Sink into Tiger Furniture
Discover how freedom and flexibility beats having a boss
In conversation with Anthony Stock
Tiger Furniture was born in May 2019. The directors previously ran a successful marquee hire business for many years. As time passed, and with the physical demands of hiring marquees becoming increasingly tough, the marquee hire business was sold in 2011. The evolution into a business supplying furniture to the events and hospitality industries seemed a natural pathway to follow, utilising the contacts and knowledge gained during the marquee years.
Inspiration
The motivation for the directors to start the business is probably in line with many other operators of small businesses, and that is to have the freedom to earn a living without having a boss to answer to, and to have the flexibility to have control over work/life balance.
The journey
The journey so far has been good. There are always challenges and Covid certainly threw up a few of those. Selling to the events and hospitality industries, as we do, Covid and lockdown presented us with some major hurdles to jump. I’m happy to say that we were some of the lucky ones who managed to sail through stormy waters and come out the other side.
The growth curve
Over the years, we have grown the business by priding ourselves on our customer service. We maintain a very close connection with our customers and treat each person exactly like a person and not a number. This is vital, as both the sectors are very close-knit. If poor service is experienced, news can travel fast, and the brand you have spent many years building up can quickly take a downward turn. Conversely, good service can have a very positive effect on the trustworthiness of your brand, and recommendations quickly follow.
The business has grown over the last few years. Despite the obvious interruption of Covid, we have continued to build our customer base and reinforce trust in our brand within both the event hire sector and the hospitality industry.
Challenges
Covid and the subsequent lockdown was definitely our biggest challenge to date. Lockdown led to a massive price increase in worldwide shipping costs. As most of our stock comes from the Far East, the increased shipping costs dramatically affected our outgoings, resulting in us having to take a hit on our margins. Unfortunately, it’s not always possible to pass on price increases to your customers, so we had to ride things out and absorb some of the extra expenditure until things settled down.
Highlights
The most enjoyable part of running the business is communicating with and serving our customers. We’re primarily a B2B operation, and we find that we have much in common with those we serve. There’s often a degree of empathy shared between our customers and ourselves, and we fully understand how things can be time-critical in the sectors that they operate in. Achieving and meeting these demands always throws up challenges, but finding solutions is all part of the satisfaction.
The future
Looking to the future, we hope to grow the business at a manageable rate and continue to expand our product portfolio and customer base. Maybe one day my grown-up children can take over the day-to-day running of the business so that I can have a rest!
Advice
I would say to anybody thinking of starting their own business: Choose something that you either have some knowledge of and/or are passionate about. I believe this gives you a far better chance of success. See the challenges as exactly that—challenges. Be prepared to put your heart and soul into running your business, and the rewards will hopefully come.
Using 1st Formations
We used 1st Formations to set our company up for us, as this took all of the hassle out of things. It was fast, simple and cost-effective. When getting your company off the ground, you really don’t want to get bogged down in admin with Companies House, etc. 1st Formations also provide private addresses for the directors of our company, so that home addresses are not published online at Companies House. We, as directors, feel that maintaining privacy as individuals is very important.
The company formation process
When we started our company, it was important for us to convey a professional image, and a large part of that image was to have a credible business address. Once again, 1st Formations were able to provide this for us. An address in Covent Garden, London, raised our profile and credibility in terms of the way that our customers perceive us. The other benefit of this address is that 1st Formations are able to receive our post for us, which once again maintains privacy of our home addresses. They simply scan our mail and then email it to us, all for a very small fee.
1st Formations today
Put simply, 1st Formations will make your life much easier and enhance the image of your business. They also send out some very interesting videos on subjects that are always useful. All in all, a shedload of services, all at reasonable costs.
