My Story
Hi, I’m Lawrence – a mechanical engineer, business owner and coach.
I teach aspiring entrepreneurs and business owners how to start and grow their business’ efficiently, saving them both time and money! I love spending my time outside and can often be found throwing around weights, windsurfing or surfing.
Here is a little bit about me and my personal journey…
I am 27.
I graduated the University of Exeter in 2018 with a with a masters in mechanical engineering and then started the near on impossible job of getting a job! From being a high achiever throughout the education system the rejection of countless job applications is something I struggled with. There was no correlation between job offer success and cv accolades.
What was all this studying for?
As I was thinking of giving up the job hunt and starting my own business, I received a job offer as a design engineer helping make some of the world’s most iconic cars. This was the best and worst thing that ever happened to me. It sounds like a cool job but I had little responsibility and was given mundane tasks. As a motivated graduate I was left feeling frustrated and unfulfilled, with a lack of responsibility and progress. I felt like I was being held back. To make it worse, I didn’t see eye to eye with my colleagues. They didn’t like my style; apparently you can’t be an engineer and surfer.
I was in a job I hated.
Living for my weekends and 21 days annual holiday. I was struggling to manage my free time with the limited time I had and my relationship at the time was talking a toll. It ended. Having just been at university with all the time in the world I went to having no time. Life wasn’t great. Surely this hamster wheel I was on couldn’t be the rest of my life?
I refused to accept that this would be the rest of my life. I wanted more freedom and to take control back over my life. I started exploring other ways I could make money and have more control over my time.
From my research the way (with the most guarantee) to achieve this was to set up my own business. So that’s what I started to do. I had always wanted to be my own boss and I had a few business ideas but I had one problem. I didn’t have any experience setting up a business, my parents weren’t business owners either and I didn’t know where to start. To make matters worse, the thought of starting and failing was daunting.
As daunting as starting a business and failing was, it wasn’t half as scary as spending the rest of my life stuck on a hamster wheel. My degree taught me how to research and learn. Using these transferable skills, I researched and taught myself how to set up a business in a cost effective way and have continued to learn throughout my business journey.
This journey hasn’t been plane sailing and there have been many lessons Google couldn’t teach me; I’ve faced countless challenges and setbacks. However, I’ve learnt valuable lessons and through perseverance my business is growing.
By sharing my story I’ve realised that there are lots of other people stuck in a 9-5 feeling equally as unfulfilled as I was and with a similar ambition to do their own thing. With few resources available to help these aspiring business owners and those professional services I found being unaffordable, I set up The Small Business Toolbox; a platform where I share the knowledge I have gained and the tools I use in my business to help you start and run your business more efficiently!
You can start your business and you don’t need to pay excessive professional service fees to incorporate your business, brand your business, build a website or market your business. The list goes on! It is possible to do these things yourself or do them in a much more cost effective way, you just need the know-how!
With The Small Business Toolbox I want to give you the know-how to help you follow your dreams and achieve your vision. With my resources, tools and support you can turn your business idea into a business and succeed with your personal business journey.
Let’s go!
