HOW I MADE ITJoe BlackmanFounder ofCo l lec t ion 26

A YOUNG Joe Blackman spent summerweekends serving fruit juice at a story-telling festival on theWelsh coast.“I was roped into it,” said Blackman,

whose mother was an event manager forthe festival.Eachyear, sheconvincedhimto come along as a helper. Today, he toomakeshis livingas aneventsmanager.At the age of 19, Blackman helped at

top music festivals such as Party in thePark in Cardiff and the Brecon Jazz Fes-tival. In 2007, still inhis early twenties, hedecided to strike out alone — and targetbiggerwallets.Hiscompany,Collection26,noworgan-

ises corporate and private events,including weddings, for clients such asthe AbuDhabi royal family and Americanmusic stars including 50 Cent and theKillers. Blackman has 14 staff, based inNottingHill,west London.He typically charges 20% of each

event’s budget, which is usually from£250,000to£1m-plus. Lastyear thecom-pany had sales of just over £3m andprofits of £1m. In December, it expects toreport salesof£4mfor thisyear.“I like to keep it small andmake lots of

money,” said Blackman, 29, who owns100% of the business. “Turnover isvanity,profit is sanity.”Hiskey to success?Whathecalls “stra-

tegic networking” at the festivals wherehe lent a hand. “I made friends with thebands’ management and helped to pro-duce after-parties for visiting artists.Eventuallyyournamegets around.”Blackmangrewup in LlantwitMajor in

the Vale of Glamorgan, overlooking theBristol Channel. He and his youngerbrother and sister were brought up bytheir mother, an events manager at theSt Donats Arts Centre. She helped toorganise Beyond the Border, the annualstorytelling festival at St Donats Castle,whereher sonwas roped in tohelp.By the timehe left LlantwitMajor com-

prehensive school after A-levels, he hadprogressed to an event manager, helpingtoentertain the festival’s 10,000visitors.After startingadegree in stagemanage-

ment at the Royal Welsh College of Music& Drama in Cardiff, he freelanced forother festivals. He got a taste of entrepre-neurship after becoming vice-presidentof the students’ union in his second year.“I used students’ union funds to buy backand run the bar franchise, which hadbeenoutsourced. Itwasagoodmove.”Blackman did not return for his third

year. A friend of a friend had dropped outof an events role at the 2006 Asian Gamesin Qatar, and he filled the spot. “For sixmonths I stayed on a cruise ship becausethey had run out of accommodation.”On

his return to Britain he decided never towork for anyone else again. “I don’t thinkI was a very good employee. I had toomanyofmyown ideas.”He taught himself about web design

and advertising before applying to theWelsh Assembly for funding to set up abusiness.Hewas turneddown, but he didsecure funding to do an MBA, despite nothaving completed an undergraduatedegree. “I had to have special dispensa-tion from the University of South Walesbased on my experience, having runvariousbusinesses fromayoungage.”While setting up Collection 26 a year

later, he also found the time tobecome theyoungestmagistrateon theCardiff bench.Blackmanmoved his office fromCardiff

to Notting Hill in 2010 to be closer tovenues and his clientele. Initially, though,it costhimsomestaff. “Itwasa fairly spon-

taneous decision. In my fairy-tale way Ithought everybody would come with mebut theydidn’t,whichwashard.”He is planning to open an office in New

York. “It’ll be difficult to start over therebut itwillhappen. It’s apriority.”Collection 26 has grown by reputation

since Blackman won his first client, theAfrica Oyé festival in Liverpool, in 2007.“Anyone can book things for an event;the key is how you orchestrate thoseelements into a journey. It can be a verycreative process with the small detailsmakingamassivedifference.”Planning weddings for billionaires and

footballers — including for the Arsenalplayer TheoWalcott in Italy last June— isparticularly challenging. “If you screwup, you have the best solicitors in theworldcrawlingall overyou.”When preparing a £250,000 private

event in Newcastle, he had to handle thebreakdown of a generator powering akitchen and lighting for a 70ft marquee.His cool response: “We told the client itwas an emergency lighting test while thetechniciansrewired thewhole event.”Blackman, who is single and lives in

Richmond, southwest London, has thisadvice for entrepreneurs: “You don’talways need investment to start a busi-ness — be innovative with your ideas,work hard and show passion, drive anddetermination inanythingyoudo.”

HattieWilliams

TIPPING POINT ATWHICHABSENCE IS TOOHIGHRSwrites:Oneofmysenioremployeeshas sent in adoctor’snotesayingshe isn’t fit toworkbecauseofaknee injury. Shehasbeenoff alotover thepast 12monthsowingto stress that isn’t related towork.Atwhatpointdoes all this timeoffbecomeunacceptable?

Different companies set differenttriggers for addressingsicknessabsence,writesPeterDone,managingdirectorofPeninsulaBusinessServices. There isno legalpositiononwhat is “toomuch”absenceand therearemany factorsyoumaychoose toconsider.Robust absencemanagement

systemsare essential forkeepingontopof theefficiencyofyourworkforce.Agood systemwillincludeelements to recordand tracktheamountof leave takenbyeachemployee, and thenbe followedupbyamethodofmanaging thosewhoare takinganunacceptable amountof timeoff.Somecompaniesuse theBradford

Factor, amathematical formula fordetermining thepoint atwhichabsence is consideredaconcern. Itworksonamultiplication system,where thenumberof instancesofabsence ismultipliedby itself, andthenmultipliedby the totalnumberofdays takenoff.For example,someonewhohashad15daysofsickness, taken in3 instalments,wouldhaveaBradfordFactor scoreof 135 (3x3x 15).This systemtargetsthosewhoare repeat offendersofshort-termabsences, becausesomeonewho frequentlyhas shortabsenceswill attainahigher scorethansomeonewhohas takenonelongabsence.Frequent shortabsencesareconsideredmoredisruptive toa company.Youthenneed todeterminewhat

scorewill be the triggerpoint foraction.This level is atyourdiscretionand isnotprescribedby law.Alternatively, some firms justuse

thenumberof absencesas the trigger—all staffwhohavehad threeabsenceswithina rolling 12-monthperiodwill beaddressed, regardlessof the lengthof eachabsence.Whichever systemyouuse,you

shouldnot singleout this employee—it is important toadopt aconsistentapproachtoall staff absence. If youhavenever tackledher absence,youshould start theprocedure fromthebeginning.Donot leap inwithahigh-level sanction.

TWO TAX OPTIONS ONCOMMUTING PAYMENTSDRwrites: I runacompanyandmycommuting train ticket costs£750amonth. If I hadanannual seasonticket itwouldcost£8,250,which isaconsiderable saving. Idon’t take asalary, socanthe companypay formytravel instead?

If yourbusinessmakesadirectpayment to the rail companyonyourbehalf, youwill have toprocess itthroughyourcompany’spayrolland itwill be subject tonationalinsurancecontributions (Nics),writes JonDawson,partneratKingstonSmithLLP.Thecompanywill still have to report thebenefit inkindonaP11Dannualdeclaration foryou,whichmeansyouwillneed toinclude thecost as incomeonyourpersonal tax return.Asanalternative, if youmade the

paymentyourself and thecompanyreimbursedyou, theamountreimbursedwouldhave tobeprocessed throughthepayroll. In thiscase, itwouldbedeemed tobe salary,whichwouldbesubject to incometaxandNics.Youwouldpayanytax andNics immediatelyand thecompanywouldnotneed to report thebenefitinkind.Themaindifferencebetween

theseoptions is the timingof any taxpayments. If themoneygoes throughthepayroll, it is taxed in themonth itisprocessed. If themoney isdeclaredonyourpersonal tax return, the tax ispaid in January following theendofthe taxyear. If this is youronlysourceof income,notaxwill beduebecause theamount is belowthepersonal allowance.Manycompanies lendmoney to

employees so theycanbuyseasontickets—employees repay thismoneyduring theyear throughdeductions fromsalary. Inyourcase,thecompanywouldhave topayanotional salaryeachmonthanddeduct the season ticket repayments.

It’s not easy tryingto live off the state

Party people: Joe Blackman’s team delivered turnover of more than £3m last year

Party planner by appointmentto the Premier League stars

VICKI COUCHMAN

Charlie Davies has astring of regularcustomers for DotComms, the digitalmarketing and dev-elopment agency she

started a few months ago. But apublic sector contract would bebreadandbutter forher.“A contract like that would

be guaranteed income,” saidDavies, 25, who works from herhome near Clapham Common,southLondon.Yet she knows clinching such

a deal isn’t easy. “I wouldn’tknow how to find out what’savailable. I don’t even knowwhether I’m allowed to apply.”And, she added: “I’ve yet tomeet acompany thatworkswithor throughthegovernment.”For small companies, the

process of winning a contractwith the public sector is bothlengthyandcostly.Last year, £4.5bn of White-

hall’s procurement budget wenttosmall andmedium-sizedbusi-nesses. This amounted to only10.5% of the external contractsawarded. By the end of nextyear, it hopes to have increasedthat to25%.Although the target suggests

eagerness to open doors, morethandoublingthenumberofcon-tracts inayear is ambitious.“Small businesses can find

their efforts to win public sectorbusiness hampered by excessivebureaucracy and bidding costs,”said John Allan, chairman of theFederationofSmall Businesses.“The taxpayer misses out on

the innovation and flexibilitysmall businesses offer. Officialsshould look at breaking largercontracts into smaller lots, sim-plifying processes and engagingwith smaller companies at earlystagesonallmajorprojects.”Thebidding process canmean

days are sacrificed on a tender,time that could be spent onbusi-ness. Sometender-writingcom-panies charge thousands to pulltogether a bid, andmight want acutof thebusiness secured.Recently it was reported that

Buddi, Sara Murray’s mobilealarm and tagging supplier,

walked away from a contractwith theMinistryof Justice.The company accused the

ministry of changing the speci-fications of the contract anddemanding that Buddi handover its intellectualproperty.Buddi was selected as one of

four companies to tag and mon-itor offenders, after an extensivetendering process. The otherthree were Capita, Astrium andTelefonica. Murray, Buddi’sfounder and chief executive,called the process “unproduc-tiveand frustrating”.Debbie Pearson feels the

same. Bidding for a public sectorcontract has meant days out ofrunning Emergency ResponseTraining, her Doncaster com-pany that offers courses onfirst-aidandhealthandsafety.The business is registered

withfourportalsadvertisinggov-ernment contracts (The Chest,Yortender, DueNorth andNepo).

Last week, she received twotenders, one in the form ofa three-page document andanotherofmore than100pages.“Thereneeds tobeone frame-

work for all,” said Pearson, 41,whose father founded the busi-ness in 2002. She spent four daysonthe 100-page tender.“Companies approach me all

thetimeoffering tohelpwithwri-ting the pitch,” she said. “Thelast man asked for £1,000 and a5%cutof thebusiness Iwin.”Last year, local authority

tenders won through a portalamounted to only 2% of Pear-son’s£225,000turnover.Pearson is not the only one

with a gripe. In Hampshire,Richard Knight has spent weekstrying to contact a council abouta contract he wants to bid for.Focal Point, his firm with fivestaff, specialises in outdoor ad-vertising, including displays onbillboards,bus sheltersand taxis.

“There is a contract up soonthat Iwant tobid forbutmymes-sages and calls are not beingreturned,” said Knight, 56, whofounded the firm in 1987. “Idon’tdemand the right to get thebusiness; I justwant a fair shot atbidding.”He usually keeps out of bid-

dingwars forpublic sector deals.“I knowan agency that can havefour staff working on a tenderdocument for a month; I don’tknow a small business that hasthe timeormoneytodo that.”For those who have broken

into the public sector, successhas followed. One of them isAndy McLoughlin, 35, who runsHuddle, a software business thatallows users to work and storeinformation in the internet cloud.It was founded in 2006 and

now works with 80% of centralgovernment departments, andhas been approached by high-profile American institutions.

“Working with governmentprovides an instant stamp ofapproval,” saidMcLoughlin.But it wasn’t easy. From the

initial bid for the first state con-tract in 2008, it took threemonths to get a pilot of theservice intogovernmentoffices.“Traditionally, innovative

smaller companies have beenshutoutofgovernmentprocure-ment and this has been thedomain of technology goliaths,”saidMcLoughlin.He opened an office in San

Francisco in 2010 where heworks on contracts with theOffice of the Secretary ofDefense andNasa.Hehas 35 staffthereand100 inLondon.“Working with government

also requires dedication. Youmust ensure you meet certaincertifications and accredita-tions, and find the problems ingovernment that youcan solve,”saidMcLoughlin.

KingstonSmithLLP, the charteredaccountant, andPeninsula, theemployment law firm, canadviseowner-managers on their problems.Sendyourquestions toBusinessDoctor,TheSundayTimes,3ThomasMoreSquare,LondonE98 1ST.Advice isgivenwithout legal responsibility.

bizdoc@kingstonsmith.co.uk

Business doctor

Charlie Davies of thestart-up Dot Comms:‘I don’t even know ifI’m allowed to apply’

VICKI COUCHMAN

Trying to win acontract withWhitehall can betime-consumingand costly, warnsKiki Loizou

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