GLOBAL ENTREPRENEURSHIP WEEK: Myth Two: Is Entrepreneurship a Solo Activity?

Welcome to our second Global Entrepreneurship Week blog. Today we are concentrating our attention on the myth that Entrepreneurship is seen as a solo activity. Below are the views, experiences and opinions of entrepreneurs involved in the If we can, you can community and the Entrepreneurs’ Forum on the subject.

And if you have a story to share, please leave your comments here, or visit our Facebook page to take part in the debate. We know there is more than one side to every story so if you have an experience or opinion about some of these myths, please do get involved and air your voice.

There is also video content on this topic on our TV channel – click here to view.

Day 2: The myth that entrepreneurship is a solo activity

Christian Cerisola, Quay2 Media: “I think there was a sense of fear between myself and my business partner, Antonia, about taking the leap of faith that is setting up your own business. But we felt safer in the knowledge that we were doing it together; that there’s someone else in your shoes who’s thinking the same way.

I moved to the North East in 2001 and joined a Newcastle-based PR company. It was while I was there that I met Antonia and we spent a lot of time together working on various accounts and we realised that we worked very well together.

We realised that we both harboured the same ambitions to run our own PR agency, but we also both had the same fears so it seemed an obvious solution to both of us that we would hold each other’s hands through the process.

We’ve both got young families so there were all these sorts of things running through our minds like ‘what if it all goes wrong?’ There were a million reasons why we shouldn’t do it. The hard bit was actually to say yes, let’s make this commitment, let’s go ahead and do it.

When we did, it felt like a huge relief because we were able to carry out our passion and enthusiasm on something that we had created ourselves.

I think you need to ignore the many, many reasons why you think you shouldn’t do it and go for those one or two reasons why you think you should.

I think that was the thing that nearly stopped me, but I hate to think that I almost didn’t go for it and not done what we’re actually doing now, looking back at what we’ve achieved over the past four years is staggering.”


Sir Peter Vardy, The Vardy Group of Companies: "My weakness is accountancy. I’m absolutely hopeless. It doesn’t matter if I work for the next ten years to be an accountant; I would never make it. So what I had to do very early on was get somebody whose strength was my weakness. The complementary team that I’ve had over the years meant that I could do what I did best, and they could do what they did best.

Some budding entrepreneurs who I know don’t invest in that financial stability of having a good accountant who keeps you right all the time, keeps you on the right path, and helps you focus all of your energy into doing the things you’re good at."


Video clip: Tony Moloney, CEO of Enterprise Foods talks about the value of working with others. View the interview here


Tony Trapp, IHC Engineering Business: “It was a very unlikely start for us, and if you did any analysis you’d say, “Don’t do it, it looks ridiculous.” We were trying to compete with a very well established and wealthy global leader, and we had nothing. It looked like an unlikely prospect.

Four of us started the business, based in my own house for nine months. We had various restrictions on what we could do so it was a very difficult time. But we actually enjoyed it a lot - we often sat out in my garden, had lunch, and developed exciting new ideas from scratch.

We never had what you could formally call a business plan, but I always wanted the company to operate like a big company from the outset. It had to have proper meetings and proper documented information and an idea of where it was going.

I was keen to bring in a non executive director, a mate of mine from Aberdeen who was well experienced in running businesses. Later we got another lady from the City of London finance industry, who was a really good person to have as she provided something completely different to us, as five engineers.

Part of the secret is to get different people in your organisation, and if you can get them to work together then you can create some wonderful things. You don’t want clones, you want people with different characteristics.”


Video: Ben Quigley, Sam Morton and Rob Mathieson talk about their operation as team players. View the clip here

Liz Towey and Vicki Sharp, Garden Angels: Both Liz and I have always loved gardening since we were young. We both had our own gardens when we were in our early twenties. When we both had our first child at a similar time (which is how we met) we soon realised that this was something we both really enjoyed doing. We both did a Royal Horticultural Society gardening to formalise what we already knew and then decided that we would take the plunge and start a business together and then see how it went from there. We thought if we’re going to do this we’ll have to do it now, because if we didn’t, then we’ll always have an excuse as to why we can’t.

We had a good idea as to where we wanted to go. My strength is design, so I lead on that side. Liz’s strengths lie within her teaching background, so she wanted to do some work with schools. So from the outset we could see that we had very different skills and strengths which we thought were both useful for the business.

That’s the good thing about both of us having different skill sets. It means that we neither one of us is holding everything in their head at any one time! We very much share the pressures of the business and that’s a good thing about being a partnership because you’re not doing it all on your own.


Carol Metcalfe, Musa Fine Art: “My business partner Hilary came on board with me. She was a fine artist and had been through the same process as me and we’d kept in contact. Hilary said right at the beginning that she’d like to do this with me.

I began to worry because I thought the business wouldn’t make enough money to sustain the two of us but Hilary said I don’t care I want to do it anyway because I love the idea.

We had lots of people telling us, don’t do it together, don’t do things as friends it’s a bad move. But it’s worked out really well and we’re able to bounce ideas off each other.”


Video: Maureen Lindberg and Judith Addyman talk about working with business partners (Unplugged) View the clip here


Jonathan Wade, Neuro Partners (interview): “Although he always thought he would start his own business, Jonathan’s final push came from his close friend who was tired of hearing him moan about work when they were in the pub.

“I spoke to two of my closest colleagues and friends at the time and said “join me, I can’t do this on my own,” they “took a leap of faith, we put our houses on the line and went for it”

Mike Bell, Mutual Inspiration CIC: “After nearly 20 years working solo or in small groups as a personal, leadership and organisational development coach and consultant, I began making the transition from corporate work to social enterprise when I met Steve Day – my now co-founder. We hit it off immediately and shared the same aspirations.

Together, with my wife and business partner Patricia, we created Mutual Inspiration CIC.”


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