Chris admits being both nervous and excited at the prospect of being his own boss providing binding, laminating and paper handling equipment servicing, but says his confidence grows with each day.

'My knowledge is growing,' he confirms. 'It was great to be trained by PAPERfix on how to run and market a business, diagnose machine faults and fix problems. Also, spending time in-the-field with founder Ted Girtchen has been inspirational.'

Despite feeling daunted by the prospect of approaching new clients, Chris has built-up a solid customer base which generates repeat orders. 'I have developed my client base using the PAPERfix launch marketing and then followed the tried and tested techniques that I learned on the training. After four months I have nearly 50 customers and around 150 prospects in the pipeline. My financial results are also better than I projected.'

Looking to the future, Chris anticipates recruiting an administrator so he can spend more time developing the business by approaching larger customers. He adds: 'Creating relationships with customers as a result of me having helped them is really satisfying. In summary, it's harder than I imagined, but far more rewarding.'

Published: 13 September 2005

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