Video
Start, scale and exit with SellerPro
How owning a business gives you flexibility and control
In conversation with Jonny Bradley
My name is Jonny Bradley and I am founder of the SellerPro Academy.
Life Before
Before founding it over eight years ago, I was working at various jobs. I worked at Apple for a number of years and then into a more corporate sales environment, and that's what really gave me the push to create my own business. It's been a wild ride since.
Inspiration
The SellerPro Academy helps entrepreneurs start, scale and exit their own e-commerce brands, primarily using Amazon as the sales platform. The idea came organically through me trying to do that myself nearly eight years ago when I was trying to build my own brand. I was documenting that on YouTube saying, “Hey, here's what I'm doing. Here's all the problems I'm having. Here's all the successes I'm having.” People started to pay attention to that. They started to ask a lot of questions. With that, I started helping people.
There were only so many hours in the day before I had to start charging for my time. Organically, it grew from there over the years to what it is today.
My main motivation to start my own business when I was a little bit younger was that I just felt it within my bones that I wanted to be a business owner. I could just never really make it work. But more recently was the fact that I was in my late twenties, and I was unhappy with where I was at with my position within a corporate environment, doing lots of journeys, spending a lot of time away from home.
I decided that something had to change, because I wanted time and freedom. But ultimately, I knew that at some point in my life I wanted to start a family and I wanted to be present for the growth of my family when eventually it did happen.
Fortunately, six months ago, I had a daughter and it has kind of come full circle now where I can be at home and be present for her upbringing, which is really rewarding.
Growth Curve
The first six months of starting my business were definitely not what I imagined. It happened a lot quicker than I thought it would, as soon as I started to put my time, attention and all my passion behind it. I was expecting this long, hard slog, but when you have the right people around you, when you have the right support and you decide “I am going to do this”, things can happen a lot quicker.
That's also what we see with our clients as we help other people start their businesses. They might procrastinate for a long time and have a lot of fear about starting, but once they start and decide everything, everything's a lot quicker and a lot less scary than you might think it might be.
The Journey
I'm eight years in and there's been lots of highs and lows. Of course, it's very rewarding having your own business, but there's also a huge amount of stress that comes along with that. I absolutely love the stress because that allows you to have those massive wins and really give yourself a pat on the back. Some of the most rewarding moments for me are when I can go on holiday, and I can switch off. Or if I want to be able to support my family, then I can do that.
Financing
Normally when you start a business, you obviously need finance, and you need funds to get things started. I leveraged YouTube and social media, which is free to use, and I had a phone already, so I could record videos. I also had a computer so I could edit the videos, and an internet connection so I could upload the videos. I was able to get an audience through organic means, and then eventually, that that led to paying customers, which allowed me to grow that business completely organically.
Challenges
The biggest challenge I've personally faced in business isn't what you think, it isn’t cash flow or inventory or a team or anything like that. It’s when I go on holiday and I want to take some time off, not looking at my phone because I now have a few businesses and the problem is, it's very easy to check in with your emails. It's very easy to check in on your team, to check how sales are going, to check customers, all that sort of stuff. It is easy to do that on your phone, but you still need to be able to switch off and let your team or your employees or whoever it's going to be take control and give them trust. Normally, I would say the first few days of a holiday, I might be checking, and I’ll get a look for my partner, like, ‘Come on, let’s put the phone down and enjoy ourselves’.
Highlights
The thing I enjoy most about owning my own business is the flexibility that it can give you. There are lots of things that you must do to push your business forward, and sometimes that means that you're spending a lot of time on it, but it also means that you are in control and there's no one telling me where you have to be at a certain time of day. If I want to go out for a walk, I want to take the dog for a walk, I want to go away for the weekend, or I want to go away for the week or on a Wednesday, I can decide that. For me, that is the most rewarding aspects of being a business owner.
Advice
I would give two pieces of advice to someone starting their own business. The first is to be action-oriented and to take action, because a lot of people procrastinate. I procrastinated for a long time, but once I acted and decided to do these things, then everything happened very, very quickly. So that's definitely the first piece of advice: Don't get stuck thinking about it. Start getting stuck in and doing it.
The second is more important than the first. And that is that you must be consistent. There's no point doing something once—you must continue to do it, otherwise you're never ever going to see the result.
Using 1st Formations
I found 1st Formations through a simple Google search, and of course, they came up first. I looked on the website and everything was exactly what I needed. Not just setting up a company, but all the other bits and pieces that go alongside. For example, the Registered Office and the Business Address, all that sort of stuff. So, it really hit all the different marks that I needed because I didn't want to go to one person for this, another person for that, an accountant for this. It was a lot easier to just go to one company and have everything done for you by experts in the field.
Company Formation Process
I found the company registration process through 1st Formations so simple. It's quite complicated, all the different things you must do if you do it yourself. Even though you can do it yourself, you're probably going to make a mistake.
When you go through the process online, it's very step-by-step. It's all done on the portal, and then within a few days, everything's set up on your behalf. Absolutely perfect.
I use 1st Formations in a variety of ways, both for myself and my clients. For myself, I use your Registered Office and I use mail forwarding - all of those sorts of services. If ever I need to form a new business, even though I've done it a few times, I will still come to you guys because it's so much easier and so much quicker than me doing it. When I help other entrepreneurs start a business, I say, “You need to go to 1st Formations; they're going to help you get started.”
The great thing about the relationship that I've had with 1st Formations is that just earlier in the year, a couple of months ago, I did an event for my clients celebrating the success of their own businesses. I was fortunate enough that 1st Formations came along, sponsored the event and was able to speak to our clients, who are their clients, and advise them on the next steps of their business. You don't get that from the government website when you set up a business. You need to have that help and support when you are starting your business because there are going to be questions, you're going to need support, and you're going to want to come to the people who know it best.
