I was employed by a composite decking supplier for, on and off, around 8 years where I was selling composite decking to timber merchants, landscaping, building, construction and garden room businesses and I realised that there didn't seem to be any local friendly businesses, that specialised in composite decking, nor displays to choose from.

I was sat on the idea of creating a local, specialised composite decking business for about 2 x years but had no money and no idea how to actually do it.

There were and are loads of very "corporate" looking businesses selling composite decking nationally, so I felt there was a gap in the market for a friendly local composite decking supplier that would supply and help installers promote their business and also where the end customer could come and see outdoor decking displays so they could get a true idea of how the decking would look in their garden.

I moved from Bolton to Ramsgate in Kent because I needed a fresh start in life and it happened that a lot of the decking business,  I was building for my employers, was mainly in the South,  so it was a great move and beneficial to all.

Shortly after I moved to Ramsgate I met Tony, through some new friends I had made, and told him about my business idea. He thought it was great and told me he had a joinery business and he could make room in his depot for decking stock and maybe going into business together.

2 x weeks later I got made redundant as the company I was working for decided to change their business model. I phoned my friend Tony and he immediately said - " well we'd better get this decking business a go.

Within a week we set up "Rhino Decking Limited" the name reflecting tough, strong decking. I then learned how to design and develop a great  logo, branding and website and we bought our first lot of stock.

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My previous employer was very supportive and had agreed to supply us for a good price and we spent quite a lot of time and money on the logo, branding, website and marketing... then we got a letter saying we had to change our trading name of Rhino Deck and remove all evidence of our business from the internet and all marketing, website etc because the word "RYNO" was trade marked, and trade marks are phonetic. This was an absolute nightmare at first - HOWEVER it led to us coming up with the name KENT DECKING SUPPLIES, which actually is far better for this type of business as our name actually states exactly what we are. We of course then TRADE MARKED "KENT DECKING SUPPLIES" 

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SOOOO... FIRST LESSON I LEARNED !!!!!

Before committing to a business name and spending any time or money on on that name, domains, branding  etc CHECK IF IT HAS BEEN TRADE MARKED AND IF NOT and you are sure about the name TRADE MARK your Trading name and logo!!

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As I often tell people, I am extremely lucky having Tony as my business partner. We work amazingly together and trust each others judgement but I know plenty of business people that are not so lucky, so another bit of advise I always give is, if you are going to go into business with anybody ensure you have a signed and witnessed agreement detailing everything from each individuals role to maximum amounts you can spend, withdraw, commit to and borrow, without the others consent, to what happens if any of you become incapacitated or die.

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Don't get me wrong, this business wasn't easy to build and for the first year of trading I was working at least 80 hours a week for pretty much nothing but we did the right thing by using the money coming into the business to buy more stock and keep expanding our offering.

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When we first started this business I had never employed anyone before and had no idea until I started needing help, how incredibly hard it is to even find people that genuinely want to work, never mind finding employees that are reliable,  great in their role and passionate about your business, but we did THANK GOODNESS and are incredibly grateful that we have such a fabulous team.

Here's a few lessons I learned over the years as an employer

• Always right a detailed description of the role, which is basically a list of everything you want this person to do for the salary you are offering- if your not entirely sure just look at similar jobs advertised and you can adapt it to what you are looking for.

• Decide if you need them to have relevant qualifications, experience and /or skills but don't rule out applicants that haven't got everything you want, sometimes if you find the right person and provide the training they need can be more beneficial than any of the above.

• Ask for a cover letter with their application describing why they feel they would be a good fit in the role. If applicants do send what you have asked for it is a good indication they can act on instruction and they have an understanding of the role they are applying for and the business they would be working for. If they don't include a cover letter, (well to me) it says "I'm going to ignore what you have asked for and might not even bothered working.

• Prepare before interviewing - study their application and write a list of questions you would like to ask them, do not be afraid to have these questions in front of you and make notes, this can be vital when it comes to choosing from your applicants.

• When you have an employee ensure you take all their details, send and print off an employee contract and DO NOT FORGET TO ENSURE YOU SET UP PAYE & A WORKPLACE PENSION SCHEME. I went a whole year, not knowing it is a legal requirement to have a workplace pension scheme in place and to automatically enrol all employees onto it. Employees can opt out if they want to but they must have been set up for it. L As soon as I discovered this, I contacted Nest and explained that because of my ignorance I did not know about about the legal requirement and they agreed that as long as I backdated the payments to the start dates of each employee, as if they had not opted out, then we would be forgiven as long as it never happened again- THIS WAS A VERY EXPENSIVE LESSON TO LEARN!!!!

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