Interested in starting your own entrepreneurial journey but unsure what to expect? Then read up on our interview with Claire Brewerton, Managing Director of The Virtual Business Centre Ltd, located in Chippenham, Wiltshire, UK.
What's your business, and who are your customers?
My business is called The Virtual Business Centre - we have worked alongside SME and UK businesses for 24 years. Our customers are from multiple different business sectors, but all are looking to offer the best customer experience to their own customer base.
Tell us about yourself
My name is Claire Brewerton; I have been married to my husband Marc for over 25 years - we met on our first day at university, and the rest is history - we have three amazing children and a home filled with various rescue animals. We set up our business 24 years ago - at the time, I was working in IT recruitment, and we saw a niche to offer business support services - predominately telephone answering to small - medium-sized businesses and we have grown the team to now employ 24 staff covering telephone answering support 7 days a week - we never know who wants to talk to us about what - until we pick up the telephone!
What's your biggest accomplishment as a business owner?
To build the business up from scratch and raise three children!
What's one of the hardest things that comes with being a business owner?
I find it difficult being essentially on call 7 days a week - to support our staff if they have any issues with calls, whether it is 8 am on a weekday or 6 pm on the weekend, but I have a good team around me - some of whom have worked with us for over 20 years.
What are the top tips you'd give to anyone looking to start, run and grow a business today?
My top 3 tips are - know your audience and where to find them - we said yes to everything when we started out so we could work out what was best for us - I went to a lot of networking meetings. Even now, it is the best environment for us to find businesses to work with! Make sure you have a good support structure around you, be it friends or family - someone you can vent to as it can be very isolating running your own business and make sure you enjoy 95% of what you do - there are always bits that are hard or demoralising, but if you enjoy the rest of it hopefully you are onto a winner!
Where can people find you and your business?
Website: https://www.virtualbusinesscentre.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/virtualbuscent
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/virtualbusinesscentre/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/virtualbuscent
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/thevirtualbusinesscentre/
If you like what you've read here and have your own story as a solo or small business entrepreneur that you'd like to share, then please answer these interview questions. We'd love to feature your journey on these pages.
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