COMPANY CASE STUDY
Jeremy Arnold’s journey from pocket money to profit
‘Growth is good’ is a phrase that seems to be embedded in the psyche of entrepreneurs – and understandably so. However, whilst it may be the word that investors and shareholders most wish to hear, growth can be a poisoned chalice if unsupported by the right infrastructure.
Entrepreneurs are people of vision and drive, individuals who have a great idea that they want to take to market – and who possess the energy to do so. However, when a business steps up from involving one or two people to employing many more, profound changes occur. Entrepreneurs must learn to become organised, avoiding the risk that they may join the three-quarters that don’t make it past their first year of operation. Turnover, profitability and cash flow also need to be tracked relentlessly, as each new customer and hire add financial and administrative challenges. Increase in market share, if not accompanied by the requisite internal changes, can cause a drop in service levels and result in loss of reputation and, consequently, business. The more successful the business, the faster it changes and the more challenging it becomes to plan for the future. As any entrepreneur knows, the best laid plans may often go astray, but having no plan at all is a dangerous game to play.
Inevitably, the question of IT arises. The market offers a huge amount of choice, but so often over-complex systems fail to deliver on their promise and suck up vast amounts of time and investment. Neither, though, should IT act as a hindrance by not being sufficiently advanced to keep up with business growth.
A compromise needs to be found. It is important to bear in mind that IT is not an end in itself but merely enables an entrepreneur to get on with growing their business. An example of this balancing act lies in the story of the growth of Alletson Arnold (
www.alletsonarnold.co.uk), a trusted immigration logistics provider to immigration law firms and related agencies in Greater London, which also runs offices in Sheffield, Cardiff, Solihull Liverpool and Glasgow.
The Accidental Entrepreneur
“I didn’t wake up one morning and see my entrepreneurial path laid out before me,” says the company’s founder and director Jeremy Arnold during his interview with Entrepreneur Country. “My business was born by accident in 2003 when I was studying for an MA in London and trying to raise money to fund my studies.
“One fateful day an immigration lawyer friend asked me to 32
entrepreneurcountry
deliver a passport to the border agency on behalf of one of his clients for a fee – and the business grew from there.”
For quite some time Arnold operated alone, working with law firms in what was essentially a ‘pocket money’ job. However, as his clients grew to trust him they gave him more work and recommended him to others – so much so that he had to take on staff to cope with the influx of work. By 2011 changes to Home Office regulations required Alletson Arnold to meet the individuals and families for whom they were processing visa applications or extensions and this required yet more staff. ”By this time I realised that my side project had now metamorphosed into a real business,” says Jeremy, “Now I needed to stretch myself and evolve as a businessman.”
Arnold faced a situation that is familiar to many entrepreneurs: “With limited experience, I had little idea how to manage the accelerating workload and monitor the increasing sums of money entering and leaving our account; there was a
By Kelly Dolan, Editor Jeremy Arnold
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