How It All Came About

From Simple Beginnings

The Crendon Business Group began life in 1992. In those far off days, we were just three guys, each with our own set of skills working as agency supplied contract staff in the IT (Information Technology) department of a major National company.

One day, while taking lunch, we overheard a conversation between a representative of the agency for whom we were working and a member of the client’s HR staff. It was clear from their exchanges the client was paying considerably more for our services than we were being paid – 100% more!

We agreed to meet up that evening to discuss the matter.

That meeting was the first of many held at the home of our CEO, located in a typical Old English village named Long Crendon. And yes, this is why the company adopted the name of Crendon.

While consuming numerous cups of tea and devouring an entire family sized packet of chocolate chip biscuits (cookies) we discussed our individual experiences of being self-employed and of the challenges we each faced in growing our business.

The Challenges

For most one person operations, dealing with sales, marketing and administration of the business is a big concern and creating a steady income, a major headache; especially for short-term contractors who may have little or no idea where or when they will secure a new contract.

Without the initial capital to invest or surplus income, few can afford to employ one other person to specifically handle the day to day operational requirements of their business.

And even if you could find the money, what do you do with them if you secure a long term contract and no longer need their services? Yes, you can terminate their employment. But what if the “long term contract” you have undertaken is not what you expected or it is terminated by the client, for whatever reason? Few companies will agree to pay compensation for early termination.

Traditionally, it is easier to find new employment when you are already employed. However, when working as a contractor at a client site, it is not so easy. Even if there is the time to do so, it is unethical to seek new contracts outside of the present client’s needs.

Taking time off to visit prospective clients is problematic – this is why companies employ contractors: they are not expected to take time away from work. If they do, they will not be paid for the time they are away. If they do it too often, their contract may be terminated at a day’s notice.

Accepting calls and discussing details with a potential client, apart from being unethical, has been known to result in instant termination of the present contract.

Dealing with these matters from home in the evening or at the weekend alerts the client to the fact of your being a one person business. While you may be less expensive than the ‘big boys’, in the mind of the client there is always the danger you will not have all the resources needed to do the work or, God forbid, you may become too ill to complete it.

So, what are the alternatives?

The Alternatives

Most commonly, it is a wife who looks after the office duties of her husband’s business. This is all well and good if: a) she is willing to do it, b) she is not working elsewhere earning the money they need to pay the bills while her husband gets his business established, c) she is not otherwise fully occupied raising children!

In our case, none of us was married and only one lived with a partner… and she wasn’t keen to give up her well paid job working in “The City” (London, England)!

Two other alternatives were considered: continue working solely through a contract employment agency or use a service bureau.

The downside of using an employment agency (as we well knew!) is that they want their percentage. For contractors these percentages range from 20% (rare to be this low) to 50% (most common) or more of the agreed rate paid by the client, thereby reducing the contractor’s take.

With the best will in the world, while service bureaus are great at answering telephones, typing letters and carrying out similar administrative type duties, they are rarely trained salespeople. Even if they possess sales skills, in a specialized environment (e.g. Information Technology), they are not going to know your business like you do. If they were capable of performing all these duties, the fees they will charge would almost certainly be as high as employing somebody full time to do the work.

So what did we do?

Our Solution

For us, the best and most logical solution was to pool our individual resources (skills, equipment, materials, etc.), create a corporate identity and share the costs of employing the services of someone else to do sales, marketing and administrative work.

And this is precisely what we did and how the Crendon Business Group began life. We did not operate under this name, believing it to be a little grandiose for a three man operation. Instead, we called ourselves, Crendon Associates.

More Power To Our Elbows

By pooling resources we were able to offer a wider range of services than we could as individuals. This enabled us to secure better contracts – more profitable contracts! Even after we had paid for our “shared” employee(s) and their associated overhead costs, we netted significantly more money than we could have done operating as individuals or solely through an agency.

Best of all, we did not need to work our butts off to make a good living. We could afford to be selective in the contracts we sought and accepted. As individuals, we still undertook some agency work and for the most part, it was on our own terms. No more 50/50 splits!

Experiencing the Internet

When we weren’t working on joint projects or undertaking individual contract work, we looked to the Internet as a potential source of income.

As individuals we tried our luck at developing successful websites (success being measured in terms of the income it generated). For the most part we failed, miserably!

Over the years, we have invested several thousand dollars in the purchase of books, videos, courses and in attending seminars. Pretty much every one of these promised us immense riches. None delivered their promise!

Y2K (Year 2000)

Demands for our services were at an all time high for the 2 years prior to the start of the new millennium – due entirely to the infamous and somewhat costly Y2K fiasco?

With the ‘uneventful’ entry into the 21st Century, few companies needed to continue employing IT contract staff. Most had brand new systems that were up and running, with enough trained staff to operate them.

By now we were cash rich and almost burnt out from working long hours without proper breaks during these 2 years.

It was time to take a well earned break before seeking new opportunities, new joint ventures.

What We Have Been Doing Since 2000?

Throughout the mid 90s our CEO (a life-long entrepreneur) was a regular visitor to the USA. These journeys served multiple purposes - a great mix of business and pleasure!

When on a speaking tour, gathering material for a book (did we tell you he is multi-talented?) or seeking new business opportunities he would often make one more stopover: to visit his daughter and her two children living in Los Angeles.

In the early part of 2000, our CEO moved to the USA. It was not the end of the company, just a change of location and the driving force behind it!

As a result of the move and contacts he had established during his many visits, it became possible for us to undertake a number of joint projects on either side of the “Big Pond”. Among these was an 18 month project involving a small, specialist business wanting to move its entire product manufacture and distribution from the UK to the USA, where it has now become a world leader in its field.

What We Do Today

Today, we do pretty much the same as we have always done: we work together on joint venture projects and encourage others to join us - only now, we do it through the Internet!

Our "team" is made up of: successful business people, copywriters, project managers, proof readers, researchers, reviewers, software developers and testers, web designers and a bunch of entrepreneurs.

Future Plans

Having thoroughly researched our subjects over many years we have the best collection of resources, products and services any business could wish to own.

Over the coming months we shall be working hard to create and operate a number of new sites:

Creating a successful business, the right way...