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Can the Fenetic Way of Thinking Save Your Start-up?

Half of the UK’s start-up businesses never make their fifth birthday, yet Yorkshiremen Tom Appelbee and Graeme Firth rolled up their sleeves undeterred, to galvanise the mobility industry as only they could.

Co-owners of Fenetic Wellbeing, they’re injecting fun and personality into what some would consider a spiritless industry. Of course, they’re sincere in their work. Equipped with encyclopaedic product knowledge, their light-heartedness and Yorkshire wit resonates with customers who appreciate a little cheering up.

This supposedly nail-biting half-decade milestone wasn’t a problem for Fenetic Wellbeing. Now in their seventh year, they’re still trading the UK’s lightest rollators, wheelchairs, and home mobility products – so as business directors, they must be doing something right.

Whether you’re launching a start-up business or you’re a cunning entrepreneur with an appetite for sound advice, allow Tom to explain just how they did it.

Choose your Business Partner Wisely

There’s many a benefit to having someone there in the trench with you, when you manage a business as a duo. But only if they’re the right person, with the same values. When you’re in the market for a business partner, and you think you’ve found ‘the one’, I’d suggest you collaborate on a short-term project before you commit. If cracks are going to appear, you’ll see them straight away.

Spend time together away from work too. Your company culture, communication, and ultimately your sanity hinges on whether you hit it off. So pick someone who’s fun to be with for the long haul.

We’re an extreme example of this. Graeme’s my school-mate. We worked together throughout university, before kick starting careers at the same healthcare company. We managed the businesses online presence together, until we were made redundant. We took the opportunity to launch Fenetic Wellbeing because as well as being mates, we work really well together.

You’ll want your business partner to have different skills to yours, to strengthen your business offering. I direct Fenetic’s business development, strategy and company finances. Graeme manages the team, our wider community, online listings and generally holds down the fort at the warehouse. You have less chance of treading on each other’s toes this way.

Conjure up a Unique Brand Name

Before you make a name for yourself, you need to, well, make a name for yourself. It needs to be unique to you, while summing up everything your business stands for in order to set you apart from your rivals. Taking the easy route, with something like ‘Yorkshire Mobility’ wouldn’t have done us any favours, especially when we were first establishing ourselves against other ‘Something Mobility’ or ‘Mobility Something’ named brands.

We wanted our customers to feel at ease and unafraid of what others think, when they experience the unpleasant parts of aging. At school, I was taught to spell phonetically, being dyslexic, which is in itself a tough word to spell. The irony stuck with me. So we became ‘Fenetic Wellbeing’ – because we are who we are, unashamedly.

Enjoy Building Brick by Brick

You really will need to put the horse before the cart to establish your business. But you’re ready for that, you wouldn’t be reading this if you weren’t. Good business takes time. Fenetic Wellbeing began in my attic, where I negotiated accounts with suppliers, while Graeme listed products online around his day job for six months.

Our attic became a garage and then a caravan, packed with printers and laptops. The caravan was parked into a small warehouse, before being wheeled to a 1,200 square foot one. Our duo has now expanded into a team of six.

Perseverance pays off. Enjoy the thrill of trying to make your start-up fly.

Focus on What’s Most Important

We made our work ethic, value for money, great service, and honesty, our top four priorities. Monitoring customer satisfaction is a cornerstone of our success, and it could be yours as well. Fenetic Wellbeing has served over 100,000 satisfied customers since 2009, partly because we act to rectify any problems at every stage of their shopping experience with us. Word of mouth will either nourish or cripple your start-up. Don’t fret over it, just lead by example, because ultimately, it’s entirely within your control to put your customers first, and to respect them enough to make them feel valued.

You could provide a price promise to match other retailers, twelve months free cover on everything, or free delivery on every product – we decided to do all three.

Identify the Status Quo, then Do Everything to Break It

At one extreme of the mobility industry, companies extort the elderly and vulnerable. At the other, the prices are so low that there is no customer service or aftersales care. Fenetic Wellbeing is the much-needed bit in the middle – with reasonably priced mobility products to suit individuals’ needs, and reliable aftersales care. We pride ourselves on good, honest Yorkshire hospitality, and making personal mobility exactly that. Personal.

Take a look at the industry around you. Ask your customers about what they like and don’t, then put your observations down. If you can do something to change it, fix it, or better it. Do it. It will set you apart, and give you every chance of success.

Good luck from everyone here at Fenetic Wellbeing.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Tanya Searing .