In light of the current climate and the doubt cast over the world of work, Instant Marketing have compiled a list 10 entrepreneurs and businesses that have continuously adapted to the changes thrown their way throughout the past year, and why you should be following each one on Instagram. Read on to learn their unique stories and how they have paved their way to success faced with a host of different challenges along the way.
Dave Macmillan
Dave Macmillan is one of the founders of Maclav Ltd, Staffpower Group, Redhawk Group and Niallex his companies are a range from recruitment, training, property, energy and consultancy and his aim now is to mentor both new and existing businesses effectively in order to grow and expand. Dave is hugely respected in his line of work, growing multiple 7 figure businesses from the ground up.
After being self-employed from the age of 18 years old, Dave has faced many challenges in his career. One of the biggest challenges being when one of his businesses went into administration, after battling depression and understanding where he went wrong, Dave bounced back even stronger and begin to grow multiple businesses. After this success, with 13 years of education under his belt, he was then motivated to start up another company in 2017 which focuses on helping to scale other businesses while mentoring them along the way, to avoid them making the same mistakes Dave did all them years ago.
We asked Dave “What are yours/your businesses goals for the next 12 months” – My goals for the next 12 months are, to continue to grow my property portfolio, grow the recruitment to exciting new heights and develop the commercial training and consultancy. We hope to aim with like-minded individuals who want to gain successes like we have in their businesses. If you would like to find out more, click here.
Phil Downing
Phil Downing is an online fitness coach from Liverpool with over 10 years of personal training experience. Phil devotes his time to encouraging others to scrap the unhealthy life style and invest in their health and wellbeing.
After 10 years of hard work and dedication, he has had a plethora of life changing transformations to show. Upon speaking to Phil, he told us that “I get people in great shape, but it is not always about that. I give people the learning tools to create and sustain a better lifestyle overall. I assist people not only physically, but mentally as well. The biggest key to this is giving them a solid understanding about nutrition and diet.”
Understandably after 10 years in the fitness industry, Phil has faced many changes and challenges along his journey. One of the more recent challenges has been trying get people to understand that what they see on Instagram may not always be the truth, or the right path for them.
A recent explosion in influencers promoting quick fix options and inaccurate products without the experience or knowledge he has, has been difficult for Phil, who teaches his clients that a true lifestyle change takes time and effort. When asking Phil to elaborate on this, he said “There is a lot of misleading information and products out there, which causes confusion. I am here to eliminate this and put people on the right path so they can develop a proper understanding of how to take care of their bodies.”
After a very insightful conversation with Phil, we asked him what his goals were for the next 12 months. “I want to help as many people as possible. I also want to educate people about nutrition and training the correct way, to switch up developed learning patterns and create a better understanding for my clients, in order for them to reach their full potential.”
Phil added, “It is nice to see how many people have benefited from either being coached by myself, or simply following all the valuable information I post daily.” If you would like to find out more, click here.
Matthew Meddings
Matthew Meddings is a 20 year old, multiple business owner from Kingston-upon Hull who started his first business, Peak Trading Enterprise Limited, with his brother Lewis back in October 2019 after 9 months of running it as a hobby. After just 6 months of success with the company, Matthew decided to pursue another business dream, opening a luxury online clothing store, HULL GARMZ, selling some of the world’s leading designer brands.
As an extremely ambitious individual, Matthew told us that he had multiple plans for the next 12 months, the first being the opening of a third business, becoming an Amazon FBA representative.
He also told us that “Over the next 12 months I want to continue improving my businesses and making a difference to people’s lives by helping them learn a new skill. It is also important to secure a HQ for the businesses within the city of Hull as we want to stay local and bring something different to the city. We also would like to keep supporting our local communities. Alongside this, we want to keep educating people whom are willing to make a difference to their own lives”.
One of Matthews’s proudest achievements as a company is being able to give back to his local community, such as sponsoring local football team Club Bransholme. He’s recently continued these deals by confirming their sponsorship of a national rugby team from Castleford. He hopes to give back to the younger generation by inspiring them to do what makes them happy in life. If you want to find out more, click here.
ThinK Wine Group
ThinK Wine Group is a recently founded wine maker from Liverpool. At only a year old, ThinK are already taking huge steps in expanding their brand, by gaining over 12,500 followers on social media within their first 9 months.
The recent impacts of COVID-19 have effected many businesses and it has been vital to adapt to change very quickly. ThinK did exactly this, changing their sales pitch from hospitality events to an E-commerce business overnight.
We asked the group what made their wine stand out from the rest, “ThinK Wine Group is a reduced sugar, reduced calorie, vegan and organic wine brand that offers prosecco and ThinK PinK (a pinot grigio sparkling rose) with no compromise on the taste! It still tastes delicious despite the fact it’s reduced calories”.
ThinK Wine Group have an exceptionally driven plan for the next 12 months, as they look to expand their business out of the U.K, by widening their market to Australia and Canada. If you want to find out more, click here.
LaunchPod Studios
With the ever-growing popularity of influencer marketing, LaunchPod Studios sought to create a space where the latest influencers, podcasters and live web broadcasters can head to create their upcoming content.
As a fully equipped studio based in Elstree, Hertfordshire, LaunchPod is loaded with the latest audio, lighting and video technology ready to start creating your very own professional podcasts, YouTube videos, web shows and more. As well as the facilities, the team are always on hand to give advice, ideas and assistance to ensure your production is a success. “It’s like a cheat code for launching your own content”. Instead of building up slowly, re-buying kit again and again, and making all the usual mistakes you can jump in at the top. It’s been said that it takes 50 episodes to even start getting traction your own show, LaunchPod is like starting on show number 40!
LaunchPod was founded by James Alexander, a well-respected professional who has over 20 years of experience in the technical event and production industry, giving LaunchPod the ability to host their creators in a constantly evolving number of sets and stages. When asked what makes LaunchPod so unique, they replied “There are some huge hurdles to overcome when beginning to create video content, especially when people are in the early stages of setting up. We provide all the tools they need to make engaging, sharable content. We can even edit and help upload their content for them if they are unsure on how to do it”.
LaunchPod Studios opened its doors in January this year and instantly gained huge momentum, finding themselves fully booked throughout the whole of January and February, before the world was forced to come to a halt in March upon the arrival of Covid-19 to the U.K. The forced closure of the studio, but that allowed the team to develop the online and live parts of the business to now offer a complete studio facility, ready to host the country’s next biggest influencers to their state-of-the-art space.
LaunchPod’s main focus for the next 12 months is to open more studios across the United Kingdom, in order to expand their business to reach new up & coming influencers. “We will launch 12 new in-house shows in the next 6 months, and we’re looking for hosts, and subjects to cover” James said, maybe it could be you?
If you want to begin your broadcasting journey or, to catch up with all their latest podcasts, live web shows and more click here.
Dr Ahmed El Muntasar (The Aesthetics Doctor)
Dr Ahmed is an NHS frontline doctor and celebrity aesthetics practitioner, who has gained huge online success growing a fan base of over 440,000 on Instagram.
Originally from North Africa, Dr Ahmed moved to the U.K. for University, undertaking his first degree at The University of St Andrews in Scotland, followed by a medical degree at The University of Manchester and a further master’s degree at the University College London.
We asked Dr Ahmed about the biggest challenges he has overcome, firstly being a front line doctor for the NHS and secondly since starting up his own aesthetics business. “Currently I am working in hospital as much as possible, trying to help as much as I physically can with the COVID-19 extra workload. This has been very challenging, but my main focus and first passion remains in helping people within the NHS. There has been many challenges throughout starting my business also, especially as a first generation immigrant. A challenge that was extremely difficult to overcome was finding capital to start the business as I was not eligible for many business loans, due to not being British. However, that did not stop me, and with many hours and days of hard work, I was able to save enough to start my business and materialise my dreams.”
Finally, we asked Dr Ahmed about his goals for the next 12 months, “I’d like to focus more on the aesthetics side of my job. I think what sets me apart from the pack is taking my General practice and hospital background and applying that to the aesthetics field. Being able to communicate efficiently and effectively with your patient is paramount. Therefore, I am very excited to be expanding to Manchester and Leeds which will mean I can carry out my work on a wider range of customers. I discuss and go through a step by step approach in explaining various procedures on my Instagram stories which lifts the vail and lets people understand what to expect more thoroughly.” To learn more about Dr. Ahmed, click here.
Rose & Caramel
Rose & Caramel are a high quality self-tanning brand, established in 2010 by Rosie Greenhalgh and Carmel Lawson, who are currently taking Instagram by storm with over 69,000 followers.
Over the last 10 years it has not all been plane sailing for Rose & Caramel who have had faced a number of different challenges. When asked about their toughest challenge, they replied “At first I think we trusted too many people. So when we stripped back outside sources and slowly grew the team internally, is the moment the breakthrough began. It is so easy to be misled and sold a dream within business but nothing beats solid ideas, hard work & determination”.
We asked Rose & Caramel what makes their products stand out from other tanning brands, “We create niche tanning products to combat common self-tan problems that home-tanners face across the globe. We strive to educate the importance of choosing the right self-tan for your skin tone, along with the importance of skin prep, after care & application techniques. Rose & Caramel is focused on empowering women with self-confidence; we want everyone to feel good about themselves. We believe something as small as a tan can help lift your mood & increase your positivity levels that day. Here at Rose & Caramel we are all everyday girls who understand the struggles of daily life & relate to our customers by giving a personal service across all of our platforms”.
Rose & Caramel are have rightfully earned their space in the top 10 people you should be following on Instagram this year. After an in-depth chat with owners Rosie Greenhalgh and Carmel Lawson, we were told Rose & Caramel have won 16 beauty awards from various beauty organisations on global scale, including best fake tan, best bath and shower product and best new beauty product. They are also stocked on hugely popular retailers such as Pretty Little Thing, Feel Unique, Just My Look, Love Lula & American Retailer Beauty Bridge. To learn more about Rose & Caramel click here.
L.A. Cosmetics UK
L.A. Cosmetics was first established in 2018 by Anna Severino, a teeth whitening product specialist and laser and skin care clinic owner from Suffolk.
After many years of working in the cosmetic industry, she was consistently noticing how bothered her clients were about having whiter teeth. As her experience and confidence grew within the industry, she believed she could provide a formula that would give the most advanced teeth whitening results, whilst being pain free and leaving no damage to her customer’s teeth.
Anna told us that “Our teeth whitening kit achieves up to 8 shades lighter in just 6 days, giving our customers the confidence to smile more without the need for filters. Not only does are product achieve results, but we also provide you with a product care plan to ensure your whiter smile stays for good and doesn’t fade”.
Anna has been faced with many hurdles along her journey, the biggest being at the start of her entrepreneurial career, when she found herself extremely lonely and daunted by the prospect of starting her own business. When the going got tough, she only had herself to turn to.
She told us she has overcome these struggles by surrounding herself with good people that keep her positive, and by connecting with other like-minded individuals to chat about their shared experiences. She also loves reading other business success stories to keep herself inspired and driven.
L.A. Cosmetics have grown rapidly throughout 2020, expanding in customers and social media presence. We asked what Anna’s business goals were for the next 12 months, “I want to reach and educate as many people as possible about whitening your teeth with our safe and clinically proven products. I am also soon to be releasing my first ever e-book called ‘L.A Cosmetic’s Secret Recipe to Whiter Teeth’. I am also finalising the agents to a new teeth-whitening product I hope to launch next year”. To learn more about L.A. click here.
FARO London
FARO London is an independent U.K. based designer brand with a focus on casual and active wear. Established in 2017, they have grown exceptionally quickly and are proud to be featured on a number of top rated fashion platforms.
FARO London strives on bringing their customers high quality clothing at very affordable prices, making themselves available to a wide customer base. FARO’s online presence is well established, holding over 6,000 followers on Instagram. Their next goal is to secure a spot in some of the U.K.’s leading retail outlets, expanding their market even further to make FARO London accessible to all.
After an insightful discussion with the team behind this exceptional clothing line, it was apparent how passionate they are about their brand. Owner of FARO London, J McDoanld told us “Finding the right people and manufacturers to work with is crucial, the people you work with are the most important asset to your business and will determine your success”.
To learn more about Faro click here
Feel Trendy. Feel Comfortable. Shop FARO London – https://farolondon.com/
Vush
Vush is an Australian based, self-love promoting sex toy brand, who made their first sale was made in March 2019. Since then they have achieved phenomenal social media success, gaining over 300,000 Instagram followers and thousands of customers worldwide.
Vush are revolutionising the sex toy industry, making huge waves with their accessible, modern and empowering approach to the sexual wellness space. You won’t spot any half-naked women or erotic imagery across their branding, because well, it’s just not their vibe. Through a friendly and approachable tone, they have already inspired thousands of women to take the first step in their self-love journey by purchasing the Empress, one of their best selling products.
After outstanding success within their first year, we asked Vush about their goals for the next 12 months. “The vision we have at Vush is to redefine self-care and to be the first sex toy brand that is stocked by mainstream beauty retailers. In addition, we are on a mission to ultimately break the stigma of female sexuality and encourage all women around the world to begin their own journey of self-love. What else can you expect from Vush? A whole new product line based on the most loved features and benefits of our first collection. Generation 2 has enhanced settings and frequencies for those extra good vibes. Within the next few months we are expanding to the United Kingdom, so keep an eye out for us”.
To learn more about Vush click here.
If you are curious about what Vush offer, simply head over to their website and use the code ‘TAKE50’ off your first order https://vushstimulation.com
