SilverDoor’s founder and Managing Director, Marcus Angell, features in Tickover or Takeoff, a new book released on 26th September which aims to show budding entrepreneurs how to ensure their business grows and develops.
Marcus was one of 30 entrepreneurs interviewed by author Caroline Hampson. The first part of her book draws from the interviews and from her research to lay out the different elements involved in building a successful business, illustrated with practical examples. There are also questions and exercises for the reader to try out on themselves and their business. The second part of the book consists of biographies of all the entrepreneurs interviewed as well as insights into their success.
Caroline made the decision to write the book after making the “rather scary decision” to start her own business. She had always been interested in how small decisions can make or break a business.
“The curiosity about what it takes to build a successful business had even more substance now because I was trying to do it too. I was after all one of many ex-corporates now offering consultancy, training and coaching - I wanted to find something that I was passionate about and that would make me stand out from the crowd. I decided that the only way to find out what made the difference was to talk to people who had done it.”
The chapter on Marcus details his experience in the property industry, what was behind his decision to start his own business and the development of SilverDoor from a small start-up business to Europe’s largest independent serviced apartment agent – including how the company dealt with problems they faced along the way. As well as Marcus, Caroline interviewed Angie Angell, Marcus’s wife, who’s been involved in the business since its inception, and Joanna Cross, a Principal Account Manager at SilverDoor, who joined five years ago and has seen the company expand and develop rapidly since.
Caroline was impressed and inspired by the people she interviewed. “The generosity of people like Marcus has been amazing and I feel privileged to have been able to talk to so many fantastic people. It has also made me realise how much hard work, dedication, passion, blood, sweat and tears goes into building businesses like SilverDoor and my admiration grows every day for the achievements of Marcus and business people like him who build a business that does much more than tickover, it simply takes off.”
Caroline hopes that she can build upon what she’s learned through her research to develop her own business: "The ultimate challenge now is to follow the principles in my own book and prove they work by building a business that takes off."
Tickover or Takeoff will be available from 26th September from
www.ypdbooks.com and Amazon. The ebook will be available to download shortly before Christmas on the Apple iBooks store and Kindle.
