INDEPENDENT SPIRIT
What is the true mojo of the owner of an independent company or practice? What prompted them to start their business, and how has their ambition/sense of direction/motivation changed and why?
Have they considered their life requirement (what they want to experience and achieve)? Are there changes they would like to make, and what is, or would be the catalyst?
And what are the qualities which set their business apart from larger competitors?
For a report being researched and written by DECISION magazine, commissioned by Ward Goodman, owner-managers share their thoughts.
Leading up to publication, the latest thought-provoking interviews will be available to read here.
Interview with Katie Goldsmith | Owner, Collarways
It was an overheard conversation which resulted in Katie Goldsmith acquiring her business seven years ago. “I remember the owner saying that selling up would be easier than having to get to grips with a new accounting system that the business needed,” she smiles. It all started when the founder of Collarways saw a dog […]
Interview with Matthew Witt | Director, Western Design Architects
If you are burning the midnight oil as a matter of course then it’s probably not because of the sheer amount of work you’ve got on. The likelihood, says Matthew Witt, a director of Western Design Architects, is that the business isn’t really resourced properly. “There has to be a balance because the owner-manager will […]
Interview with Ros Nelmes | Founder Director, Fordington Gin
Into a rural location, mix thirty years as a chiropractor together with a lifelong passion for food and drink. Add an inspiring evening at a tasting event and introduce in equal measures botanical knowledge and curiosity. Stir well and garnish with industry-recognised awards. Follow this recipe and you might just end up with a business […]
Interview with Steve Farrell | Founder, 8 Arch Brewing Company
Picture the scene: it’s summer and visitors are spilling out of the Eight Arch Brewing Company’s tap room, enjoying beer brewed on the premises and the view over a pretty meadow. Afterwards, the malt and hops used to make the beer they’ve been drinking will be sent to a local farmer to feed cattle. For […]
Interview with Nicola Lowe | Managing Partner, Harold G Walker
When Nicola Lowe was appointed managing partner of law firm Harold G Walker, she likened it to being presented with a bowl of spaghetti. “I didn’t know which strand to take hold of first,” she recalls. Arguably it had also been served up in the equivalent of a poisoned chalice. When she became the first […]
Interview with Richard Miller | Managing Partner, Symonds & Sampson
It’s likely that a business with broad-ranging activities will sooner or later think about being more specialised, succumbing to the attractions of dropping the maybe less profitable aspects of their work. But it’s arguably the freedom to decide whether to maintain a real breadth of services that gives the independent business a unique selling proposition […]
Interview with Darren Frias-Robles | Managing Director, Whitefox
A HOTEL GETS planning permission to build a twenty-bedroom extension. But it’s on a small site surrounded on all sides by other buildings, with the only access through a narrow archway. Space is so tight that there’s little room to dig the foundations. The neighbours, who originally objected to the application aren’t disposed […]