Chris Haycock: One entrepreneurs choice that turned rags into riches

Chris Haycock: One entrepreneurs choice that turned rags into riches
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Although there is no "one size, fits all" theory for entrepreneurship, a few tips from inspirational entrepreneurs has always helped me to continue treading this path. Business ventures created by famous entrepreneurs such as Richard Branson, Mark Zuckerberg and Elon Musk are wide spread and it is all too easy to forget the long and lonely journey they had before they had their so called 'overnight success!'.

The more I have talked with entrepreneurs and understood how they discovered and utilised their own hidden assets the more I am humbled by their extraordinary journey to success. My most recent conversation was with Chris Haycock, Managing Director of CliqTo Ltd. Chris has been responsible for building a number of successful online brands from Britevents, the UK's premiere event listing website to Traffic Update, a site dedicated to bringing UK motorists the latest traffic conditions on our roads and motorways, plus many more...

The more I watched Chris freely share his knowledge to entrepreneurs like myself, the more I was intrigued to find out more. To my surprise Chris's journey runs much deeper than what you see today. As we spoke, he revealed how it was no easy journey with many challenges. After a 5 year stint in the Navy, Chris described his next adventure resembling the tale of Dick Whittington, a young man taking a trip to the big smoke to seek his fortune. He started off as a door to door salesman to then being faced with homelessness on the cold streets of London, yet manage to turn his life around with choosing how he would utilise his very last pound. His perseverance and inner belief that his purpose was meant for something bigger was remarkable.

Below I have shared the most impactful parts of Chris's story to highlight what I believe to be the core assets of any successful entrepreneur.

A 'Can Do' Attitude

As a young man Chris moved to London in search of finding his wealth, he started as a door to door salesman for a wholesale company. With bags of product that differed daily from toys to kitchen utensils he went to the streets and sold door to door. Chris shared with me how he was never a natural salesman and did struggle to keep up. In the end the company let him go as they did not believe he could be of any value for them. With no transferable skills identified he failed at getting a new job. Combining that with not having the courage to ask for help eventually led him down a difficult path of becoming homeless.

"So I ended up homeless, for the first 6 months I carried on doing door to door sales myself and ended up going to wholesale companies and just buy bits and pieces. A lot of the time I wasn't actually making enough money to sleep anywhere that night so I would go some weeks staying on a friends sofa or I would sleep on the tube in the day and walk the streets at night." - Chris Haycock

He found himself in this position for about a year until he found himself down to the last pound. He had a choice - food or buy something to sell?

The latter was chosen and he bought a toy mobile phone and within an hour sold it for £3. He went back and bought three more toys and continued to build and sell in that fashion. Within 4 weeks Chris built up an earning of £900 a week.

The point I make is that if he did listen to the wholesale company and started to believe he could not sell he would never have switched his mindset to make a win.

Fail but Persevere Forward

There will always be an element of jealousy when someone is seen to be rising to success and this is exactly what happened with Chris. His trusting nature led him to be offered a job as Night Manager in the hostel he was living in. A couple from Torquay were staying there at the time and led Chris to believe there was a job waiting for him in a hotel in Devon. They continually talked to him over a few weeks until Chris was convinced. He packed his things and made his way.

Having reached the hotel finding there was no job Chris finds himself homeless again. Not giving up Chris returns to the hotel and explains his situation and offered his services to do anything they needed. They eventually offered him the Assistant Duty Manager role and over the next three years he climbed through the ranks to Hotel Manager and then a landlord to the oldest pub in Devon. At the age of 24 he was believed to have become the youngest pub landlord in the country.

Finding your Passion

During Chris's time as a landlord he discovered how much he enjoyed the marketing side of the job, from writing the A-boards outside the pub to designing leaflets. He was never short of compliments. Web development was very new at that time and so Chris decide to build on his skill set by teaching himself. Over time he found himself being head hunted by one of the top law firms in London to become their Webmaster.

Ceasing Opportunities

This time Chris experienced London in such an empowered space feeling very proud to achieved a sense of success and achievement. He ceased the opportunity to absorb and learn as much as he could about web development over the next five years. Chris then felt it was time to move on to the next challenge whereby he moved to Liverpool and started working with a startup comparison site for the automobile sector. Through this experience he brought together all the skills he had collated along his journey from sales, design, marketing and web development and started to make his employers very wealthy.

Having built a few successful websites such as BritEvents and Traffic Update, Chris took that leap of faith and set up his own company in 2011. He continued to build websites and today his portfolio consists of 30-40 websites that have been built from scratch and makes nearly £200,000 a year, generating a 95% profit.

Giving Back

Chris has started a homeless charity, Kipbag The aim of this organisation is to distribute sleeping bags and toiletries to rough sleepers across the UK.

"It is very important to me because it is giving something back to the community because I know how difficult it is out there especially in winter. It is almost something that I need to do." - Chris Haycock

If you would like to donate to this worthy cause please click here

Chris has also chosen to give back by freely sharing his knowledge. He has created a free platform StartPad to support people to kick start their businesses. It supports them to put together a business plan and launch them into success.

To find out more please click here.

Aligning with your Moral Compass

" I can't stand companies that are cut throat where they will do anything to get to where they want you. I think you can be successful in life by being kind, responsible and generous. These traits are not usually associated with entrepreneurs but I am proof that you can actually do it with always having a sense of morals behind it."

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