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Starting up - Matt Crawford with Enterprise UK

Starting up

Entrepreneur Matt Crawford on how to turn a business idea into reality

Last year was a real turning point for me. I went from a high-flying city job, to redundancy to winning Enterprise UK’s Make Your Mark in the Markets competition, which gave me the chance to fulfill a lifelong dream: setting up a Caribbean food business.

In less than a year, I’ve managed to take on my first business premises - Caribbean Café – and purchase a fast-food van which I’m looking forward to using to sell cuisine at beer festivals and events throughout the summer.

There have certainly been a lot of challenges along the way, but it’s definitely been worth it and I’m now enjoying running my own business. Here’s what I’ve learnt along the way that will help anyone thinking of setting up a business:

1. Do something you love
Pursuing a hobby or interest is a great way to build a business. Before setting up Easy Nuh I had a job in the City and used to sit at my desk and dream of setting up a Caribbean restaurant. Cooking is my real passion in life so it made sense that I made it the focus of my career too.

When you’re self-employed, it’s important that you have a job that motivates you to get up in the morning. Starting up a business on your own can be extremely challenging, so you need to really have your heart in it to get through the ups and the downs.

2. Know your market
Research your ideas, study your competitors and examine your market – great planning and preparation is the key to starting-up any business and I doubt that I’d have even got my business off the ground if I hadn’t invested time doing this.

3. Don’t be afraid to ask for help
Sometimes you need to be able to swallow your pride and ask for help in areas where you have little experience. When I won the Make Your Mark in the Markets competition, I was given lots of advice and guidance from the organizers, Enterprise UK, to be able to hit the ground running. They helped me formulate a business plan and to set myself realistic targets for my business and this help and support was invaluable.

4. Believe in yourself
You will find many people along the way telling you not to go ahead with your idea, but if you have confidence and believe in yourself then there’s no reason not to give it a go. That’s exactly what I did and now I’m here, I’ll never go back to a desk job again.

Make Your Mark in the Markets

Make Your Mark in the Markets is open for entries until 22 March 2010. To enter the competition or for support and advice on how to set up a business, visit www.enterpriseuk.org/markets


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