Three friends who quit their full-time jobs to launch a business have managed to turn over £1million in just 12 months.
Kevin Baker, Richard Blane and Neal Thorne ditched their careers to start Amazing Lofts, a specialist loft storage and insulation business, as the cost-of-living crisis began to bite at the start of 2022.
Founded in Banbury, Oxfordshire, the business now has depots in Bristol, Colchester and Watford, and employs more than 35 staff.
Mr Baker said: “It was a massive leap of faith, but we saw an opportunity and grasped it with both hands.
“Our friends and family thought we were crazy and some told us not to do it. But we had confidence [in] our vision and now reap the rewards.”
Mr Baker told Express.co.uk that, while the “demand” for space has never been “greater”, the team “pinpointed a gap in the market”. He said: “We blended our hands-on experience as tradesmen with effective marketing to resolve people’s storage woes.”
He added: “If you have faith in your product and the team around you, back yourself and go for it.”
The team invested £5,000 into Amazing Lofts to get started, which covered digital advertising and renting a shipping container so stock could be stored when the first orders were placed.
The business then broke the £1million revenue ceiling in the same month a poll of 2,000 homeowners by EDF Energy revealed 30 percent had never stepped foot inside their loft.
Fears of falling, dirt, poor lighting and spiders are among the many reasons people attributed to avoiding the space, however, the Amazing Lofts team said most of their jobs take less than a day to complete.
Mr Baker said: “We’re a nation of hoarders. We go to excessive lengths to make our homes have that feel of warmth but forget the area with so much potential – our lofts.
“They’re often neglected and forgotten, which is where we help. We insulate lofts which helps reduce energy bills and provide storage space, so it’s a win, win.”
Mr Thorne added: “It was a bold move to launch a new startup in such unnerving times economically, but it’s paid off.
“Even better, our first year of operation has gone way beyond what we imagined to be possible.
“We want to be the market leader for sustainable loft solutions and make a real difference to the homes of our customers. Our friends have certainly changed their tune and some have asked our team to kit out their lofts.”
