Business success and scale comes from hard work, new ideas, and learning from experienced people. Paul Avins, the well-known business coach in the UK, celebrated these principles and entrepreneurs who have applied them at his Grown Up Business Awards.
The event, held at the Easthampstead Park Hotel in Wokingham in December, as way to round out what had been an exceptional year of growth for many of the business owners attending. The event also reinforced how business coaching and mentoring can help a business to grow, innovate and scale up to new heights.
More than just a meeting, this event was a vibrant celebration of business owners’ hard work, ability to overcome adversity and their role in creating jobs and growing the economy.
“The idea behind these awards is to celebrate our clients who have achieved a new level of growth in their business” says Paul. “For me it’s about their journey of scaling up which is why each category celebrates getting to the next step on what we call the seven figure journey.”
Each of the category winners showed great leadership skills, team building skills and innovation skills to create products and services that solved real problems for their customers. Their achievements clearly demonstrate the strong influence of entrepreneurship on communities and different industries, and the award showed how the winners like to work hard and play hard.
The Grown-Up Business Award Winners
Each category honors business owners who have expanded their company to different levels of Scale and revenue. Some organically and others but using acquisition to accelerate their scale up journey.
Scale Up Growth – For scaling up past £1m in Sales for the first time or adding £1m in organic growth to a business in 12 months…
Companies winning this award for the first time included Vacant Events who are revolutionising the event industry with their flat pack toilets model and achieving an impressive 260% in the last 12 months.
“It’s been a very hectic 12 months as we’ve scaled up so fast!” said Sam and Joe the joint MD’s “and we could not have done it without the Coaching and support of this Community.”
Scale Up Acquisition – Celebrating companies who have added over £1m+ of growth using this strategy. This was a new award this year as so many clients used this to accelerate their seven figure journey.
Winners included Progressive Sports in the childrens activity and franchising space who doubled their business from £2m to £4m in 2023 with one strategic purchase.
The 1% Club – The Award celebrated CEOs who have scaled their companies to over £10m in Sales for the first time.
One of the winners was a fast growing business in the HVAC sector who successfully grew their business to hit the £15 million turnover level in 2023.
“Finding a Community of like minded business grown up’s and tapping into the support offered by Paul and his team of coaches has enabled us to achieve new levels of growth.” said Sam the CEO.
Scale Up CEO of the Year – This award celebrates an owner who has demonstrated exceptional leadership skills while taking their business on a scale up journey using organic growth and acquisition strategies.
This year’s winner was Céline Aloé the CEO of UKLC who have scaled their business to over £7m in just a few short years after only just surviving the devastating impact of Covid which stopped 99% of their business in its tracks! The company also picked up an Acquisition Award with COO Tregarran Percival collecting this on the night.
“We feel very proud of the results we’ve achieved as a team in the last few years” said Tegarran, “being part of this Grown Up Community has kept us going at times when both Celiune and I wanted to give up.”
Grown Up Business Of the Year – This Award is to recognise the achievements of an exceptional entrepreneur, their team and the results they have achieved.
This year’s winner was a favorite in the Community as the CEO has helped so many others with his story over the last decade of working with Paul as his Business Coach.
The award went to Shorade UK and was picked up by the CEO Steven Shore, who is very open about how his company was losing money when he first reached out to Paul.
“There were months where I paid Paul before myself but I knew the value I was getting would pay off in the long term and I was right” shared Steve.
Not only had this company scaled up to over £10M+ in the last year, they have also completed several acquisitions in the body shop industry as part of their growth strategy. Plus they have innovated a new Team structure and systems to ensure that industry leading standards are still maintained as they scale up each location.
‘When Paul shared how to scale up by acquiring other companies in our industry it was a total game changer. This is why I stay in his Masterminds as one big idea can accelerate your growth by millions and save you years of hard work.” Said Steve
“Watching Steve grow and develop himself as a Leader and Shorade as a brand has been inspiring to watch and a privilege to be a part of” Paul said. “When you look at the data and results of what the Shorade team have achieved, they were clear winners.”
We shall have to come back next year to see if Steve can retain the title but there is some very strong competition in the Grown Up Community chasing him up the mountain to the scale up summit.
Motivation and Inspiration from Claire Lomas MBE
A key moment was Claire Lomas MBE’s keynote speech sharing her powerful story of overcoming massive adversity in her life. A very accomplished horse rider Clarie was left paralysed from the wait down after an accident at a 3 day event.
What she did next not only astonished doctors, who had said who would she never walk or be mobile again. Instead Claire applied her positive mindset and went on to complete the London marathon in a bionic suit and raise over £850k for spinal research.
She has also gone on to write two best selling books, become a certified micro light pilot, have two amazing children and impact companies and teams all over the world with her message of positive empowerment and persistence.
Her story was a powerful and emotionally moving example of what’s possible when you focus on the positives, ask for help from others and set big crazy goals!
It added depth to the event, linking personal and business success to help everybody in the room think bigger for 2024.
Conclusion: Coaching x Community = Success
The awards at the Grown-Up Business Awards celebrate more than just achieving new levels of financial success. They celebrated the resilience, innovation, and spirit of the entrepreneurs who are prepared to embark on the scale up journey.
This event focused on scaling up, networking, and personal development through world class speakers and coaching. It was more than a place for success.
It was where entrepreneurs could grow their skills, find support from others just like them and be celebrated before the results they achieved. After the party you can be sure they will be setting new goals for the next year and getting back to the work they love and enjoy. Taking that next step on their Scale Up Journey!
