Eureka moment
As a young man, I experienced a period of homelessness and survived for six months sleeping on the streets of London. One day I saw a guy shining shoes for £2 outside a tube station and I realised I could do the same. I managed to scrape together enough change to buy a tin of polish and a shoe brush, and started offering to shine the shoes of the commuters heading into the City every day. Slowly I began to rebuild my self-respect and my life. I never looked back.
Financing
Luckily, the business had very little in the way of start-up costs, so I was able to easily finance it myself. We're now in a position where I'm able to put all profits back into the business, which has helped us to recruit more Sunshiners.
Regrets
I regret not always keeping my eye on the bottom line.
What would you have changed?
The attitude to shoe care. You wouldn't consider wearing shirts day after day without cleaning them, so why are your shoes any different? It is still looked upon by many to be male, elitist and even frivolous, of course all the above are untrue. Changing these preconceived myths would take a huge ‘big picture' marketing budget - but we're working on it.
