Serial Entrepreneur, Sunday Times Best Selling Author, founder of Entrepreneurs Circle and the Voice of UK Small Business Owners.
Some of the best, and most practical business books for entrepreneurs…
I’m a family man, I’ve got 4 great kids and one gorgeous wife.
I’m also the founder of some of the fastest-growing brands in the UK including Entrepreneurs Circle – the UK’s largest membership organisation for ambitious business owners.
I’ve started 18 businesses from scratch, and grown them all to a seven (or eight!) figure turnover within a few years. I’m the author of the Sunday Times bestseller ‘Botty’s Rules’ which went on to become the biggest selling business book of the year. But now, I spend my time helping other entrepreneurs and business owners to get and keep all the customers they need.
Here’s some background on how I got this far…
I started my career as a 16 year old at Barclays back in ’82, and worked there for 18 years. Don't worry... I was never a banker(!) - I set up their Internet Banking Service, and became responsible for the sales of all UK call centres: 6 call centres, 3,000 staff and hundreds of millions in the P&L! But I needed to move on…
In 2000, I joined John Caudwell as the Marketing Director for part of his Phones4U empire, and then a few years later, joined 'Card Protection Plan' as Managing Director, transforming the business in just 2 years sending turnover soaring from £3m to £35m.
In 2003 I swallowed that bravery pill so many entrepreneurs have had to swallow, waved goodbye to my secure six-figure salary, re-mortgaged our house, and set up my own business for the first time. It was super-scary, taking my destiny, and that of my wife and children, into my own hands; but I knew that I had to make that big leap – or regret it forever.
Within a year I had a consultancy business that I could run from home and that paid £20k+ into my bank account every month. Happy days.
As I was launching my conusltancy, my wife Sue launched her own mini-business; a local community magazine with paid-for ads from local businesses.
Totally ill-equipped and with no relevant experience, Sue’s business took off quickly! She was soon generating well over £2,000 a month profit, for only a few hours work that she fitted in around the children.
Soon enough we were bombarded with people asking how she’d done it and to answer them we created ‘My Mag’, a programme that taught people how to set up, publish, market and administer their own local community magazine, just like Sue’s.
Within a few months My Mag was generating more in sales than my consultancy business!
Whilst magazines were great, the world was moving online and so in 2005 – ‘thebestof’ was conceived.
We were the very first independent online business directory (it was just Yell and us!).
But in the next 18 months thebestof became the fastest UK franchise ever to get to 200 franchisees and we began picking up some serious awards.
In 2008 we placed third in The Sunday Times Tech Track 100 - and it was also the year I wrote my first seven-figure cheque to Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs(!).
Over the next decade my team and I would launch a dozen new businesses – some would flop (and teach us some valuable lessons for next time!), but some would fly!
We ventured into personalised chocolate bars, phone charging machines, magazines for parents, marketing systems for restaurants, even my own line of designer shirts(!).
I experienced all the highs and lows that come with running a business. But more importantly, through trial and error, we started to understand what works and what doesn’t when it comes to getting and keeping customers in almost any industry and niche.
In 2010 we decided to harness that knowledge and experience and formed ’Entrepreneurs Circle’ with a mission to educate, motivate, help and inspire business owners to achieve more than they ever thought possible.
We quickly became the UK’s largest membership organisation dedicated to helping entrepreneurs to grow with thousands of members from all over the UK, and Entrepreneurs Circle became my primary focus.
There's nothing better than helping fellow entrepreneurs to succeed and grow. It's my passion. It's what I love. And it's what I spend almost all of my time doing now.
We've helped almost 100,000 business owners to grow their businesses through our events, online resources, coaching and more, all whilst partnering with some of the biggest names in UK entrepreneurship.
It’s fair to say I’ve been there, done that (and have the shirts to prove it!).
Entrepreneurs Circle now employs almost 70 people and is based out of our beautiful HQ in the heart of the country. My team and I spend our time helping business owners to get more customers and grow their businesses – and it’s the most rewarding thing I’ve ever done.
We’re on a mission to support small businesses in ways the government simply can’t (or won’t!) – and if you want to join us on that journey, we’d love to have you.
Nigel has built quite a reputation as one of the UK’s very best business speakers.
His straight-talking and no-nonsense style has won him many plaudits.
Nigel’s talks are always high-energy, fast-paced and extremely engaging and his rich bank of experience and real-life anecdotes mean that his content is deeply rooted in the real-world – where your audience lives!
If you have a request, enquiry or message for Nigel, contact the team below:
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