I was a burnt out Business Owner, now I do more of what I love
I’m a straight talking Yorkshireman who has spent over 30 years in business, tackling just about every issue you’re likely to encounter.
With two successful businesses under my belt and having mentored hundreds of SMEs as well as performed at MD level with large global corporates, what I’ve learnt along the way is what really matters to business owners and I believe that to be having the freedom to do more of what they choose. The freedom to choose when to work, when to spend time with their family and friends, and how much to pay themselves to deliver the lifestyle they desire.
Having spent four years building the wrong business at the start of my journey I know all too well about the self-sacrifices new entrepreneurs are willing to make – and I’m on a mission to try and put a stop to such dangerous life-sabotaging behaviour.
What this means for you, is that I can help you cut through the noise, avoid the costly mistakes I’ve already made, and build a business that truly gives you the freedom and lifestyle you’re working so hard for.
Straight talking Yorkshireman
Where it started
I grew up on a council estate in Leeds with my stay-at-home Mum and my Dad, who was the breadwinner.
I have vivid memories of my Dad working incredibly hard but never really reaping the rewards. I remember him being a bus driver and a long-distance lorry driver before he went into business with my Uncle. When I was 16, my Dad explored entrepreneurship, and together the two Brothers built a successful shop fitting firm. For the first time, my family had luxuries we had never known before: our own house, family holidays abroad and a decent car.
I watched my Dad’s appetite for success grow, but also his focus diversify, as he went on to run all sorts of businesses, from patenting products to opening cafés and restaurants. Despite all of that hard work, it never truly rewarded him financially. That has been a red flag for me since my teenage years.
I know from humble beginnings that anything is possible, but hard work alone doesn’t always equal reward. You also need a clear goal, the right motivation and a solid plan, and that’s exactly where I can help you focus and succeed.
The underdog
Determined to create opportunities for myself, and driven by the strong work ethic I gained from my Dad, I left school at 17 with a handful of O-Levels to enter employment. By 19, I had secured an apprenticeship as a Management Trainee with a privately owned global manufacturing business, where I stayed for almost 15 years. During that time, I continually climbed the ladder, taking on roles usually reserved for more senior and often better-qualified team members.
As the underdog set on proving myself, I managed clients such as Vodafone and Orange, and I added significantly to the company’s bottom line by improving production techniques, introducing new marketing strategies and streamlining product development processes. It was through this experience that I developed an appetite for breaking things and rebuilding them better.
Having created such impact, I was able to request that my employers sponsor me to go to university, something I had always felt driven to do but had missed out on by entering employment straight from school. I completed an MA, sponsored by the IoD, in Company Direction, and by the age of 24 I was more qualified than many of my peers to run a business.
When there was nowhere left to progress in that business, I moved on. In my 30s, I joined a £2 billion turnover FTSE 100 company, where I further honed my business skills. I found my place streamlining and improving the profitability of some of their faltering businesses, as well as generating significant sales through global clients such as Coca-Cola, Diageo and L’Oreal.
Rising from an unqualified underdog to an experienced, qualified leader in the boardroom showed that determination and smart strategy can beat qualifications and status. This lived experience can help you streamline, scale and strengthen your business so your hard work and planning translates into the results you desire.
Tendo was born
Tendo was born in 2010 and, despite supporting many SMEs through recession with my knowledge and skills, I was not achieving my own goals.
My financial and personal freedom were at an all-time low. I felt trapped by a business that couldn’t function without me, yet it wasn’t earning enough for me to outsource. So what was wrong? What was the issue? I realised four years in, at 2 a.m. while doing expense claims, that I’d built a business where I was doing everything apart from spending time in front of clients, helping them do more, the very work that put fire in my belly, and the reason I started the business.
The months that followed were focused on breaking my model and rebuilding it with the help of an experienced Business Mentor.
One of my key drivers for leaving the corporate world was to create an improved lifestyle. I wanted to be able to watch my son play football and to follow my football team home and away, something I never managed to do often enough of when employed. Yet even as a business owner, I still wasn’t managing it, and in fact, even being truly present when I was with my son was a struggle.
I know first-hand how it feels to be trapped by the very business you built to give you freedom and I can help you break that cycle, rebuild with purpose, and create a business that lets you do more of what you love while still achieving the lifestyle you want.
“My son helped me see that my business was broken. On holiday he came up to me and pleaded, ‘please come and play in the pool Dad, you’re always on your phone’. This hit me hard and made me realise that I was trapped by the very business that I had wanted to free me up.”
The wake up call
This was my wake-up call. I was doing it all wrong. My freedom hadn’t materialised, and I was much worse off financially too. So I set about reverse engineering my business based on the life I wanted to live and made a lot of changes. From there, I also worked out how to best serve my customers.
That’s when Tendo was reborn, to focus on business strategy and mentoring support, where I could deliver greatest impact to business owners, helping them do more of what they love. I really honed what my passion and purpose were, alongside the requirements of building a solid business. I also started to outsource many tasks to experts, so I could focus on the elements of the business I loved and excelled at, and I advised clients to do the same.
This also meant I could work fewer hours, giving me the chance to enjoy the lifestyle I had been missing.
By outsourcing and spending more time with clients, I managed to increase my income and started to create the business and lifestyle I actually wanted. I took the system that I used to turn my business around, to make this possible for the clients I work with today.
Now, I am the proud owner of two businesses; one that that focuses on business strategy and mentoring, and one that focuses on marketing strategy. I am determined to stop my clients making the mistakes I made so they can fast-track their business success.
Tendo is now refocused on supporting business owners to build the right business, one that delivers the freedom to choose and helps them do more.
I’ve been in your shoes, working long hours for little reward, and I know how to turn things around. I can help you build the right business, one that gives you the freedom to choose, the income you deserve, and the chance to do more of what you’re missing out on.
How I can help you
At the heart of it all is my desire for business owners to live the life they dreamed about when they first started their business... to help them do more of what they love.
I fulfil many roles for businesses across the UK and Europe; Strategist, Business Mentor, and Non-Executive Director and work with businesses that recognise they need to grow, develop new products, find new markets, and make efficiencies to compete and succeed. Through my one-to-one business mentoring, online training, and group training events, I have become one of the top Business Mentors in the UK.