SME clients today
We turn away far more businesses than we take on.
My story
I’ve been self-employed since 1988.
I’ve built successful businesses, made bad decisions, lost everything and started again. That experience is a big part of how I advise clients today.
1988
Self-employed at the sharp end
I went self-employed in financial services and built a team of 19. Two years later I made a bad decision: I moved to a household-name provider after being promised leads that never existed. I lost everything.
1990s
Washing cars, then back to the top
Three months later I was washing cars in a valeting business I had started. Then I returned to financial services, built a company of more than 40 people and became the number-one adviser in a network of 8,500.
Late 1990s
So much for staying small
I had had enough of managing a large team, so I left to work on my own, looking after my personal client base of more than 2,000 local people I had helped with mortgages, pensions and investments. Within months I had another eight or ten staff and an office in Haywards Heath.
2002
I spotted the internet opportunity
A client sold Spanish property through exhibitions and brochures. I taught myself how to build a website, moved to Spain and commuted back to England every week for two years. It was hell, but the online property business took off.
2004
Getting ripped off led to Artemis
An SEO agency took our money and did virtually nothing. Justin Aldridge and I brought the work in-house and learned search properly. When another business asked us to help with its website, Artemis began.
2009–2012
The market collapsed. I started again.
Much of our Spanish client base was connected to property. When that market collapsed, it was incredibly tough. I returned to the UK in 2012 and started again from home, with one desk and just me.
Today
Still simple. Just much bigger.
Artemis is now a 30-person, Sunday Times award-winning business with £3m turnover and more than 170 SME clients. Many have worked with us for eight, ten or more years.