60 Second Interview: Managing director, car accessories company

Neil has always been interested in cars. After finishing an apprenticeship in mechanical engineering, he started selling car parts on eBay and taught himself everything there is to know about online retail. Now he owns a car accessories company. 

Neil tells us what it takes to grow a successful business from the ground up. 

Name: Neil Parker

Company: DriveDen

Industry: Transport & Logistics, Retail & Merchandising

What is your job? Owner and managing director

How long have you worked here? 8 Since 2005

Education: Apprenticeship in mechanical engineering with NVQ level 3 and higher national certificate 

1. What was your very first job?

After leaving school, I completed an apprenticeship in mechanical engineering over 4 years and qualified as a draughtsman. 

2. What did you want to do when you were at school?

At school I was always interested in mountain biking and cars. I wanted to work in those industries, mainly the design and construction sector, as I liked to explore how the mechanics worked.

3. How did you find out about the industry?

During college I started to buy and sell car parts through eBay. As I had a keen interest in cars and a background in engineering, I already understood the product side of the business. To add to my existing knowledge, I researched the rules and regulations surrounding distance selling and made sure to attend every event I could to help learn the ins-and-outs of the e-commerce industry. As it was a fairly new sector at that time, there was no conventional way to learn the trade, so my journey has involved a lot of self-education. 

My eBay store ultimately progressed into a full-time career, as I continued learning everything I could about running an online retail store and started putting it into practice.

4. How did you get there?

Working in online retail has involved a lot of teaching myself. There were no college or university courses teaching e-commerce at the time I was starting out, so I consumed as much information as I could on the topic to help gain the skills I needed to grow my business.

As there are so many skills needed to run a successful online retail store — from digital marketing to human resources — I am still learning to this day. However, now that we’re a lot more established, I can afford to hire people with skills that complement mine and make sure all of the necessary the roles are being performed by someone with the requisite knowledge and experience. In the early days when my budget was a lot tighter, I had to cover a lot of these bases myself, which was often a trial by fire.

One invaluable resource at the beginning of my journey were the eBay seller’s guides. These pointed me in the right direction, and I owe a lot of my early success to those excellent guides.

5. What is a typical day like?

As managing director, every day is different and offers another challenge, which I love. It keeps things interesting and makes it a fun place to work. My role can range from product sourcing to HR, from marketing to helping unpack deliveries in our warehouse.

As my business has grown, I have been able to delegate more and more of these tasks and concentrate on the strategy of the company. Most small business begin with everyone mucking in to help out, but it’s much more efficient when people have their own specific job role.

6. What’s the best thing about your job?

I love the variety of my day, and the ability to make important decisions that can quickly improve the business. I like the creative side of our work and figuring out how to provide the highest levels of service to our customers at all times.

7. What is the most challenging thing about your job?

We are still a relatively small business, so each member of staff is constantly having to multi-task and jump between projects. Finding the right people to help grow our business is also a big challenge.

8. What advice do you have for people who want to do what you do?

I would advise anyone looking to start their own online retail business to research their chosen market. Do your customer research and find out exactly what customers want, and then do your best to provide it for them.

Attending good-quality marketing courses will help teach you how to increase your organic and paid search traffic, and hiring the right designers will help your website land more conversions.

When starting an online business, I found there were so many aspects it was impossible to perform them all myself. It’s therefore crucial that you outsource some of the more complex tasks, such as accounts and HR, to those who know exactly what they’re doing. 

9. What things do you wish you’d known before starting your career?

Looking back, I wish I had greater knowledge of web design and computer coding. This would have allowed me to make changes to our site faster and at lower costs. This is not essential, but would be great for flexibility. 

10. Where would you like to be in 5 years?

I plan to grow the business and employ more staff so we can become a recognised leader in our sector. 

If you think you've got what it takes to start your own business, read our guide to being your own boss.

Image credits

https://pixabay.com/en/cars-blue-red-parking-parked-dual-1578513/ 

Courtesy of Neil Parker