Rob Hicks – Workforce Home Improvements
Rob was doing really well working for a recruitment company, earning good money. His confidence grew so much that he decided to set up his own recruitment agency. Looking back now, he recognizes that that was a mistake – he was young and over-confident and didn’t really understand what it took to make your own business work. His new business failed and with it went all the money and confidence he had invested in it. That, coupled with some personal challenges partly caused by it, saw him spiral down into depression and financial difficulties.
As he began to put his life back together, he decided to go back to skills he had learnt through apprenticeships before he went into the world of recruitment – carpentry and plastering – and he added new roofing skills, including how to fix solar panels on roofs. He had learnt from his mistakes and this time carefully planned out a new venture, researching costs and pricing, sourcing potential customers or companies that would contract out to him. He was ready to start – but his financial struggles and failed previous business were following him in the form of a low credit score and no funds of his own to invest. Purple Shoots saw his potential and his determination and lent him the money he needed.
Workforce Home Improvements was launched and Rob has been slowly building it. He has had a number of larger jobs which has meant he has needed to employ others – so his new business is having an impact beyond himself and his family, and is supporting others too.