‘Surround yourself with good people’
It’s a great maxim in business to ‘surround yourself with good people’ and having been in business for nearly 30 years, I’ve heard it said by many successful entrepreneurs that they always only employed people who were better than themselves and I think the same goes for who you talk to.
‘Only take advice from people who know more than you do!’
That’s why, when we were planning our Fizz Boat adventure, because that’s what I believe it is, we made sure we spoke to all the right people to get the information we needed.
Would it be possible to bring this sort of business onto the river?
The first question was ‘ would it be possible to bring this sort of business onto the river?’ Of course the person to speak to first was the Harbour Master, more accurately the Deputy Harbour Master and he was the guy who pointed out that the business concept was no problem but the type of boat we could bring onto the river might be!
His advice explained that existing boats on the River Dart may have what’s termed ‘Grandfather Rights’, longevity in business giving them the right to continue business but new boats would need to conform to more stringent regulations. That was the first hurdle.
Asking a local professional for help
Secondly, when we’d thought we’d seen the right boat, asking a local professional to cast a cursory glance over it, quickly identified issues that the sales photographs hadn’t shown and subsequently helped us find exactly what we were looking for.
Locals from all quarters have been really helpful when trying to find all sorts of things, from somewhere to live, to a reputable decorator and advice on all things Dartmouth and Social Media has certainly played its part in connecting us there.
A visit to The Dartmouth Business Club
Local advice from people that know, is invaluable and that’s why during a recent short visit to Dartmouth, viewing potential accommodation, I was delighted to be invited to attend a meeting of The Dartmouth Business Club, meeting in The Royal Castle, the day after we arrived.
In fact I nearly missed the boat (you see what I did there!), as I’d thought the meeting was on a Thursday, having previously connected with the one of the organisers on LinkedIn and having been invited to attend a few weeks earlier. It was only as we sat in The Royal Castle on Tuesday evening I said to Gaynor that I thought I should contact the club as I thought the meeting was that week and a quick google search revealed the meeting was actually the following day, so I quickly made a phone call and was fortunately given a friendly welcome.
Bizarre coincidence!
I met some great people there, all friendly and keen to help. The Harbour Master was there and we followed up with a meeting in his office later that morning. The partner of the guy whose house I was going to view later that day was there and what a crazy coincidence, it turned out that my parents used to regularly stay in his Grandparents B&B in Paignton back in the 1950’s! So bizarre!
Another good contact we made that week was Lizzy, the original owner of The Picnic Boat, who’d been the owner when we chartered the boat for our wedding reception back in 2008, so we met for coffee and she was full of useful thoughts and tips.
So there you have it, business and life is great fun and when you surround yourself with the right people, doors are opened and things just get easier!
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