What's the most distinctive thing about your business?
All our products complement each other and we feel we have a fairly unique offering because the range is all compostable. We also have a unique software system that we lend to our customers for free; there is no investment required so long as they are using our labels.
What is the best piece of business advice you have ever received?
I don't think there is any one bit of advice but [it was] whoever told me to keep going and keep your head down. That could be in so many biographies of business people, it is the biggest thing I have taken away.
What's the biggest mistake you have made in business?
I honestly can't count but as a person I feel that I am pretty good at learning from my mistakes. I prefer the sales end of things: getting out there and meeting the person, but what I don't like is the back office stuff, nobody does. I had been known for taking my eye off that, but I have learned that you just can't take your eye off any aspect of the business.
And you major success to date?
Still being here and alive I would say. Between myself and my three colleagues, I think we finally got to where we want to be – concentrating on products that we believe in, that we think make a difference and can sell.
Who do you most admire in business and why?
I am going to say Richard Branson. It's nothing to do with his flamboyance or anything: I just always liked the way he came across. But obviously there was always a sort of cast-iron determination behind him. He reinvents himself and reinvents himself. I am not sure what age he is now, in his late 60s, but he seems to be enjoying it and that is crucial.
Based on your experience in the downturn, are the banks in Ireland open for business to SMEs?
We recently just swapped over and we found them [the new institution] to be extremely helpful. The previous one was very bad. There was never any interaction with them; there was no inclination to sit down and no interest in what we did. [The new institution] seems genuinely interested; they want to look at our brochures and even wanted samples. They wanted to know who we are and what we do before running any metrics on it.
What one piece of advice would you give the Government to help stimulate the economy?
They need to sort themselves out before they sort anyone else out. They really need to look at running the country like runn- ing a business, where performance is rewarded and under-performance is not. [Right now] nobody is answerable, whereas if I don't hit certain sales targets every month, I am going to have questions to answer and the same should apply to the country.
What's been the biggest challenge you have had to face?
Finding something that we believed in and a business model that included products I wanted to sell, that I felt passionate about. Again, there is that word passion but it was about finding something I wanted to sell rather than something I wanted to do. I used to be involved in the print industry and I never felt that a print sales rep was anything more than a glorified order taker.
How do you see the short-term future for your business?
The short-term future is just to get our name out there, to let people know what it is that we do. Because our business is unique to a degree, there won't be many people who know that you can get a compostable alternative [packaging system] in just about any size."
What's your business worth and would you sell it?
We have never thought about selling it so [I don't know]. It's growing all the time. I would still consider myself to be young and, if I sold it, I don't know what I would get into. I would end up playing golf too much.
In conversation with Mark Hilliard
