What do you currently do?
I am the CEO of Silversurfers.com which is an online community for people aged over 50 in the UK. We are also attracting many visitors from countries such as the USA, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. Silversurfers.com was launched in November 2013 and has been growing rapidly throughout 2014 both in terms of visitor numbers, members and also our partners who reflect our customer’s range of interests. Being a silversurfer myself, I know which brands us over 50s connect with and we have built great partnerships with leading brands from Cunard to Crocus.co.uk and the RAC to Emirates Airlines. We have just launched a discount card for people aged over 50 – the Silvercard+ which features discounts from over 100 trusted brands including hotels, airlines, gift companies, clothes, theatres both on the internet and on the high street. Over the past year our team has grown to eight highly experienced individuals – we work virtually – it has proven to be a very successful way of working.
What is your inspiration in business?
I love building up new projects and seeing them through to fruition. Silversurfers.com is a prime example of that. For the past 16 years I have been involved with the internet starting with the British Airways website back in 1997 when it didn’t even have a booking engine and little functionality. Questions like “how do we make this work better for the customer”, “what’s the best user experience” interest me when building websites and trying to ensure they are as simple as possible to use. It sounds easy to design and build websites, but like everything in life you never know how good it is until you have customers providing feedback
Who do you admire?
I am always inspired by people who have had a brilliant idea, had nothing themselves, worked incredibly hard and made a huge success. A number of people come to mind, Jack Ma who created Alibaba in China is a fantastic example. He was a schoolteacher with a great idea that he has grown into one of the largest websites in the world – he has completely changed ecommerce in China. I also admire many sportsmen and women who strive hard to win. Bradley Wiggins is an incredible athlete who is a real winner in all aspects.
Looking back would you have done things differently?
One of my sayings is “everyone has a PHD in hindsight”, and it’s true. All of us know what we should have done differently looking back, however none of us has the ability to travel back in time and change things. Would I have done things differently? Yes of course! But move on and keep looking forward is my motto!
What defines your way of doing business?
Vision and tenacity. I am dyslexic and can always see the end vision of where we need to get to even though it might be a challenge. Getting there: I never give up and always try and enthuse and inspire my teams with the vision and a positive attitude to get there as well. As in life itself, I always ensure that I treat everyone with respect and kindness – it goes a long way and people will respond in kind. It annoys me intensely when some business people rant on about how hard they are on their staff and colleagues, how little sleep they can survive on and how tough they are, it’s total nonsense!
What advice would you give to someone just starting out?
Work hard and enjoy yourself. I heard a lovely mantra recently “If you love your job you will never work a day in your life again”. How very true! I also think it’s worth taking risks in business to jump ahead. If you don’t take risks your business will not move forward as rapidly as you would like.
The internet provides huge advantages for anyone starting a business today to rapidly reach customers, provide information to them and if relevant book online. My advice to anyone starting in business out is to ensure their website or App is as compelling as possible and they have received some robust customer feedback on it. Also, whatever business you are in, evolve your products and services to keep ahead of the game – business is about evolution!
