was expecting to!
I billed the show as being about ‘a brand new venture to help brand new ventures’, because Paul wasn’t actually in the studio to promote PMS. He was there to talk about his new company – Startup Revolution – which grew out of the experience he and his wife, Joy, have gained from running their business for the last seven years.
Paper Mountain works mainly with established businesses, relieving them of the aspects of enterprise that most of us find a real bind – but Paul and Joy are mad enough to enjoy! – things like the books, VAT returns, the production of management information etc. Through their growing team, they also look after clients’ phone-calls, post and so on. In fact, these days it’s an all-round front- and back-office support service.
A couple of years ago, they started thinking about how they might be able to help people in the very early stages of business – either at the startup stage, or when the business is beginning to grow.
If you’ve been there you’ll know that At startup, there’s so much to think about – everything from logos to websites, from Companies House forms to business plans. Then as the clients/customers start to flow faster, so does the stream of paperwork – just at the moment when there’s less and less time to deal with it!
In 2009, though, PMS didn’t have the setup to offer that kind of help, so the idea was shelved – until earlier this year, when it came up in a conversation Paul was having with a bank. The bank loved the idea but said ‘It would take at least eighteen months/two years to bring that to the table – then you might be too late to catch the current startup wave’. ‘That was like a red rag to a bull,’ Paul told me yesterday, ‘so we sat down and started planning it seriously.’
In the last six months, they’ve partnered up with Isight media, who bring design creativity and technical expertise on the marketing front to the table, and they’ve put a workflow management system in place, which allows them to organize and manage the flow of work through the office and also allows the client to keep track online.
So yesterday saw the official launch of the idea which was supposed to take ‘at least eighteen months’ to pull together.
What did we close the show with? Marc Bolan, ‘Children of the Revolution’ – obviously!
So why ‘rhinos on the radio’?
Well, as you’ll know if you listen to the programme or drop in here every now and then, I’m very interested in what makes a successful entrepreneur – what we really need. In light of Paul’s experience and his own new enterprise, I asked him the question. His answer? ‘You’ve got to be able to take the knocks – you need a skin like a rhino!’ He’s got a point…
On next week’s show, I’m welcoming back Loretta Fletcher of Bella Vois. When she was last on, she was talking about naturally beautiful nails and spray tans. This time, she’s telling me the inspirational story of how she turned a problem into potential to create her business in the first place. Catch it at 3PM Thursday on 97.8 FM in the Basildon & East Thurrock area, or online at gateway978.com
Actually, I’m on air from 1 til 4 next Thursday. My colleague, Alsion H, is away, so I’m doing the whole show – always good fun.