We've done this ourselves. Not read about it.
Thirty years spent building, growing and selling businesses across thirty countries, before founding Help Grow Your Business.
How We Got Here
Every business we've run, we've run from the inside.
Help Grow Your Business (HGYB) didn't start in a classroom or from a textbook. It grew out of decades of actually building, running and developing businesses.
Our experience comes from being on the inside: starting businesses, employing people, winning customers, managing cash flow, dealing with suppliers, creating marketing campaigns, increasing sales and making the difficult decisions that come with running a company.
Over the years, we've been involved in businesses across a wide range of sectors, from automotive and professional services, healthcare, retail and travel to technology, digital marketing and specialist equipment. Some businesses were built from the ground up; others needed restructuring, a new direction or simply a better way of doing things.
And, like every genuine business journey, it hasn't always been straightforward. We've had to deal with rising costs, difficult employees, cash-flow pressures, changing markets, demanding customers and those moments when a business owner has to make decisions that nobody else can make for them.
That experience gradually led to something else. Other business owners started asking us for help. Initially, it was informal: looking at a business plan, reviewing the numbers, helping with marketing, improving a sales process or providing another perspective on a problem. But we discovered that the experience gained from running businesses ourselves was extremely valuable to other entrepreneurs.
That was the beginning of HGYB — Help Grow Your Business.
What We Believe
Practical business advice, built on real business experience.
Today, we work with business owners at different stages of their journey, from people with an idea who need help turning it into a viable business, through to established companies looking to increase sales, improve profitability, restructure, expand or simply change business direction.
We don't approach a business purely as consultants looking in from the outside. We look at it as business owners. We understand that behind every set of accounts is somebody's livelihood. Behind every employee is a responsibility. Behind every investment is a risk. And behind every growing business is an owner who sometimes needs an experienced person alongside them who understands both the numbers and the reality.
That is what HGYB was created to provide. Because we haven't just advised businesses. We've built them. We've run them. And we've faced many of the same challenges you have.
"One real business, one end result."
Start-Up → Technology → Growth → Acquisition → International → Sale
From Start-Up to Exit
Cerrus Ltd: a business built from the inside.
Cerrus Ltd is a good example of what we mean at HGYB when we say our experience comes from running businesses from the inside. The company was started from scratch with an opportunity to use emerging technology to improve the way information was managed and delivered within healthcare.
There was no established business to inherit and no ready-made customer base. Cerrus had to develop the technology, understand the healthcare market, win its first customers, build a team and create a commercially viable business around its products.
What followed was a journey that took the company from a start-up technology business to an international operation, including the acquisition of Systems Team PLC, expansion into China, Taiwan and Australia, and ultimately the successful sale of the company.
Cerrus had travelled through virtually every stage of the business lifecycle:
Start-Up → Product Development → Customer Acquisition → Growth → Acquisition → International Expansion → Exit
The Cerrus story is important because many of the challenges encountered along the way are the same challenges we now help other business owners solve.
Sectors
We've worked across a wide range of industries.
Real Businesses. Real Challenges. Real Results.
Our experience isn't theoretical.
We've worked inside businesses, alongside their owners and management teams, helping solve the problems that determine whether a company stands still, struggles or grows.
Vehicle Servicing & Repair
The challenge: A well-established automotive business needed to increase revenue, improve workshop productivity and generate more repeat business.
What we did: Introduced clearer weekly revenue targets and performance monitoring, strengthened customer marketing, developed service and MOT campaigns, promoted higher-value services and introduced more flexible customer payment options.
The result: A more commercially focused operation with annual turnover exceeding £1 million, supported by stronger customer retention, structured marketing and clearer performance management.
IT & Dental Technology
The challenge: A specialist technology business had strong technical expertise but needed a more structured approach to sales, recurring revenue and business development.
What we did: Helped develop recurring IT support services, cloud backup and managed-service propositions; reviewed pricing; improved customer communications; introduced structured sales activity; and helped reposition the business from predominantly technical support towards a broader technology and equipment partner.
The result: New recurring revenue streams, a stronger commercial proposition and a clearer strategy for growing higher-value technology and equipment sales. Company sold.
Healthcare IT
The challenge: A well-established plc was struggling with technological issues and needed focus and advice on how to create a platform which could be updated and managed by their clients.
What we did: Bought the company, restructured their development policies and activities and integrated the technology into another leading brand.
The result: A more technologically focused company, able to provide a solution which their clients wanted and grow the company 400% to an eventual trade sale. Company sold.
Online Gifting
The challenge: Building and scaling an online gifting business in a highly competitive consumer market.
What we did: Developed the commercial model, supplier relationships, product proposition, online marketing and operational processes required to take orders, fulfil products and serve customers at scale.
The result: First-hand experience of building an e-commerce operation from the inside – dealing with customer acquisition costs, margins, stock, fulfilment, seasonality and the operational realities behind online growth. Company sold.
Start-ups & New Ventures
The challenge: Entrepreneurs often have a strong idea but need help turning it into a commercially viable business.
What we did: Supported founders with business models, market positioning, pricing, financial planning, company structures, routes to market, sales strategies, operational planning and international expansion.
The result: Helping entrepreneurs move from 'I've got an idea' to a structured business with a clear proposition, commercial model and plan for growth.
Education & Business Training
The challenge: Entrepreneurs and aspiring business owners needed practical business education based on what actually happens when you run a company.
What we did: Developed and delivered business accelerator training covering business setup, sales, marketing, finance, building teams, legal and compliance, and international expansion.
The result: Turning decades of practical business experience into structured training that helps the next generation of entrepreneurs avoid common mistakes and make better commercial decisions.
Business Restructuring & Turnaround
The challenge: An established business was under financial pressure and needed greater control over costs, liabilities and cash flow.
What we did: Reviewed the financial position, challenged expenditure, examined financing arrangements, identified savings and worked with management to introduce greater financial discipline.
The result: Reduced unnecessary costs, improved visibility of the company's financial position and gave management a clearer route towards stability and sustainable growth.
International Business
The challenge: Expanding a business internationally introduces an entirely different set of commercial and operational challenges.
What we did: Worked on international business development, market entry, overseas partnerships, company structures and routes to market across multiple territories.
The result: Experience of building and developing commercial relationships across several countries, providing HGYB with a genuinely international perspective on how businesses grow beyond their domestic market.
A structured course for founders who want to move faster.
CPD-approved, self-paced, and built from the same experience.