Since quitting her job as a nurse Kate Bleasdale has established two of the most successful healthcare companies in the industry. In an exclusive interview she tells New Business about what it takes to set up a company, the best piece of busines advice she has ever recieved and the successful traits all entrepreneurs must possess.
Where did you get the idea to establish Match Group?
It was the quality and also quantity of nursing staff, as there was a huge shortage of nurses when I set up my first business. There was a big requirement for flexible staff and I didn't think that the competition were doing it adequately, so I thought that the only way of getting it done properly was to go out there and do it myself. And so I left nursing and set up my first business in 1986.
Were you apprehensive about setting up the business?
I didn't really realise how difficult it was and I didn't even think about it being difficult. I literally just handed my notice in, got an office and a telephone and started. I didn't think of it being a difficult thing to do, it was just something that I hadn't done before. But if you're driven and you know what you want to achieve then it's not too difficult to go out and start a business.
I didn't really think about the risks of it or the downside, it was just what I wanted to do. Obviously it was a risk because I was leaving a full-time job and then you become self-employed and don't have any money coming in.
How did you obtain funding to set up the business in 1986?
We had to take out some loans. My business partner's father contributed £2,500 as did my mother and we got a £2,000 loan from the bank.
If you're driven and you know what you want to achieve then it's not too difficult to go out and start a business
Work very hard. New businesses must know their market inside out and back to front, and know exactly what the competition is doing. It took several years before we made a profit and I was working constantly - it was an agency business so we always had to be ready. Get your figures right and manage your cashflow. Some entrepreneurs make money initially and then don't know how to manage it. This is vital because if you come up short the bank is not going to help you. It is not enough to just have a great business idea and then think ‘that's it.'
Entrepreneurs can't be arrogant and think that they know everything; when you need help you must get someone in to help you. You must be prepared to learn quickly and recognise when the business is in trouble - not too late so that nothing can be done to help the business.
After leaving Match Group did you have any doubts that you would set up another business?
I had no intention at all of setting up another business. But I could see that there were businesses in the industry that weren't making as much money as they should have been. I am an entrepreneur; being an entrepreneur is all I know.
You established Healthcare Locums in April 2003, was it easier starting a firm after your first experience?
It's a lot easier the second time round to set up a business. In my first business it took me 15 years to reach a £185m turnover, in my second business it took five years.
What is the best piece of business advice that you have ever been given?
An American whose company I was looking to buy said to me, ‘you know that you have made it when you look around and you are not surrounded by idiots'. It is true because one of the hardest things is building up a good team around yourself.
What are the most successful traits that entrepreneurs must possess?
They have to be very single-minded, determined and prepared to work very hard. I've not had a holiday for 23 years because if you own a business you can never switch off. I have been in different time zones in that period, but never on holiday. Business owners have to work very hard, being an entrepreneur is not a nine to five job. Anyone who thinks that it is should give up now; they shouldn't even bother. Almost all the entrepreneurs that I know are very positive people. There's no room for negativity when you are running your own business.
What business moment has given you most satisfaction?
Winning the 2008 AIM Entrepreneur of the Year Award. I had won it in 1997 for a different business and winning it second time around - I'm the only person to have done so - showed to people that I could come back.