In this week’s episode we speak to David Richmond who tells us about growing a one-man sticker company into a 500 person mega-business serving the likes of Argos and the government and how a costly error triggered its sale. He also shares how a drink in a swimming pool sparked the launch of a nationwide taxi firm and how Covid destroyed it all. And he ends with how that actually gave birth to his latest business, Batch'd. He also teaches us how to stay positive as a business owner.
INTRODUCING DAVID RICHMOND
David Richmond founded Scorpio Products in 1986 as a print brokers, specialising in character stickers. This later became Scorpio Print Finishing, which, at the time of its sale in 2003, was producing over a billion magazines a year for clients including Argos and the UK census.
He then purchased two Leeds taxi firms in 2004 building Arrow Taxis into the largest airport taxi company, and the UK’s 3rd largest taxi company (excluding Uber). It was decimated by Covid. During the pandemic he used the drivers and cars as a food delivery service which he called ArrowFresh, which in turn, morphed into Batch’d, which today has 25 stores nationwide selling sweet treats. In 2004 he was part of the ‘Krasner Consortium’ that bought Leeds United, following the club’s infamous financial meltdown under Peter Ridsdale.
EPISODE HIGHLIGHTS
[00:01:00] Disney, Garfield and The Simpsons and the growth of Scorpio Print
[00:03:00] How a visit from the BBC sparked a change in the business
[00:08:00] The seven week sale of Scorpio Print
[00:10:00] How a holiday in South Africa triggered the entry into the taxi business
[00:12:00] Leeds Bradford airport and the growth of Arrow Cars
[00:18:00] The destruction of Arrow Cars by Covid
[00:26:15] The birth of Batch’d
[00.31:00] How to stay positive
KEY TAKEAWAYS & BUSINESS LEARNINGS
- It’s all about selling yourself and selling a vision
- Stay within your own skillset as a business owner
- To have the basis of a good business you have to do business basics properly
- You have to stay positive throughout. You can’t blame others. Don’t look back.
- Don’t be scared of making a mistake
BEST MOMENTS
“We re-branded the next door printers as ours for a visit by the BBC”
“We made a £300,000 mistake”
“I’m just popping out to look at something….” (returning with two taxi firms)
“I banged the door down at Leeds Bradford airport”
“The losses were violent and quick”
“We were the first industry to close and the last to re-open”
“We built a website for Arrow Fresh in 24 hours”
“I can’t influence yesterday, but I can influence tomorrow”
VALUABLE RESOURCES FOR YOU
Website: www.leedsbusinesspodcast.com
Website: https://www.batchd.co.uk/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/david-richmond-a5a5a797, https://www.linkedin.com/company/batchduk/
Instagram (business): https://www.instagram.com/batchduk/
Shout out tags: https://www.linkedin.com/company/equals-one-ltd/
https://www.equalsone.co.uk/
Want to watch instead of listen? Subscribe to our You Tube channel - https://youtube.com/@LeedsBusinessPodcast.
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https://leedsbusinesspodcast.com/episode/simon-gray/
http://leedsbusinesspodcast.com/episode/stuart-clarke
https://leedsbusinesspodcast.com/episode/chris-black/
ABOUT YOUR HOST
Phil Fraser went from an accidental kitchen table start up, with no investment, all the way to multi-million pound sale to a PLC 18 years later. He’s travelled the full SME business journey of launch, growth, scale and exit.
As well as hosting the Leeds Business Podcast, Phil now works with ambitious SME-owners as a Business Sounding Board (think somewhere between Business Coach and Business Mentor). In simple terms, he’s ‘a pair of ears and an extra pair eyes’ for SME Owners helping them to be better at what they do. Phil’s mantra is It doesn’t need to be ‘lonely at the top’. He helps Business Owners to be better business owners, by helping with their clarity and focus.
As a Business Sounding Board, he gives SME Owners the time & space to regularly discuss their challenges and opportunities, with no sense of judgement or bias, and in complete confidence. This allows them to explore their options in full, culminating with a list of issues to address/clarify, a clear target in mind, a roadmap to success, and a renewed enthusiasm and confidence for the challenges ahead.
Phil has appeared as a guest on over 60 podcasts, webinars and interviews, from around the whole globe, talking on a variety of business subjects. You can view them all at https://philfraser.co.uk/watch-hear-phil/.
LEEDS BUSINESS PODCAST
Argos, BBC, UK census, Addison Lee, Leeds, Leeds Business, Business in Leeds, Nous of Fraser, Business Sounding Board, Business Coach, Business Mentor,
Email: phil@leedsbusinesspodcast.com
Mentioned in this episode:
Pre roll November
As November is my birthday month, I've got three special offers for you.
If you can say yes to the following four points, you qualify.
You have to be a business owner, have three to 15 staff, a turnover of between 350, 000 and 3 million, and wanting to develop and improve yourself and how you run your business.
