Entrepreneur inspiration: I never gave up, not even after my son's diagnosis

I knew I wanted to be my own boss, after working for my father in my teens. My dad ran his own kitchen design and installation business from our home town in Ilkeston, Derbyshire. I admired how hard he worked and the rewards he earned from being his own boss.

I was just 24 when I started my first limited company, Evolution Media, in 2005. I began building on freelance work from my university days and the experience I gained at various web agencies. Things were slowly starting to grow. I continued to work for larger agencies on a freelance basis at this time as it was a logical way to grow the business.

Six months in and all was going smoothly; I had just become a new father, to Thomas, and the business was going well. However, at the age of one, my son was diagnosed with epilepsy and was having more than 50 seizures every day. It was at this point that I decided to focus my energies on helping my son and learning more about epilepsy – my life as a director of a limited company was short-lived and I shut the business down to focus on family life.

My entrepreneurial spirit was intact, though, and stronger than ever. I set about learning about epilepsy to a high level and set up one of the UK's leading epilepsy websites: ukepilepsy.com. This focused on providing information to families who were struggling with the impact of epilepsy from a parent's point of view. The site became very popular and was even nominated for various awards.

So what happened next, and what advice could I pass on?

Starting small, 50p small

I worked for other agencies and companies in managerial roles up until 2011, my son's epilepsy was under control and my focus switched back to business. I picked up where I left off in 2005, setting up a new business in November 2011 called The Web Design Group, which rose from the ashes of Evolution Media.

I opened a business bank account with 50p and was all set working from my kitchen table with an old laptop. The first 12 months saw me working full-time as head of e-commerce for a health company as well as building my business in the evenings. I sacrificed a lot of my spare time in 2011 to build the company, converting my garage into an office myself to keep the costs down.

By November 2012, the company was at a stage where it could support my wage expectations and all the relevant overheads. I took the plunge and committed myself full-time to my own business. Making sacrifices and keeping the costs down were important in the early stages. Also, I never gave up.

Nurturing growth

It was December 2012, I was on the wind down getting ready for a family Christmas when I began thinking of ways to grow the company in the new year. I hit on the idea of working with other agencies in the local area, providing their clients with a service these agencies couldn't cater for. I began to white label for larger companies, taking on more and more internet marketing projects.

I began to consider looking for somebody to join the team and help with the work load. In February 2013, I hired a creative director – we were now a company with two employees. The lesson here was understanding the Importance of expanding the business slowly and in a controlled manner.

Strength to strength

My creative director and I set out our game plan early on in 2013 and agreed to be selective with the types of businesses we worked for – it was about working with the right clients. These were clients that were well-established in their sector; we didn't want to target one-man bands and startups as typically these types of company have much lower marketing budgets.

We quickly began to attract the attention of some of the big UK and international corporations, gaining lucrative contracts which helped us to grow as a company. We were beginning to pick up work by way of recommendation from these large companies as well.

In October 2013, and again in February 2014, we expanded the business further, recruiting two new members of staff. The projected turnover for 2014 has now reached £250,000 – a realisation of a dream, long in the making.

We found that working for customers who had the potential to grow themselves was key to our own growth.

If I could give you four pieces of advice from my journey it would be these:

Never give up
Keep the costs down in the early stages of business; sacrifice and save wherever you can
Grow slowly and steadily, in a controlled manner
Don't be a busy fool; work for the right clients, not just for anybody who makes an enquiry

Andy Morley is the managing director and founder of The Web Design Group – follow him on Twitter @Andy_Morley

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