Richard Brown from Lowestoft has had a passion for motorbikes since he was 13, building several high performance bikes from scratch. A kidney transplant and loss of sight in one eye meant that, going forward, Richard felt that a greater flexibility around work made the most sense to him. Over the last two years Richard has explored self-employment and has now turned his skills and passion working with bikes into a successful business.

Richard's early research showed a gap in the market for a specialist service not offered by big dealers. "People were coming to me with problems that some of the big dealers couldn't fix and I was able to help them". Richard has no trouble with motivation: "It doesn't feel like work, I get satisfaction from seeing customers satisfied". This brings its own benefits, as many of Richard's new customers are coming in through word-of-mouth as well as direct marketing in the area.

After support from Ready to Start, Richard began trading in the summer of 2008. Richard is already considering a bigger unit and taking on work experience students to meet increased demand. His determined attitude has been his greatest asset through the start-up process. "It's better to have had a go than wonder what if a few years down the line. Anything is possible and there's nothing that can't be overcome".