People quote a range of reasons for deciding to strike out on their own in business, but I haven’t yet met anyone else who can cite both the Taliban and their sister as their inspiration.
Let me explain. I had been in the Royal Marines for 11 years when I came very close to meeting my maker.
In 2007 I was in Afghanistan trying to defend Kajaki dam in Helmand province. The aim was for Nato to keep the hydro-dam running as it supplied electricity to the local population.
The Taliban were not happy about this and were trying to take the hydro-dam back, and one day I managed to get myself blown up by a rocket-propelled grenade.
I was flown back home to have the shrapnel removed and while that was successful, my hearing suffered significant damage. There was hope it might repair itself, so while we waited to find out the Marines employed me to train recruits.
After two years my hearing had not improved and I was told I would lose it altogether if I returned to the front line.
During this period my sister, Emma, asked me to get her in shape. After a few sessions and good results, she suggested that if I turned it into a product I could be on to something. And that is when the idea for my business, Go Commando Bootcamp, which offers military-based fitness programmes and sessions, started to take seed.
To be honest, I didn’t have much of a clue about business, so I started small. I rang the council, asked if I could use a park for training, and then publicised the event through Facebook, posters and a banner at the park, while telling as many people as I could. The Marines were great – they put me to work part-time in a careers office in Leicester so I’d still have some income while I got the business off the ground.
I had no idea how many people would turn up. The first session attracted 15 people but by the end of the first month we were getting 70. Now, five years on, we have five locations, 12 instructors, three administrators and four Go Commando vans.
Mine was a classic kitchen table startup, operating all administrative tasks from my house. But although the business was growing I wasn’t happy – I had gone from the Marines with constant camaraderie, to working by myself. Frankly, I did not enjoy it.
So I looked around for somewhere; I heard about the Rural Innovation Centre at Stoneleigh Park in Warwickshire – funded by Defra and Warwickshire County Council – and I took on offices there. I chose the centre because I have a dog and wanted to bring him to work; I wanted somewhere I could go for a run; and I needed an office that gave me the flexibility to expand as the business grew.
I have used my links with the resettlement officers in the Marines, and leavers who express an interest in fitness training are sent to us, trained and then set up sessions in their local areas. This approach means we will soon be operating in Manchester, Northampton and Barnstaple.
The hardest thing for me is a lack of training in business management, marketing and HR. It is fine to have a business idea but at the end of the day there are essentials you need to know, whatever your business.
Lee Stuart is the founder of Go Commando Bootcamp
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