Off the cuff

I recently had the pleasure of meeting with two brilliant young entrepreneurs running their own successful businesses.

The RIR is a creative marketing company that was set up by Richard Price in 2009, when he was chosen by The Prince's Trust to receive funding for his new business idea. Richard now employs four members at The RIR and they create content (videos, graphics, animation, websites etc) for brands and clients, including Save The children charity, Jergens Naturals, AKQA, Toast masters international, The Prince's Trust, Blue Green Restaurant and some other smaller record companies and local social enterprises.

Richard has now gone on to launch a sister company FWD 360 (Forward 360) with the help of his friend Tyrone Marshall in September 2010 which they co-own. Both in their mid-20’s and self-taught in film and media, they wanted to create a company that would help to promote leaders in fashion, business, sports, entertainment, business and community services through the medium of video and social media. And so FWD 360 was born – a Youth Culture website which highlights young leaders in all of those areas. FWD 360 is privately funded and has so far already produced original features with Pepsi co, TM Lewin, Terratag clothing and upcoming music stars, such as world champion Beatboxer Faith SFX. They are also currently working on features with lastminute.com and My Ish music.

Richard first met Geoff Quinn, T.M.Lewin’s CEO, at a Princes Trust event where Geoff was speaking as he is a Princes Trust ambassador. Richard was inspired by Geoff’s tips on getting started in business and arranged to come to our Head Office and film an interview here with Geoff all about what makes a successful brand and business.  Richard is one of 50 young ambassadors for the Princes Trust himself having been chosen by them to receive funding for his business plan for The RIR. He works full time and Tyrone works for FWD 360 alongside a 9 to 5 job for O2. Their aim is to show all the positive and creative things that young people of their generation are doing, to counteract the negative portrayal they are often given by the media. There are a lot of young entrepreneurs and potential entrepreneurs out there and they want to give them a voice. “We want to document our generation and be the voice of young people and social media”, Tyrone told me with a passion that was infectious. 

Their generation live and breathe Twitter, Facebook and YouTube and it was great to talk to people that really understood the importance those social media channels have to businesses and marketing now and who know how to use them practically, rather than just following the hype and buzz around social media. They are only just beginning and they know there is a lot still out there to learn, but they have built up good contacts already and are excited about the future.  “There’s so much we want to do – we stay up far too late at night talking through all the different ideas we have and getting excited about the possibilities” Richard added.

I asked them what their favourite piece of advice was from Geoff on how to start a successful business. “The one that stayed with me the most is that it takes time to build up and won’t happen overnight” Richard said “I liked his point that there’s no end limit to success, when you hit your first goal you will move on to the next and keep coming up with new levels to reach. And don’t read the newspapers as it’s bad news”. “You have to work day and night jobs alongside to start with” added Tyrone, “that one really stuck with me”. Richard spends one day a week in a school as mentor to underachieving GCSE students and he hopes to run workshops in schools in the future with musicians, designers, sportsmen and other successful people talking to pupils about how they achieved success and use FWD 360 to film it all and promote it to a wider audience online.

My final question to them both was what their personal business advice would be to anyone trying to start their own business? “You’ve got to stick to it” said Richard straight away, “You have to have a focussed vision of what you’re doing. I picture the top of the mountain and me trying to get there. You have to keep that vision, even though it’s often tough” He thought for a while and added “Finding the right people is also key” Tyrone and I work well together and know eachother’s strengths and weaknesses. People have come and gone who looked good on paper – it’s all about finding the right team”. That is something that Geoff believes is at the heart of any successful business too. You can watch their full interview with Geoff below.

To find out more about RIR and FWD 360, visit their websites - www.therir.com and www.FWD360.com

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