Interview with an Entrepreneur

by Melis Blackford

Introduction

Melis Blackford interviews Paul Brealey of Lemon Jelli

Paul Brealey is the manager of Lemon Jelli. His business sells juices, milkshakes, teas, coffees, pizzas, crêpes, cakes, salads and breakfasts. Lemon Jelli is located in Newton Abbot and operates from a market stall in the Indoor Market, a mobile Citroën H Van and a café in Queen Street.

 

How long have you been running Lemon Jelli? 

Lemon Jelli has been running since 2007. It started off as a small café in Totnes selling juices, smoothies, coffees and sandwiches but it wasn’t very successful. I had the idea of selling our produce such as crêpes and drinks, at festivals using our French Citroën H Van and it worked! People liked this unique idea a lot and the business has been successful to this very day. 7 months ago, after owning a stall in the market for a while, I decided to expand the business to a café/bistro/bar in Queen Street.

 

What motivated you to start Lemon Jelli rather than work for an existing company?

I am motivated by a few things. The first is making sure that I am the best I can be. The next is creating employment for people; this is very important to me. Another thing is simply to be successful.

 

How have you made Lemon Jelli so successful?

I have made Lemon Jelli successful by focusing on what our customers think is attractive and desirable and also by being conscious of the point-of-sale and structure. For me, it is important to be moral and buy local and Fairtrade produce. It's also important for the ethics to be correct and to have an appropriate theme for Lemon Jelli; a French theme. Another key factor is to be prepared to work really hard and I have learnt to embrace technology and social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter, to advertise Lemon Jelli.

 

What top 5 tips do you have for people wanting to start their own business?

In my opinion, these are probably the things I say would be the most important to consider:

1. You need to establish the need and market for your product/business.
2. You need to ensure that you are profitable and can afford to enter the business world.
3. You must stay focused on your original goal and don’t lose sight of it.
4. You must be prepared to adapt to your customers' needs and preferences.
5. I think it is very important to choose your key staff carefully as they must be reliable and responsible.

And now a question for Melis:
Is starting a business something you would like to do, after talking to the entrepreneur? 
I think that starting a business would be very difficult and challenging because you would need to be able to cope with criticism and adapt well. Although this sounds tough, I think that creating my own business sounds like a possible career option for me because I enjoy Business Studies and I think I would enjoy the challenge.

A Real - and Special - Challenge

L-R: Aaron Lake, Abbie Wyatt, Ben Passmore, Reece Benson, Hannah Matson, Luke Sage & Toby Cook

Bristol City FC's Ashton Gate Stadium was the venue for the South West Regional Final of Coca-Cola's Real Business Challenge and a team of students from Newton Abbot College were there to do us proud. The team who devised "Frista" (see earlier blog post) had qualified as one of the top eight finalists from the region and arrived at the venue to face a previously unseen challenge: devise a campaign to promote public awareness for Special Olympics GB.

 

Special Olympics GB is a recognised member of the Olympic family with a unique role to play. Whilst we are all familiar with the Paralympics and its sports competitions for elite-level disabled athletes, the Special Olympics fosters community sport all-year-round at all levels for those with intellectual (learning) disabilities. You can find out more about it here.

Working with their business mentors from Coca-Cola Enterprises, the students were required to plan a media campaign – with associated celebrity endorsement, radio advert and campaign poster - and present their work to an audience of around 90 people including the judging panel.

It was quite a challenge, but one which the Newton Abbot College team rose to admirably and although their SOFestival idea was a great concept, it was sadly not one which would earn them a place at the National Final at Wembley Stadium next month.

Nevertheless, the Coca-Cola Real Challenge has proved to be a fantastic experience for our students and there is no doubt it was a great achievement to win through to the regional final stage of the competition. They’ve set a very high standard for our entries to meet next year and Mrs Davey & myself are looking forward to seeing if our Business Studies students can go one step further ….

Interview with an Entrepreneur

As one of their Extended Learning Tasks, Year 9 students were asked to carry out an interview with a local entrepreneur. This proved quite a challenge for some but we have had some great responses which I've really enjoyed reading. Over the next few posts we'll publish some of them. First up: Stephanie Robson-Close and her interview with Janette Harbron of Formcrete Ventures ...

Janette Harbron - Formcrete Ventures

 

Introduction: Who is the entrepreneur? What does your business sell? Where is it located? How long have you been running for?

The entrepreneurs of the business are the directors and they are Mark and Janette Harbron. Mark, the main director of the business is the person who drives the business forward. This business Formcrete Ventures sells expertise and knowledge for in-situ-concrete structures for newly produced buildings or alterations to existing buildings.  The office for Formcrete Ventures is located in Newton Abbot, but their structures are built all over Devon, Cornwall, and Somerset. Formcrete Ventures has been running for almost twenty years.

What motivated the entrepreneur to start up their business?

The directors started the business by chance. A family member secured a contract for the business and needed help to complete it so he offered the directors a partnership. By starting their own business the directors were hoping for a good income rather than working for another business. One of the directors said: "I had no experience before I started the business, but as the business has developed I have learnt more about it each day that I work."

How has the entrepreneur made the business a success?

The business has been a success by competing successsfully against other businesses which also produce in-situ-concrete structures. Having fought-off the competition, the owners of Formcrete Ventures continued to make use of specific skills to make the business even better; determination, being committed to the business at all times through thick and thin and hard work. Also a little luck has helped to make the business a success.

What top 5 tips does the entrepreneur have for people who want to start up their own business? 

 

1.  To know their target market that the business is aiming at. Don’t avoid the target market - attract attention.
2. Employ a good accountant who has a working knowledge of your business and knows what they are doing. 
3. Hire competent staff who are always on time and want to drive the business further. Employ staff who have a good work ethic. 
4. Start and encourage a close relationship with your bank, meaning that you get to know the bank manager so if you get stuck you can get help
5. Every now and then take a leap of faith. Take some risks when times are tough. If you don’t take risks you will never know what could happen!

Is starting a business something you would like to do, after talking to the entrepreneur?

After talking to the entrepreneurs I would like to start my own business as I could make the decisions. I would hope that the business will drive forward into something special. There would be no set hours of when to work and where, so days off could be taken whenever needed. Once the business has been set up, the commitment that I would give my business will be the best as I would want to drive the business forward to become something that people will know and recognise. Talking to the entrepreneur made me think deeper about what actually would happen owning a business and that there is more than just being the entrepreneur of the business. There are also many other aspects that are involved, so being the owner is harder than it seems.  Starting my own business would mean that I would hopefully earn a good living from my own ideas rather than working for someone else.