A high profile insurance broker has gone solo, using the pandemic and the freedoms it has brought to position himself for a strong future.
Rob Bradley, who serves as the North Lincolnshire area chair for Hull and Humber Chamber of Commerce, launched Bradley Gauntlet Insurance Brokers just ahead of the pandemic.
And he said he has reaped huge advantage from the decisions made, using new freedoms as the basis of building a new-look insurance brokerage to suit current and post-lockdown times.
The aim is to use his 27 years’ insurance experience to build a business based around family life, focusing on general commercial, haulage, property, construction, and marine insurance.
Rob, who sought the backing of independent insurance principal and chartered insurance broker, Gauntlet Group, said: “I now wake up buzzing every day and have the freedom to carve out a business path for my family.
"Currently, this is a 15-year journey for me and I know that year one has probably been the toughest I will face. The pandemic has been phenomenally hard for us all but it has also opened up new ways of conducting business that I hadn’t really been able to embrace before. It could actually have helped strengthen the business and make it more resilient in the future.”
He has taken an office at Queensway Industrial Estate in Scunthorpe to give him easy access to the region’s major road network, but is embracing technology for communication.
Also taking the self-employed step in lockdown is Dave Jackson, who has launched Lincolnshire Financial Services, a mortgage brokerage with a commercial focus too.
In a 20-year career he has worked for RBS, Santander, MetroBank and Lloyds TSB, based from his Grimsby hometown.
“I’m really looking at development finance and commercial finance, and with the new Help to Buy scheme and new tax year upon us it is a really interesting time,” he said. “Businesses are really looking at what they want to do and I’m working really closely with several accountants and estate agents.”
