School really can shape your career and your business<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n Taking the leap of faith to start your own business<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n Starting a business can be just as much for spiritual freedom as financial independence<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n Getting your business off the ground doesn\u2019t happen overnight<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n Dealing with racism in the world of business<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n Expanding your products to fulfil customer needs<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n How British businesses and the government can help the next batch of entrepreneurs<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n Is the business world in favour of those from wealthy backgrounds?<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n Setting up foundations to give back and inspire the next generation<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n Realising your success can be bittersweet<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n Even in business, manners will get you far<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n Growing your business internationally<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n Listening is the key to being a successful entrepreneur<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n Welcome, Byron. Thanks so much for joining us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Thank you, Kate. I love the title, Entrepreneurs Unfiltered, because I can be very unfiltered.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Good. That\u2019s exactly why we\u2019ve asked you on to this episode. We want those raw, honest stories.<\/p>\n\n\n\n So Byron, take us back to the very beginning. I know you grew up on a council estate in Leicester.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Tell us a little bit about that experience, and some of your earliest influences.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Yeah. Wow, okay. Our office now is not far from where I grew up. I actually drive past my Mum\u2019s house most days, on the way to the office.<\/p>\n\n\n\n She still lives in the same house, and she still rings me, and says, \u201cI need some milk. I need some\u2026\u201d Anyway, what mums do, right?<\/p>\n\n\n\n Growing up, and this was back in the early \u201980s. When you grow up on a council estate, there are lots of things that you don\u2019t know. That\u2019s all you know.<\/p>\n\n\n\n When you get older, you move away, and you think, \u201cWow. I never knew there was an alternative to this kind of life.\u201d There were lots of things I didn\u2019t know.<\/p>\n\n\n\n We weren\u2019t rich. We didn\u2019t have a lot of things. We didn\u2019t have fantastic Christmas presents. We probably didn\u2019t have the greatest food.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But Mum, she did really well for us. She fed us, she ruled with an iron fist. Which, we now look back and say, \u201cThat was absolutely needed.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n We were pretty good children, but kids at that age need a lot of discipline.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It was tough. I went to a very tough school, Mundella, which is not there anymore. We had a very good headmistress, Ms Warren. We also had a lot of discipline.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Back in the \u201980s, it was all about corporal punishment, which sounds alien today. And it\u2019s what, probably 40 years later. I look back and realise that\u2019s what shaped me into who I am today.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Of course back then, racism was rife. It was nothing like it is today. It was raw and in your face. I don\u2019t need to emphasise the sort of things that were said. You can probably imagine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n And it was something that we just thought was normal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n You must have learned real resilience from an early age then. Did you feel different from your peers?<\/p>\n\n\n\n In a way, yes. I had friends of all colours. So where I grew up in Leicester, we were Indian, white, black. We had Hindu, Muslim, Sikh. So I grew up learning every bad word in lots of different languages.<\/p>\n\n\n\n We all just grew up together as a mixed pot. We all stuck up for each other. There was racism, as I said. But what I realised was, there weren\u2019t very many black faces on TV. Of course, I didn\u2019t know any black politicians.<\/p>\n\n\n\n So any time there was a black face on TV, we used to say, \u201cHey, so-and-so was on TV last night.\u201d I can\u2019t remember the names of any of them, some old comedians, and musicians. But you just didn\u2019t see any.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I wanted to be a table tennis player. Which, for anybody that\u2019s old enough to remember, they will understand. Because one of the few black faces that was successful was Desmond Douglas, who was a table tennis player.<\/p>\n\n\n\n So of course, you naturally wanted to aspire to be people that looked like yourself. Most of the people wanted to be engineers, or computer scientists, or chemists.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I just thought, \u201cI want to be like Desmond Douglas, because he looks like me.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n So you wanted to be a table tennis player. How then did you discover chemistry?<\/p>\n\n\n\n Well as a kid, I was, and I still am, people will say, \u201cByron\u2019s like a child sometimes.\u201d I\u2019m excitable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I think these days, it\u2019s called some form of ADHD. That\u2019s not to denigrate from people that really do have ADHD. I actually have a lot of energy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n When I went to school, although I could do history, and geography, and English, I just found sitting there with a piece of paper, writing, was boring.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Then you put a subject in front of me where you can burn things, and blow things up, and create stuff. I thought, \u201cWhy would you want to do anything else, when you can do this?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Also, it captured my attention, and I didn\u2019t realise until later that it is one of the most complex subjects. It actually filled my brain, which was not like the other subjects, where I just sat there feeling bored.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Did the teachers encourage you?<\/p>\n\n\n\n Yeah. Well my teacher, Ms Clark, she basically said, \u201cLook. You can get off this council estate, because you\u2019re good at chemistry. But if you want to carry on messing around, then you\u2019ll be stuck here for the rest of your life.\u201d That was the incentive to me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The irony is, I went to, for the first three years, a boys school. Then it mixed to become boys and girls. The chemistry teacher on the other side, Ms Barrett, I think she\u2019s been married 30 years now, something else.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But I saw her on Saturday night, and we were laughing because she said, \u201cI always knew that you could do it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Yeah, they really encouraged you to go for it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But then of course, I know you couldn\u2019t afford to go to university. So what was the path for you?<\/p>\n\n\n\n What was the next step?<\/p>\n\n\n\n Yeah, well the path for me, and when I look back, there are some traits in me as a person that are consistent. I\u2019m one of these doers. When I say that, I actually just do stuff.<\/p>\n\n\n\n So I left school, I went to college and did A levels. Then I just wrote to ICI, or Zeneca, which at the time was the biggest chemical company in the world, and said, \u201cHave you got a job?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n They were in Manchester. They sent me down to their local depot, which is in Loughborough. That was ICI\/Zeneca, leather division.<\/p>\n\n\n\n So I wrote to them, and I saw a job advertised, and I got a job there, at Loughborough. The company was called Stahl, but it was Zeneca\/ICI Leather Finishes. I toddled off to Loughborough.<\/p>\n\n\n\n My friends, who were living in Leicester doing all their normal, everyday hoodlum stuff, were like, \u201cWhy are you going to Loughborough? It\u2019s in the country.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n But I just wanted the job. It was an international company, and that attracted me as well. So I toddled off to Loughborough.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I used to get home quite late, after catching the train, so I didn\u2019t have time to do all that hoodlum stuff that you do at that age.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It took me out of that cycle with those sorts of people.<\/p>\n\n\n\n You then did really well in your early career. What made you start Micro-Fresh? Because presumably, that was a really big risk.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Suddenly you found a comfortable job, you\u2019ve got a decent salary. Were you worried about losing it all?<\/p>\n\n\n\n Okay, again there\u2019s a common theme with me is, I do get bored. Even at this age. I\u2019m not a spring chicken anymore, but I do get bored. So I was working in Loughborough. I was there for about 12 years, and I got bored.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I had potential, the world in front of me. I got headhunted by ECCO, the shoe company. They said, \u201cHere\u2019s a job in ECCO.\u201d I thought, \u201cTry something else.\u201d I didn\u2019t realise the job was in Denmark.<\/p>\n\n\n\n So I accepted the job, and then they said, \u201cDo you want to fly from East Midlands or London?\u201d I said, \u201cWhere to?\u201d, and they said, \u201cTo Denmark.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n I was like, \u201cOh,\u201d and I just thought, \u201cDo you know what? Why not?\u201d So I went off to Denmark. Hopefully some of my ECCO friends are listening to this at some point. But I had a great time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Four years at ECCO, travelled the world. They made me what was called their global finishing expert. So all the shoes in ECCO, the way they looked, it was my responsibility, because I\u2019m a chemist, and I knew about leather by then.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I did have a great time. I travelled the world, I learned languages. Totally broadened my mind. For this kid off a council estate, that did chemistry to stop himself getting bored, I now had a career where there was absolutely no chance of getting bored.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Fast-forward, four years later. A lot of Danish tax, and I felt the need to come back to England, so I came back. Again, I did have a great career at ECCO. I came back, I started my own business. At the advice of Karl Toosbuy, who was the founder of ECCO. A great guy. We have the same birthday, so we have a lot in common.<\/p>\n\n\n\n He said, \u201cListen, Byron. If you go back, that\u2019s a shame. But you need to start your own business. I\u2019ve seen enough in you that says you can start your own business,\u201d and I did.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I started a leather finishing business. Pretty dull and boring.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Then I remembered that ECCO shoes used to go mouldy, when they were made in Asia and shipped to the West. So if I could formulate something to stop shoes going mouldy, maybe I\u2019ve got a product that\u2019s different to everybody else.<\/p>\n\n\n\n That was the start of Micro-Fresh.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Did you not worry though about losing that financial independence? Especially given your upbringing?<\/p>\n\n\n\n The short answer to that is no. I hope it doesn\u2019t sound like a smart, I can\u2019t say that word on camera, smart-behind answer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Because I\u2019ve never thought like that, and I don\u2019t think like that now. I think that\u2019s a natural trait in a lot of entrepreneurs that are from a similar background. Because we\u2019re from relatively a modest upbringing, let\u2019s call it that, you\u2019re not scared of going back.<\/p>\n\n\n\n So yeah, I had a great career at ECCO. I came back, and I was actually skint. The money that I\u2019d made in ECCO ran out fairly quickly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In my business, we had practically hardly any turnover for five years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But I had a vision, and I thought, \u201cIf this comes off, then I will have a combination of the financial security, and the freedom.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n I think freedom is another trait that you\u2019ll see in my career. That I do like freedom.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Or you could call it free spirit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n So you did it for the free spirit, rather than the financial independence?<\/p>\n\n\n\n Yeah, and I think you\u2019ll find that with most entrepreneurs. I love the title of this series, Entrepreneurs Unfiltered. Because entrepreneurs like me are not doing it for the money. We just don\u2019t.<\/p>\n\n\n\n My financial control is continuously telling me, \u201cYou\u2019re not taking enough money out of this business.\u201d But in my eyes, you can only drive one car, you can only wear one watch.<\/p>\n\n\n\n So I do it for the freedom, and I absolutely love what I do.<\/p>\n\n\n\n So you bootstrapped the business in the early days. What was the pivotal moment?<\/p>\n\n\n\n How did you get the business off the ground?<\/p>\n\n\n\n Okay, so there are a couple of pivotal moments. I\u2019m going to call a couple of people out in this video. Don\u2019t worry, it\u2019s all good, so no one\u2019s going to be suing us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Back in 2010, so I\u2019d been peddling Micro-Fresh for three or four years. Not really a lot of interest. We found out how to stop shoes smelling.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Then a guy at Next, Robert Wright, he called me back. I\u2019d been to pitch at Next, and he said, \u201cI just want to check something out. How long does it last?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n We did some tests. We did some accelerated ageing tests, and it lasted a minimum of two years. So he came back, and he said, \u201cI want to launch a range of shoes called Micro-Fresh.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n I was like, \u201cWow.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n So in 2011, Next launched a range of back to schoolgirls shoes, with Micro-Fresh. They sold like crazy because kids wear the same shoes every day. They\u2019re thrown away for two reasons.<\/p>\n\n\n\n One is, they grow out of them, while the other one is, they start to smell.<\/p>\n\n\n\n So Next launched in 2011, and the other retailers followed suit, because they do a thing called comp shopping. They go around and see what other people are doing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n They said, \u201cWhat\u2019s this Micro-Fresh thing? Wow.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n So within three or four years, we were in most back to school shoes in the UK.<\/p>\n\n\n\n So it was a real snowball effect.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Yeah, and another pivotal moment, there\u2019s two more, but I\u2019ll try and keep them short and sweet for the sake of the podcast.<\/p>\n\n\n\n John Lewis approached us in 2014, and said, \u201cIf this product is as good as it seems, we\u2019d like to launch a range of bedding.\u201d So that\u2019s what happened.<\/p>\n\n\n\n They launched bedding in 2015. It was really successful, and they launched baby and nursery bedding the year after.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The consumer and also other retailers, said, \u201cThis product must be good, because it\u2019s on John Lewis, an aspirational retailer. Baby and nursery,\u201d so you can imagine what sort of testing and approval we had to go through, to get onto the thing next to the most precious thing in most people\u2019s lives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Then the third thing that was significant was, I\u2019m not a businessperson, I\u2019m a chemist that likes people. I realised that having a business creates a lot of pain.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A friend of mine mentioned a programme called, this is the Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Businesses programme. Which, I managed to get onto that in 2015, I think it was.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It rounds you as a person in business, so you learn about things that you don\u2019t want to do, things like finance, things like why you\u2019re the leader, things about sustainability.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It just makes you a more rounded businessperson, so that when you\u2019re talking to your team, and your customers, and your suppliers, and your partners, you\u2019re sounding a bit like you know what you\u2019re talking about.<\/p>\n\n\n\n That again, they\u2019re the three main points that made us what we are today.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Has that really helped you, in terms of that short attention span, and constantly getting bored?<\/p>\n\n\n\n Don\u2019t get me wrong, I\u2019ve still got the short attention span, and I still constantly get bored. The difference is, I recognise that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I think, where there are things where you need people with a proper attention span, or attention to detail, get people in.<\/p>\n\n\n\n You\u2019ve talked about clinching those big-name retailers, and then diversifying your product. I\u2019d love to know about some of the challenges you have faced as a black entrepreneur.<\/p>\n\n\n\n You talked about racism growing up. Have you experienced that in the business world?<\/p>\n\n\n\n Do you know what? I\u2019m actually going to turn that on its head because I try to be objective. Let\u2019s just say we go for a pitch, and we don\u2019t get the contract.<\/p>\n\n\n\n My first reaction is, it\u2019s not because I\u2019m black. It\u2019s maybe our product\u2019s not good enough, or it\u2019s too expensive, or it\u2019s too cheap. Or there\u2019s something else.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Racism in business, I can\u2019t say I\u2019ve experienced it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In fact, it\u2019s worked the other way, because people remember me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I can\u2019t say, but Rob said, at Next back in 2011, when they talked about, \u201cHow can we innovate?\u201d Rob said, \u201cDo you remember that guy that came in, with that product? That antimicrobial?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n They said, \u201cWhich guy?\u201d He said, \u201cThe smiley guy.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The obvious elephant in the room is that I\u2019m black. But he said they all remembered when he said, \u201cThe smiley guy.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n So it does, I think being black can be an advantage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I always say to other black entrepreneurs, try to put your entrepreneur word first, before black.<\/p>\n\n\n\n So whether we\u2019ve missed out on things because of my colour, I actually don\u2019t know, and I try not to think about it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Tell us a bit about how you survived through the pandemic, and how you\u2019ve innovated your way through the crisis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cHey, somebody put some obstacles in the road,\u201d right? Brexit, pandemic, Prime Minister\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n Some big ones.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It\u2019s like, \u201cJust throw them all in,\u201d yeah?<\/p>\n\n\n\n So yeah, in the pandemic, which was awful. It was awful, and lots of people suffered, and lost people, and lost their lives. It was a truly awful scenario. Nobody could have predicted that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Business-wise, what happened with our business is, the consumer knew the brand. Especially parents, because we\u2019re on baby and nursery bedding, and we\u2019re on kids\u2019 footwear.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Some retailers said, \u201cActually, when we re-open, rather than saying our stores have been disinfected or sanitised, which sounds like chemicals,\u201d they said, \u201cWe\u2019d like to say the stores have been Micro-Freshed. It\u2019s a really friendly name. It\u2019s green. It\u2019s got all the credentials. It\u2019s British.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n I\u2019ve got a medal from the Queen, an OBE, for the business. So we\u2019ve got all the credentials. What we realised is, a massive string to our bow is Micro-Freshing buildings. Building interiors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In Next, if you go to Next now, you\u2019ll see it says, \u201cMicro-Freshed for your safety.\u201d We\u2019re working with one of the big four accountants, and with one of the big banks. Because as part of the return-to-work campaign, they want to say, \u201cOur offices are Micro-Freshed.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n So we developed a fogging machine. You can Micro-Fresh a whole area. We pivoted, although I hate that word. It\u2019s a bit corny.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But yeah, so we made our offering available to a lot more companies, and a lot more potential clients.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I love the way you\u2019ve become a verb. You\u2019re saying, \u201cWe\u2019ve been Micro-Freshed.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Ironically, when I did the Goldman Sachs programme, on the first module they said, \u201cWhat\u2019s your aspiration?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n People talked about turnover with their business, and whatever.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I stood there, and I said, \u201cI want us to be a verb,\u201d so that people say, \u201cHave these offices been Micro-Freshed? Has this cushion been Micro-Freshed? Has this gym been Micro-Freshed?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n We\u2019re getting there. We\u2019re getting there.<\/p>\n\n\n\n You\u2019re getting there. That\u2019s what clients are asking for now.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Talking about a crisis, obviously we\u2019re in the midst of one right now in the UK.<\/p>\n\n\n\n We\u2019re in the grips of the worst cost of living crisis since the 1950s. 14.4 million people living in poverty, including 4.3 million children.<\/p>\n\n\n\n So what practical initiatives would you like to see from British businesses, or the government, to support the next generation of entrepreneurs?<\/p>\n\n\n\n Yeah, I think what we\u2019re going through, Kate, it\u2019s unprecedented.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Some days I wake up, and I\u2019m driving the car. I\u2019m thinking, \u201cIn a minute I\u2019m going to wake up, and this isn\u2019t really happening.\u201d It\u2019s tough on a scale that most people could never envisage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Entrepreneurship in the UK is pretty high. We\u2019re third in the world for startups, I don\u2019t know if you know that. But we\u2019re 13th for scale-ups.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Now, that gap is I think down primarily to, we find it very difficult to grow our businesses. There\u2019s not that much support in the form of independent support, so government support.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Now the government have launched Help to Grow, which, we\u2019re actually one of the featured businesses on that. But there is definitely a barrier between starting a business, and scaling it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I think that the support that\u2019s out there is too difficult to navigate. It is.<\/p>\n\n\n\n If you\u2019re a high-growth business, which is by definition 20% turnover growth year-on-year, or 20% staff, it\u2019s difficult to navigate that support.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I think the government need to really find those businesses that are aspirational, that are going to grow the economy, and they\u2019re going to create jobs, and really get in there and help them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Really help those startups to scale up.<\/p>\n\n\n\n That\u2019s right, yeah.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Do you think the business world is skewed in favour of those from wealthy backgrounds?<\/p>\n\n\n\n Oh, without a doubt. Absolutely. That is one thing that I will definitely stand by.<\/p>\n\n\n\n If you\u2019re from my sort of background, it\u2019s tough. You don\u2019t grow up with the same aspirations. You don\u2019t grow up with the same connections. I\u2019ve made my connections from a very young age.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But if you\u2019re wealthy, which you can\u2019t help being wealthy, it\u2019s great, but you have an advantage, definitely.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In the US, the US has its problems. But they do do affirmative action when it comes to disadvantaged people growing the economy. They have things in place, like supply diversity. It\u2019s mandated by the government.<\/p>\n\n\n\n So if you supply the government in the US, 20% of your supplier spend has to be with minority businesses. That means that the wealth does, trickle-down is actually real over there. Over here we talk about it, but no one really puts their name to it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I think that\u2019s something that the government should really look at. Because that would create a natural ecosystem of businesses growing, for people like myself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Having some of those stronger diversity and inclusion targets in place.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Absolutely, yeah. Yeah, absolutely. That\u2019s not to say it\u2019s excluding people that are not diverse. It\u2019s just spreading the wealth, it\u2019s spreading the knowledge.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It\u2019s spreading the ecosystem. It\u2019s spreading the contacts. To say that we are all actually the same, rather than just talking about it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In terms of spreading the knowledge, spreading the wealth, I\u2019d love to know how you\u2019re giving back.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Tell us a little bit about the Micro-Fresh Foundation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I\u2019ve managed to navigate away from a potential adulthood that wouldn\u2019t have been pleasant, let\u2019s just put it that way. A lot of my friends were not so fortunate, you could say. Or not so proactive about getting out of where they\u2019re from.<\/p>\n\n\n\n So the ones that are still there, and there are a lot, don\u2019t get me wrong. But a lot of my friends have been to prison. Some of them are not around anymore. They\u2019ve had really tough lives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I recognised that in young kids, especially young black kids, some of us don\u2019t have two parents, and then your friends become your parents. We\u2019ve got to change that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n So I do some work with a couple of schools. Especially, there\u2019s a school close by to here, where they have excluded children, and spend time saying, \u201cHey, what school did you go to?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Then when they tell me the primary school they went to, or the junior school, I say, \u201cI went there.\u201d You can see their faces like, \u201cHey?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n When I talk to them in everyday language, like this. Or I can even talk to them in my Jamaican dialect from my Mum, which I won\u2019t do on camera.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But they just say, \u201cWow, he\u2019s one of us. We can do that. We need to stop doing all this other stuff.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n So I spend time in that school. I also spend time with youths, typically 16 to 20. Which is a sweet spot for drifting off the system, or into the system, depending. The criminal justice system.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Again, talking to them in plain English, to say, \u201cYou don\u2019t need to do that. In some ways, you\u2019re acting how you\u2019re expected to act, and you\u2019ve got to stop that.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n So that\u2019s something that we do through the foundation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I know your Mum still lives in the same house. How do you feel when you go back there?<\/p>\n\n\n\n I go back to being a 12-year-old kid, who does everything his mum says. So I act like I\u2019m 12, because that\u2019s what you do.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Yeah, but it\u2019s bittersweet. Because driving around this area, it\u2019s weird to think I actually grew up around here, walking around the streets, looking for things to steal. Looking for cars that are open. It\u2019s just how you did when you grew up.<\/p>\n\n\n\n You thought, \u201cSomeone leaves a car open, they must be stupid.\u201d To now drive around it, I make sure my car doors are locked.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Because crime rates are very high in Leicester, aren\u2019t they? They\u2019re much higher than the national average.<\/p>\n\n\n\n They are, they are. In Leicester, it\u2019s segregated. What I mean is, you\u2019ve got areas of Leicester. But it\u2019s a bit like US cities, where you have areas of affluence, and areas of social deprivation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The crime rate on average across Leicester is higher than some of the cities that we think about.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But to answer your question about still being in the same area, it\u2019s bitter-sweet, because of course I like to see my mother.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But then I do grow up and realise that some of the things that we grew up with as kids, which I now know are not correct, are living and breathing in front of me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n How did your Mum cope with five kids, doing it alone, growing up on the council estate? How did she make ends meet?<\/p>\n\n\n\n Well, at one point my Mum had three jobs. That\u2019s just what she did.<\/p>\n\n\n\n She always brought us up to say, \u201cNobody take a penny off the state.\u201d Which, for those without subtitles, that means work, and don\u2019t take benefits. That\u2019s how we were brought up. So she had three jobs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n My sister looked after us when my Mum went to work. We all learned to cook, and do things, at a very young age. So when I left home, I could cook, and look after myself completely.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A lot of discipline. Which, at the time you don\u2019t appreciate. But when you leave school, you realise that that was actually needed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I remember when I went to Denmark, the head of HR, who is now the vice president of ECCO, he said to me, \u201cYou have impeccable manners.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n To me, it\u2019s just normal. Because if we ever strayed from that line, our mother would let us know straight away, with a bit of disciplinary action.<\/p>\n\n\n\n If anybody\u2019s got the time, listen to Grandma\u2019s Hands, by Bill Withers. That\u2019s exactly how we grew up.<\/p>\n\n\n\n So you grew up with that real discipline, and hard work ethic. Do you think you got that from your mother?<\/p>\n\n\n\n Absolutely, without a doubt. That is trickle-down. That\u2019s waterfall-down. It\u2019s like, \u201cThis is how it\u2019s going to be, and it\u2019s not debatable.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n But she taught us, and that\u2019s what made the difference.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Give us a snapshot of Micro-Fresh now, and where that growth is coming from.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Micro-Fresh now, we\u2019ve had an absolutely crazy year, or should I say six months.<\/p>\n\n\n\n So we\u2019re in most retail stores, in bedding and footwear, as I\u2019ve said. We\u2019re now going into the facilities\u2019 management arena, hence I mentioned buildings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In February, I was in New York. We\u2019ve got a US office. We have 13 offices around the world, by the way, in nine countries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n We\u2019ve now opened in the US. We\u2019re on the NASDAQ tower in New York in February, which is great, because now US brands, it\u2019s a massive marketing edge for us to say to US brands, \u201cYou want that name in your offices. You want that name on your clothing.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n So the big jumps for us are, the facilities\u2019 management offering. You can go into a workplace that\u2019s Micro-Freshed. Also, US expansion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n You want to crack the big nut that is the US.<\/p>\n\n\n\n We want to crack the big nut that is the US. I\u2019ve been there. I\u2019ve been there three times this year. We can do it. We\u2019ve got some good connections.<\/p>\n\n\n\n We deal with some good UK companies that have US branches. So that\u2019s easier to transfer. We are going to crack the US, absolutely.<\/p>\n\n\n\n We\u2019re hoping to make Micro-Fresh a global verb, not just a European verb.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Then in terms of practical tips that you would pass on to the next generation of entrepreneurs, for them to take their startups and scale them, what would be your pieces of practical advice?<\/p>\n\n\n\n Wow, okay. I know it sounds corny, but just listen. When people say things, in business, the consumer, the public watch The Apprentice and Dragons\u2019 Den, and they get an idea of business, which is not correct.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Because most people in business just want to help. Even your competitors. Everybody wants to help everybody.<\/p>\n\n\n\n So I would say to young entrepreneurs, talk to people. Ask them to help you. Say, \u201cCan you help me?\u201d That\u2019s one of my doctrines.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I did a talk at De Montfort University. One of the students there sent me an email afterwards saying, \u201cCan you help me?\u201d Lauren Robinson, her name was. She\u2019s now at Morrisons.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But it got my attention because it\u2019s a doctrine. I\u2019ll say that to young entrepreneurs. Always ask.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Say, \u201cCan you help me? How can you help me get to the next level?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Listen to people, and also, realise what you\u2019re good at.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But more importantly, realise what you are rubbish at. I\u2019m rubbish at most things, and I get people around me to do those.<\/p>\n\n\n\n What an amazing story. Thank-you so much, Byron.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Wherever you\u2019re listening or watching, subscribe to Sound Advice on Apple iTunes<\/a> here.<\/p>\n\n\n\n We are also on Spotify<\/a> and anywhere else you get your podcasts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Join our community to share your insights and stories on Twitter @SageIreland<\/a> using the hashtag #SoundAdvicePodcast, on Instagram @SageOfficial<\/a> or in the comments below!<\/p>\n\n\n\n You can check out Micro-Fresh on their website<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n You can also find Byron on Twitter<\/a> or LinkedIn<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \n Get your free guide, business plan template and cash flow forecast template to help you manage your business and achieve your goals.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t Join 1.5 million subscribers and get the best business admin strategies and tactics, as well as actionable advice to help your company thrive, in your inbox every month.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t Learn how Byron Dixon’s passion for chemistry led to him successfully building multimillion-pound business Micro-Fresh.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1612,"featured_media":13164,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"audio","meta":{"_sage_video":true,"post_featured_image_hide":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[162],"tags":[130,132,332,153],"business_type":[5],"lilypad":[],"context":[],"industry":[228],"persona":[232],"imagine_tag":[229,230,234],"coauthors":[479],"class_list":["post-13166","post","type-post","status-publish","format-audio","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-growth-customers","tag-grow-business","tag-start-business","tag-sound-advice-podcast","tag-startup-stories","post_format-post-format-audio","business_type-small-business","industry-retail"],"sage_meta":{"region":"en-ie","author_name":"Kate Bassett","featured_image":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-ie\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/13\/2023\/01\/S2-Ep2-Blog-Zoomed-out.jpg","imagine_tags":{"229":"Retail","230":"Small business","234":"Start-up business"}},"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"Sage Advice Ireland","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-ie\/blog","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-ie\/blog\/api\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13166","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-ie\/blog\/api\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-ie\/blog\/api\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-ie\/blog\/api\/wp\/v2\/users\/1612"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-ie\/blog\/api\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13166"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-ie\/blog\/api\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13166\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-ie\/blog\/api\/wp\/v2\/media\/13164"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-ie\/blog\/api\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13166"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-ie\/blog\/api\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13166"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-ie\/blog\/api\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13166"},{"taxonomy":"business_type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-ie\/blog\/api\/wp\/v2\/business_type?post=13166"},{"taxonomy":"lilypad","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-ie\/blog\/api\/wp\/v2\/lilypad?post=13166"},{"taxonomy":"context","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-ie\/blog\/api\/wp\/v2\/context?post=13166"},{"taxonomy":"industry","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-ie\/blog\/api\/wp\/v2\/industry?post=13166"},{"taxonomy":"persona","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-ie\/blog\/api\/wp\/v2\/persona?post=13166"},{"taxonomy":"imagine_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-ie\/blog\/api\/wp\/v2\/imagine_tag?post=13166"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-ie\/blog\/api\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=13166"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Growing up in an environment that forces resilience<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Kate Bassett:<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Byron Dixon:<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Kate Bassett:<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Byron Dixon:<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Kate Bassett:<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Byron Dixon:<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
School really can shape your career and your business<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Kate Bassett:<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Byron Dixon:<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Kate Bassett:<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Byron Dixon:<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Kate Bassett:<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Byron Dixon:<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Taking the leap of faith to start your own business<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Kate Bassett:<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Byron Dixon:<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Starting a business can be just as much for spiritual freedom as financial independence<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Kate Bassett:<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Byron Dixon:<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Kate Bassett:<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Byron Dixon:<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Getting your business off the ground doesn\u2019t happen overnight<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Kate Bassett:<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Byron Dixon:<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Kate Bassett:<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Byron Dixon:<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Kate Bassett:<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Byron Dixon:<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Dealing with racism in the world of business<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Kate Bassett:<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Byron Dixon:<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Expanding your products to fulfil customer needs<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Kate Bassett:<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Byron Dixon:<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Kate Bassett:<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Byron Dixon:<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Kate Bassett:<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Byron Dixon:<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Kate Bassett:<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
How British businesses and the government can help the next batch of entrepreneurs<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Kate Bassett:<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Byron Dixon:<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Kate Bassett:<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Byron Dixon:<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Is the business world in favour of those from wealthy backgrounds?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Kate Bassett:<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Byron Dixon:<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Kate Bassett:<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Byron Dixon:<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Setting up foundations to give back and inspire the next generation<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Kate Bassett:<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Byron Dixon:<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Realising your success can be bittersweet<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Kate Bassett:<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Byron Dixon:<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Kate Bassett:<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Byron Dixon:<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Even in business, manners will get you far<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Kate Bassett:<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Byron Dixon:<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Kate Bassett:<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Byron Dixon:<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Growing your business internationally<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Kate Bassett:<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Byron Dixon:<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Kate Bassett:<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Byron Dixon:<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Listening is the key to being a successful entrepreneur<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Kate Bassett:<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Byron Dixon:<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Kate Bassett:<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Inspired by this small business story?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Want to know more about Micro-Fresh and Byron Dixon?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Small business toolkit<\/h2>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
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\t\t\t<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\nSubscribe to the Sage Advice newsletter<\/h2>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
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