People
A Working Class Hero
Where are you based?
70 Market Street, Ulverston, Cumbria and from July world wide via the web.
What does your business do?
Working Class Heroes sells men’s and women’s clothing from the likes of Carhartt, Volcom, DC, Addict, Nixon. The service you get at Working Class Heroes is a little different to what you might get in other skate and BMX shops as we pride ourselves on having a boutique-style shop and therefore customer treatment has to match. Customers come in, we listen to what they want, and then we do our best to meet their requirements by picking out a range of clothing for them to try, in different combinations, providing a friendly, hassle-free shopping experience.
When was it founded and by whom?
On 6\6\6 by John Scott and myself.
What’s it like being your own boss?
Being your own boss has its pros and cons. For example no one is going to shout when you’re five minutes late for work, but the chances are you’ll be working late anyway and 6 days a week are normal practice.
If you have a passion for what you do and are motivated to generate income and constantly strive to improve your business, then being your own boss is great. If you lack self-motivation and find it hard to deal with stress (e.g. not knowing for sure if you’re going to get paid at the end of the month!) then it might not be the best choice.
For me the pros far outweigh the cons as you get real job satisfaction knowing that the business and any success that comes from it is wholly down to you. Business is often about weighing up the odds, researching your market and taking well thought through, calculated risks. ?
How does your location affect your business?
Location is a key factor in any business and it has many implications, which can make or break your business. There are so many variables that arise from your location that it’s impossible to assess any one factor or determine which is the most important.
Firstly our location affects the brands we can stock and this will be the case with most retail shops. In order to stock certain brands we need to be a minimum distance from other retailers selling the same. A supplier is very unlikely to stock shops within close proximity and will have loyalty with the established retailer. Even if the supplier would stock two shops in the same area, it creates needless competition and often causes you to drive down your prices and thus profit.
Secondly location effects the size of the market you can serve, obviously in Ulverston the market is smaller then city locations, so sales here may be less. But then rental and rates are less in Ulverston so less turnover is required to generate the same profit. You will also have less competition in a small area, so will serve a smaller market, but will sell to a larger percentage of it.
Location is a massive factor, but there are no right or wrong answers. A location that works for me might not necessarily work for another business. You need to weigh up the pros and cons of any particular business in any given location and work out which is the best.
What’s the best thing about being based in Cumbria, Ulverston in particular?
Ulverston’s size means that it is too small for the big national clothing companies to give the town any thought, however it is large enough for small independent shops. The effect of this is a high street with over 15 clothes shops and 15 different buyers, providing a range of clothing that you are not going to find in every other town across the country.
Do you have any success stories or memorable business highs?
Moving from our original premises to our current larger, more prominent location on Market Street was memorable, but the biggest high so far was last December. Right in the middle of a credit crunch, with every red top and news channel predicting doom and gloom, we were considerably busier than the previous year with trade 25% up. The stock was right, the levels were right, the service good and we saw hundreds of new customers as well as regular patrons. When that happens you know you’ve got something right and it makes the hard work and stress worth it.
What advice would you give young people wanting to start a business?
Do your homework! An accurate business plan with cash flow projections will be the best start you can get. To be blunt, if you can’t be motivated enough to do a business plan you won’t have what it takes to run a business (I have met a few business start-ups who thought they could do without a plan and their business didn’t last).
If you weren’t in business what would you do?
I would be stacking yogurts for Morrison’s, drinking heavily on my days off, gaining weight, losing hair and friends. Working for others was not for me!?
What does the future hold for your business?
?We’ll be launching a new website in July this year, which is going to require some serious investment and hard work, but should increase sales dramatically. Death or glory.
Posted by Phil Powell on 16th October.
