Meet the co-founders of Tavistock Tutors
Throughout my teens I was selling Ed Hardy t-shirts, Luke was selling sports memorabilia and we both sold sweets at our respective schools. We quickly became friends when we were 16, socialising at the local gym and avoiding doing almost any exercise.
It would be fair to say that we were both more interested in making money (and eating sweets) than we were lifting weights.
What inspired you to launch your business and what is the end goal?
My dad agreed to let me drop out of school if I successfully started and grew a business and my initial goal was achieved when I dropped out during sixth-form.
How did you set yourself apart from other businesses in your industry?
Agencies had always worked with school aged students that wanted help with a mainstream subject.
We were excited by any work we could find no matter how niche and quickly dominated subjects avoided by our competitors; university level and professional qualification tutoring. For example Real Estate, ACA, LPC and Dissertation tutors!
There was no competition and we almost instantly ranked in the top organic searches across Google.
Were you nervous at the outset?
I was confident we were going to succeed and excited to start my first business.
How did you conquer those moments of doubt that so often affect entrepreneurs or stop many with great ideas – what pushes you through?
Best said by Will Smith—
The only thing that I see that is distinctly different about me is: I’m not afraid to die on the treadmill. I will not be outworked. Period. You might have more talent than me, you might be smarter than me, you might be sexier than me. You might be all of those things. You got it on me in nine categories. But if we get on the treadmill together, there’s two things: You’re getting off first or I’m going to die. It’s really that simple.
How did you fund the launch of your business and what creative strategies did you use?
The first thing we did was purchase the cheapest flip phone (it was pink) from Carphone Warehouse, jumped online and started sourcing tutors. Our expenditure was low.
We wanted to be as cost conscious as possible when acquiring customers. One example of that was pulling a bicycle out a skip, painting it bright florescent orange, welding a sign in the middle and chaining it outside the best schools around central London.
When we started making money we spent more on advertising. We ordered 10,000 branded pens and handed them to students outside schools.
We incrementally spent more on marketing, always looking to boost our reach.
What are your thoughts on failure?
You can’t make business decisions without making mistakes.
More often than not the biggest failures are a result of a lack of action, rather than something having gone horribly wrong.
What’s the single most important decision that you made, that contributed to your business?
The best decision I have made was going into business with Luke.
Having someone that I totally trust, have fun with, who is incredibly hard working, with a different set of skills and who challenges me (sometimes too much).
How do you believe the evolution of tech will affect your industry over the next 10 years?
On March 6th, 11 years after starting Tavistock Tutors we sold the business to The Profs & Spires.
I have seen technology change the way payments are made/received and how lessons are taught.
Tavistock Tutors’ new owners have developed a collaborative whiteboard called Bitpaper and are doing an incredible job at helping tutors across their businesses deliver lessons online.
What are your top tips for entrepreneurs wanting to get their business out there?
Start young and put aside money so that you are ahead of the game.
Jump right in and continuously learn from people that you aspire to become!
What plans do you have over the next two years?
Luke and myself launched another business just over 3 years ago called Central 23. We design the most amazing greeting cards from our London office in Soho and manufacturer everything in the United Kingdom.
We supply around 5,000 stores globally and over the next two years we will be looking to expand the number of businesses we supply and launch a direct to consumer product.
