James Markey, Export Champion for the Department for Business and Trade, was invited by Portsmouth City Council and Solent Partnership Growth to present his journey from startup to exporter.
“My story is about belief. Believing in something bigger, believe in myself, and belief in what I was doing. I was never afraid to lose as I felt so fortunate to giving it a shot, whatever the outcome. I had belief that whatever happened, it would be OK.
That said, I never expected to sell anything when I did and I never expected to be exporting from day one but that’s what happened.
I believed in myself and I joined an entrepreneurship programme with the Open University. I failed miserably the first time round but I’m a quick learner and won the second time round and then a Santander Universities entrepreneurship competition, both of which I was delighted to win after a few attempts.
When I showed my pencil drawing of what I imagined to be my MVP (Minimal Viable Product) to a university I only wanted feedback on the idea. Instead, they said “we’ll take ten”. Unfortunately their bank didn’t have the same belief in us as they did. The lucky moment came when I found out they banked with… Santander and I pushed the great PR it gives them to help one of their own entrepreneurs succeed and the money was unblocked.
Everyone’s story is unique.
There’s also things we can learn from each one. Here’s my top tips I would like to pass on and I hope you’ll share yours with me too;
Business Academy from DBT – free training
Tariff Code Checker – Put in your product (HS) code and find out the import / export tariffs and rules.”
