In 2007, RedStar was founded from the bedroom of our MD Darren Ratcliffe. Darren had been made redundant 6 times in 7 years and was tired of the industry and many of the folks in charge of businesses within. Darren beleived he could do better than they could. These slides are the basic story behind RedStar and how it became a 10 strong team, based in the heart of Manchester with global clients knocking at the door every week. ********5 Tips for Growing Your Business******** >Build Relationships Protect the relationship YOU have with your clients as your business grows >Always Network Network from day one – One of Darren's brews was worth £30k >Hire The Best Team Build the best team you can around you, it won't be cheap but you WILL get results. >Adapt to Change We are in an age of frequent change – so must be your business >Protect Your Cash Flow Be careful with your money when starting up, but keep on top of your creditors, stay in business. Read more at http://www.redstar.co.uk/blog/general/remarkable-redstar

1. @webdarren
From Redundant
To Remarkable
The British Franchise Exhibition
EventCity Manchester
@webdarren

2. @webdarren
Who are RedStar?
• Founded in 2007
• Team of 10 staff
• Based in Central Manchester
• Trade predominantly in the UK
• Clients in Europe, America and Australia

3. @webdarren
What do RedStar do today?
• Website Design & Development
• eCommerce & Multichannel
• ebay Design & Integration
• Digital Marketing

4. @webdarren
Why go it alone?
• I’d been made redundant 6 times in 7 years
• Frustrated at the industry and people I
worked for
• Thought I could run a business better than
they could!
• I was extremely naive and unaware of the
challenges that every day business faced – I
was just a ‘technician’!

5. @webdarren
Core values of RedStar
• I wanted to be very open and honest
with clients
• I wanted to operate with high
integrity
• My pricing would always be fair to the
customer
“If you want RedStar to still be here helping you in six
months time, then I can’t lower my rate for you.”
Me to my first client, 2007

6. @webdarren
Setting the ball rolling
• Started to ask friends and family if I could
help them
• Built up a small base of customers who
started word of mouth referrals for me
• Avoided networking events like the
plague – they weren’t for me!

7. @webdarren
Important lessons learned
• I wasn’t charging enough – by a long way!
• I was too nice with my customers
• Project scope crept and crept!
• I didn’t invoice for deposits – which put me at the mercy of the
customer
• It was a lifestyle business – but it was solvent… so it worked!

8. @webdarren
Growing up (and crying for the first time!)
• I’d started to work 50/60/70 hours a week
• Employed Andy to help out – work well planned in
advance
• Didn’t realise the emotional burden growth would
bring
• Repeated this recruitment process 3 times before
the model broke
• Too much time starting to be taken on operations,
my development time was decreased

9. @webdarren
Starting to work with multi-national brands
• First large-scale ebay project was far from
perfect
• Our core principles guided us through this
• We turned the negatives to positives
• Started to realise RedStar was a business,
not a job

10. @webdarren
Starting to develop the business
• ebay request that we develop our first ever
product – Velocity
• Once up and running, they give it back to us
to market ourselves to further develop as a
product
• Introduced us to their key accounts
• Ask us to deal with their clients on the core
RedStar values

11. @webdarren
Starting to network and raise awareness
• Decided to be brave and go network!
• Was really surprised at being told “ah
yes RedStar, you’re really good but we
didn’t know who you were”
• Started to wonder how do I capitalise
on this for our products and services
• I was becoming an entrepreneur but I
hadn’t realised it

12. @webdarren
No more developers (yet!)
• My time was pressured, I needed help with the day to day running of
RedStar
• Took on the answer to all my problems ‘Bob’
• Bob was fantastic and had a great pedigree
• Bob took over invoices, customer relations, project management
• I had more time to focus on new strategies and products for RedStar

13. @webdarren
Building a bigger
business
• Established a plan to raise £150k
of capital to do this
• Took around 4-6 months in total to
do this
• However, I’d abdicated, not
delegated my responsibilities
• Came into work one day to find
out our invoicing was dramatically
decreased
The dictionary defines delegate as: "To give a
task to somebody else with responsibility to
act on your behalf. To give somebody else
the power to act, make decisions or allocate
resources on your behalf." Sounds good,
right?
To abdicate, on the other hand, is simply
this: "To fail to fulfill a duty or responsibility.“
The eMyth, Michael Gerber

14. @webdarren
Disaster had struck
• We had been turning work away
• The team had no work to do
• Second investment fell through
• A lot of customers unhappy
• No cash in the bank
• Marriage ends
• Bob gets the chop
• The end is nigh?

15. @webdarren
Back to basics
• I regained control of the finances and
invoicing
• I networked hard and rebuilt
customer relationships quickly
• We reinforced our core values to our
customers and suppliers
• I doubled my networking efforts
• I did all the things that I should have
been doing all along.
Lesson learned.

16. @webdarren
Asking for and
getting investment
• It’s not about what you know, it’s
who you know
• Building a plan around a new
strategy and vision
• Dealing with losing complete
control
• Setting the ground rules from that
first conversation
Points on investment:
1. Know what the point is in taking the
investment – it needs to be more than a
load of money!
2. Ensure you have the ability to look for
the horizon and not have your head
down
3. Look for the ability to employ better
technical staff to support your team
4. What support do you need as a business
owner – what bits has the technician still
got control of?

17. @webdarren
Planning to make
myself redundant
• Aim is now to have good highly
competent staff at RedStar
operationally and technically
• Not cheap, but the best people
aren’t
• Success is to be redundant at
RedStar within 5 years

18. @webdarren
Advice that I’ve been given
over the years…
This bit is designed for you to stop me to
ask questions if you are still awake

19. @webdarren
Everyone will tell you cash is king
• It’s a naff, corny phrase – but it’s true!
• Protect your cash flow and keep on
top of your creditors
• One of the main reasons profitable
businesses fail (Forbes)
• Be careful with your money when you
are starting up

20. @webdarren
People buy people
• Protect the relationship YOU have with your clients as your business
grows
• Network from day one – I’ve had a coffee worth £30k
• Remember the power of emotion in what you do

21. @webdarren
Be selective with the advice you take
• Listen to the people that urge you aim higher than your sights are set
and not lower
• People will tell you that you are guaranteed to fail – don’t listen!

22. @webdarren
Adapt to change
• We are in an age of frequent change – so must be your business
• Don’t blame external changes for your failures
• If you change, make sure it’s for the better

23. @webdarren
Stick to what you know!
• Don’t go and be a freelance brain surgeon
• Ensure you get a true idea of what your solution is worth to your
customer
• Stick to what you’re exceptional at
• Do what you really enjoy

24. @webdarren
Never underestimate the lunacy of your clients!
“You told me my work request was last gasp so you couldn’t do all of
the work I asked you for my marketing campaign. You then managed
to do it all. Why did you lie to me?”
A.N. RedStar Customer

25. @webdarren
All done – any questions?
Darren Ratcliffe
Managing Director
RedStar Creative
@webdarren
07970 54 57 56
Copy of slides and blog post here:
http://j.mp/redstar-remarkable
Feel free to tweet any questions:
@webdarren