5 things I’ve learned running my own business: Trevor Palmer, Tank PR

Trevor Palmer, director at Nottingham-based PR agency Tank, shares his experiences of owning his own company.

Never work for free

A lot of people think that PR companies should give their ideas for free in order to get work, or actually work for free for a while to ‘prove themselves’. These people fall into the category of uneducated clients (in terms of their awareness of how we may be of massive help to them – and never get the chance to find out).

Other people know your ceiling better than you

I am not as driven as some by pure growth. I am far more enthused about the competitive aspect of our work and being a great agency, than how big we can get. That’s why it’s really useful to have our non-execs saying: “No, not that much. Thaaatt much.” when it comes to targets – the result being we grow faster.

Trust everyone – once

A popular business cliché is to trust nobody when it comes to business. I have found this to be rubbish advice. Obviously with a common sense filter, I think that you should give everyone the chance to be trusted – until they prove otherwise and can then earn their exile to the bin of untrustworthiness!

Know and enjoy the characters

I like characters. Some people say surround yourself with successful people – I think that success is a state of mind, and that I would much rather be around non-conformists and people with different aims to those of the business masses. These people not only entertain you – they keep you sharp, which is useful in our industry. I could name 20+ now – but won’t, as the reason that they are ‘characters’ and ‘inspiring’ is that they never consciously label themselves as such – or indeed try to be.

Delegation is an addiction

My old boss, Richard Gee, said that the way to run a successful agency was to always hire people much better at something than you are. I find delegation a bit addictive – at a high level it’s sometimes like the risk you felt when starting the business. I am ridiculously comfortable with delegation, and I think that this is an unusual but substantial edge that I have over my competitors.