Our, ’Ten Minutes With,’ series of interviews gives businesses the opportunity to tell us how they’ve adapted in response to the Covid-19 crisis, what their experiences have been and as we carry on living alongside the virus, what their business plans are in the future.
This week we’re talking to Tim Shufflebotham from Basford based Complete ICT Solutions. Here he tells us how important the Staffordshire countryside is to him now and despite Covid how he plans to grow the business.
Describe yourself in five words:
- Hardworking
- Honest
- Grounded
- Sociable
- Humorous
Tell us about you and your business?
Complete ICT Solutions are based on Etruria Road and we celebrated our tenth year in business this year.
Essentially, we are a telecoms provider and we specialise in supplying businesses with mobile phones, landline and broadband products as well as vehicle tracking systems.
We’ve got a team of three and have contracts all over the UK.
What did you do before launching your business?
90% of my career has been working in the sales industry, predominantly in the telecoms industry and specifically in the mobile phone sector. I’ve also worked in the building and demolition industries too.
What’s the first thing you ordered on-line during lockdown?
It was probably some of that slime for my seven-year-old daughter. She’s obsessed with it! Although I did buy a second-hand bike so had to get some parts for that.
How did you cope in lockdown?
In terms of the business we were really busy. With so many people having to move from their offices to working from home we needed to make sure they had enough data if they were predominantly working from their mobile phone. We were proactive and made sure we contacted clients to review and manage their contracts to ensure they were getting the best deals.
Personally, it was good to spend so much time with my daughter, Imogen. We’ve got a border collie so we made sure we had our daily walks and went on our bikes when we could.
Has this year taught you anything?
I think I learned that you don’t have to travel far to enjoy yourself. We’ve got the most beautiful surroundings here so it’s important to take it all in and appreciate what’s around you. I’m also going to make sure I support our local shops more because they were a lifeline to us in lockdown,.
What are your plans for the future?
We want to grow and take on new customers. We have plans to take on an apprentice and a tele salesperson.
Personally, I want to carry on spending as much time with Imogen as I can and more biking if the winter allows!
And finally, if you were down to your last £50 what would you spend it on?
I’d do something with Imogen. She’s really sporty and loves biking and bodyboarding so it would be something related to that, although I think she’d love the idea of £50 worth of slime – I don’t think the carpet would!
If you’d like to be one of our, ‘Ten Minutes With,’ interviewees find out more by dropping us a line at hello@legspr.agency
