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Founder of Buffoon and Space to Work, a Role Model for Big Ideas Welsh Project and recently awarded with the Swansea Bay Young Entrepreneur 2013 Award, Adam Amor is a young entrepreneur with an already successful business record. Let’s have a closer look at what he has to say about entrepreneurship, exciting projects, challenges and tips to follow. 

- Nice to have you on board Adam! For start, tell us about your journey so far.

My journey as an entrepreneur started when I was just 11 years old where I saw an opportunity in school to start a tuck shop. Little did I realise then, that this tuck shop would give me the foundations to turn my dream of running my own full-time business into a reality. Even though I was only selling sweets and chocolates, the skills you pick up whilst running a tuck shop can never be taught in a classroom. I learnt the basics of business; you buy your stock, you work out how much you need to sell them for, you sell them, reinvest and then you start again.

At 14, I then decided to go into music promotion with two friends. We found that there was a lack of gigs for people under 18 in our area so we set up a promotion company which brought local, national and international artists to a small town in South Wales. During my time running the promotion company, I bought a video camera and started to record the gigs and then posted them on social media platforms to promote upcoming events. I was doing my GCSEs at the time so it was really important to get a work/education/social life balance.

I did like to keep myself busy and was also involved with the local Youth Council, community radio station, a member of Funky Dragon, which is the Young People’s Assembly for Wales and became a Climate Change Ambassador for The Welsh Government.

After my GCSEs, I decided to go to Sixth Form to study German and Physics (I know, nothing to do with what I’d been doing outside school, but I enjoyed studying them). The promotion company then went into club nights and then at 18, I accidentally became a resident DJ in a nightclub.

After finishing Sixth Form, I decided to set up a video production company as I really enjoyed the video work I did with the gigs so thought I’d give it a go. I worked for a training company for a few months to save up to start the business and then in April 2011, Buffoon Film and Media launched. Just before starting the company, my son was born which gave me a big push to work hard and make sure it succeeded to support him and my family. 

Buffoon Film & Media is a video production company based in South Wales and works with freelancers and small businesses, all the way up to large corporations such as Tata Steel Europe. We are a team of three who produce promotional, training, event and wedding videos. In 2012, Buffoon won a Theo Paphitis Small Business Sunday Award on Twitter which gave the company a great boost and I am looking forward to meeting Theo later this month.

- Why video production?

I decided to set up a video production as I’m a very creative person and quickly learnt how to use a video camera when I was filming gigs. I don’t have any formal qualifications in video or any form of media production so I had to learn the hard way. Luckily, I pick things up quickly so didn’t take me long to work how to use the equipment.

Video is a great way to promote a business and I love going into companies and helping them share their stories, products and services. I see every video as a challenge, and it’s great seeing a happy client at the end of a production. It’s even better when they come back for more!

- Going through your enthuse.me profile I’ve noticed you are currently involved in three amazing projects. Tell us a bit more about them and how you are involved!

As you can tell from the first question, I have always liked to keep myself busy. The main project I’m involved with is Buffoon Film and Media, which is what I’m working on full-time at the moment.

Another project I’m working on is the Big Ideas Wales Campaign by the Welsh Government. I’m a Role Model for the project and there are hundreds of others around Wales. 

The newest project I’m working on hasn’t really got a name yet, but I’ve called it Space to Work for now. I’ve always been passionate about helping young people into business and this project will offer a low risk and supportive environment for them to do so. As it’s in the early stages, I can’t give out too much information so watch this space!

- As a Role Model for the Welsh Government Big Ideas Wales Project, what kind of support do you offer to students that have a business idea and want to start their own businesses?

Role Models for the project are real entrepreneurs who go into schools, colleges, universities and youth groups and deliver inspirational talks to young people. The talks aim to encourage them to consider setting up their own business and will give them an insight into the different routes you can take and the support that’s available. Big Ideas Wales also have roadshows, speed networking events and visit major events across the country.

- You recently picked up the Swansea Bay Young Entrepreneur 2013 Award. How did that affect your career?

Winning the award was a great boost for me and the company. We had some great PR from it and we’ve picked up some great new clients. It came at the right time as the company had only just celebrated completing two years of trading a few months before.

- As a successful entrepreneur, would you say that it is important for people to promote their expertise online? 

Definitely, especially when your company is in the start-up phase and hasn’t got a big portfolio to show off. Saying that, no matter how big your company is, it’s always a good idea to be recognised as an expert. I know it’s a cliche, but people do really buy from people and if you don’t know what your talking about, then you will never get an order through. It’s really hard running a small business and a personal brand. You’ve got your company’s Twitter account, blog, mail outs, personal Twitter, personal blog, Facebook and all the other things you’ve got to keep up to date, it’s really hard to do everything. Even if you can’t do it online, get out there and network and give out plenty of advice face-to-face.

- How do you use your enthuse.me profile?

I’m really guilty of not paying enough attention to my own personal brand when I started Buffoon. I was focused on pushing the company so much, I didn’t even use my own Twitter or Facebook account. Buffoon now employs a team so it’s not just me running it on my own anymore. I now have a lot more time to develop a personal brand for me and wanted my own website so that people can find out more about me rather than sending them to Buffoon’s website. I tried out a few different websites, but I then came across enthuse.me, which is perfect for what I need. As I’m now involved with a number of projects, I’ve now got one site where people can find out about me, the projects I’m working on and can get in touch. I love that it’s connected to my Twitter and LinkedIn account and automatically updates so I don’t have to worry about editing my profile too much. The Press section is also really good that allows me to post stories in the media!

- Name the 3 biggest challenges you have encounter so far as a young entrepreneur.

Challenge 1 - Starting from scratch

Starting a business is hard, but when you’re starting one from scratch with no track record behind you from a previous employment to help you sell your services, it’s even harder! I really had my work cut out building the company from nothing and getting clients to trust me to turn their money into a great video. It took a lot of persuasion and plenty of discounts, but I’m proud to say that the company got through it and now has a great portfolio of clients that keep coming back.

Challenge 2 - Cashflow 

Planning ahead is so important, especially when it comes to finance. When I was sending out invoices, I assumed they would all be paid on time, oh how wrong I was! I’ve waited up to six months for some invoices to be paid which caused a lot of stress when I had other bills to pay. It’s really important to build up a profile of each client individually, you will then know their average paying time, how they’re going to pay (remember cheques take time to clear) and who to contact to chase up invoices. It’s also good to get some money up front if you can!

Challenge 3 - Being taken seriously

As an 18 year old going into business, trying to sell services to businesses bigger than mine; it was tough. Luckily, I do look older than my actual age, which helped, but it was still hard. It’s really important to do your homework before going to meetings, work out what type of person you’re going to meet. Should you wear a suit or go casual? If they’ve got a profile on the company website, try to find out their interests or hobbies that they may talk about. It’s really important that you go in prepared. Make sure you’ve got everything you need to make a sale if they’re happy to shake hands during the meeting.

- What would be the top 5 business tips you would give to entrepreneurs starting their own business.

Tip 1 - Don’t be afraid to switch off

People seem to think that running a business means you’re working 24/7. It doesn’t have to be like that, it’s just people are too afraid that they will miss an important e-mail or phone call if they switch their phone off, or they will lose lots of money if they take a day off. You’ve got to remember why you’re running a business, you’re doing it to be happy and you need to be able to switch off so that you can have a healthy work/personal life balance.

Tip 2 - Network

You can spend as much as you like on advertising on radio, in the newspapers or online, but it will never be as effective as networking face to face. Networking is free and easy to do. If you do it well and you look after your clients, they will look after your business.

Tip 3 - Credit Control

When I first started the business, sending my first invoice out was a proud moment. It’s really important that invoices are paid on time, unfortunately, some larger businesses don’t realise this as much as the small ones. Credit control is easy to do as long as you’ve got a system in place to monitor your invoices. Make sure, as soon as you send your invoice out, that you say when it is due by and if they can’t pay it by then, to let you know as soon as possible. As soon as it becomes overdue, send a gentle reminder to them. If you don’t hear anything back, send another e-mail a few days later saying that you’re going to add Late Payment Interest (which you can do by law), this usually speeds things up! Larger businesses don’t understand that an invoice being paid only a day late can have a massive impact on a small business. I’m sure their Finance Officer wouldn’t like their salary being paid a day late?

Tip 4 - Be organised

Being organised is one of the most important parts of running a business. Even when you’ve got a team of staff, it can be hard to keep on top of things. At Buffoon, we use a free online app called Trello that each team member has a log in for. We set up a wall for each project that we work on and then set the tasks that we need to do and allocate them to each team member along with a due date. This app means that at any time, I or anybody in the team can log in to any project to see what has been done, is being done and needs to be done.

Tip 5 - PR

Public Relations can save you a lot of money in advertising. Spotting a story that you can send out to your local paper isn’t the easiest thing to do when you’re busy working on projects, but a good story in the press can generate a lot of free advertising for the business. Develop a relationship with your local journalist who you will be able to send press releases to when stories come up. You could also comment on stories you’re interested in or be part of projects that attract media attention.

Any questions for Adam?

Post your comments below and let’s keep the conversation going!

The enthuse.me team :)