- What is your name and who do you work for?
My name is Luke and I work for The West Sussex Growth Hub.
- What do you do within The West Sussex Growth Hub, and who are your customers?
I am essentially a business advisor, and it is my job to support businesses within West Sussex to grow in whatever fashion that takes: It might be growth in head count, it could be turnover profit or it could even be exiting the business. I can help with any form of growth, any kind of advice, any type of signposting effectively acting like an outsourced non-executive director, that the government pays for!
- What is your history in business?
So for the last 11 years I have been buying, growing and selling my own businesses from local trades to national scope physical securities companies to facilities management, property investment, leaflet delivery and business consulting! Sector agnostic is the term. The reason they have been broadly successful is because of me stepping back, looking at operations and implementing strategies that can be used across various industries. So effectively what I have done is set up businesses, operationalised them, got bored and sold them!
- Do you think Freshmill will work well for you in accessing potential customers?
100% yes, because more than most other locations I work in, people here at Freshmill are here because they don’t want to be on their own, they appreciate the support of people around them who are not necessarily in the same world as them, they are keen to learn and they want to grow their business.
- What is the most important lesson you have gained from your career so far?
Always ask ‘why?’. Whenever you are making a change, whenever you are doing anything within your business, have that petulant child within you that asks, ‘why?’. Somewhere down the line of that route questioning lies the answer, and crucially, whether you are doing something because you want to, or because you should.
- Where do you hope to be in five years time?
That is a really difficult question to answer because I have changed careers and changed industries so many times so who knows! But I would like to think I would be doing the same as I do now, which is being free and flexible enough to do what I enjoy, whatever that may be.
- What advice would you give your younger self just starting out?
Embrace everything that makes you different, don’t try and fit the mould. Don’t hide away. I spent so many years trying to blend in, and over the last 10 years I have realised that it is my quirkiness that has served me well!
- What is your favourite quote or mantra?
I actually have a tattoo which says ‘Powerful Beyond Measure’ which comes from an old passage too long to recite now but it effectively summarises what I said earlier which is there is no sense in hiding away, being your true self is the one thing that will serve you best.
- If you could, who would you switch places with for the day and why?
I think I would want to switch places with my son for the day. He is 15 and he is so different to me. I would like to see what is going on in his head, how he sees the world. He is so averse to any kind of conflict or competition, so placid. Whereas for me, if there is a competition, I must win it! We are so different, so it would be great to see the world through his eyes.