Posts
Why and how I started the company Clayton Horsnell ltd
Like a lot of successful business owners, I didn’t have the easiest start in life. A start like mine gave me the passion to do something different.
Like a lot of successful business owners, I didn’t have the easiest start in life. A start like mine gave me the passion to do something different.
I created a company that people can trust and depend on. I’ve been in the plumbing and heating industry with my father since I was a child. He’s been in business for over 30 years now, so he’s an expert in the field and he’s shared that knowledge with us.
Back in 2004, the internet was beginning to take off and people were starting to buy CDs and books online. I was fresh out of an IT college course and I realised that it was difficult to buy heating and bathroom supplies online. I saw an opportunity to put what I’d learned into practice by setting up my own online Plumbing and Heating shop to complement my father’s Merchants and Bathroom Showrooms. Like a local merchant, and a bathroom showroom combined, we help both property owners and tradesmen alike.
Companies that inspired me from the start include Amazon, eBay and Play.com. With eBay, I love the rating system and that fact that the honest customer is protected. With Play.com, I love the consistency of their site - even when they develop new ideas - you still get the same feel from their site.
My biggest inspiration, and the company I am most influenced by, is Amazon. This is the business we are modeling ourselves on. I love their shopping innovation - the One Click Buy - making it easy to buy what you want. I love the way they have developed the business as a platform to grow from.
I also love their iPhone app - right now, I feel I couldn’t live without it. This is an idea I want for my business in the future... if that’s what you, our customers want.
We are well on the road to creating an Amazon-style corporation - we’re a Big Business in Training.
A focus-shift
Creating this successful business gave me a shift in my beliefs that I’d had all the way from childhood. I didn’t think I was a good gatherer of knowledge, but owning a business has developed in me a passion for learning and coaching. Developing people to be the best they can is one of the things that gets me up every morning with a smile on my face and is the reason why the business is still running as it does.
A really great by-product of having a successful business is that we are able to regularly give to charities and help others to develop when they may not otherwise have the opportunity. We can only do this because of the great customers that support and buy from us.
My role models - or rather, people I’d like to have a bit of their brain in me - are Richard Branson, Brad Sugars, Steven Covey, Andy Sleet, Richard Marsden, Anthony Robbins, Allan Pease, Kevin Blanchard, Kerwin Rae, Adrian Webster, Allan Pearce, Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, Mark Zuckerberg, Gregg Branden and Brian Tracey.
Companies that inspired me from the start include Amazon, eBay and Play.com. With eBay, I love the rating system and that fact that the honest customer is protected. With Play.com, I love the consistency of their site - even when they develop new ideas - you still get the same feel from their site.
My biggest inspiration, and the company I am most influenced by, is Amazon. This is the business we are modeling ourselves on. I love their shopping innovation - the One Click Buy - making it easy to buy what you want. I love the way they have developed the business as a platform to grow from.
I also love their iPhone app - right now, I feel I couldn’t live without it. This is an idea I want for my business in the future... if that’s what you, our customers want.
We are well on the road to creating an Amazon-style corporation - we’re a Big Business in Training.
A focus-shift
Creating this successful business gave me a shift in my beliefs that I’d had all the way from childhood. I didn’t think I was a good gatherer of knowledge, but owning a business has developed in me a passion for learning and coaching. Developing people to be the best they can is one of the things that gets me up every morning with a smile on my face and is the reason why the business is still running as it does.
A really great by-product of having a successful business is that we are able to regularly give to charities and help others to develop when they may not otherwise have the opportunity. We can only do this because of the great customers that support and buy from us.
My role models - or rather, people I’d like to have a bit of their brain in me - are Richard Branson, Brad Sugars, Steven Covey, Andy Sleet, Richard Marsden, Anthony Robbins, Allan Pease, Kevin Blanchard, Kerwin Rae, Adrian Webster, Allan Pearce, Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, Mark Zuckerberg, Gregg Branden and Brian Tracey.
