Partner Article

Teesside entrepreneurs celebrate first birthday

Two Teesside entrepreneurs are celebrating, after their business Call Agents UK successfully completed its first year of business.

Rachel Barnes and Sharon Atkinson met when they worked together at the Garlands Call Centre, and when the company closed last year, the pair decided to pool their skills and set up alone.

Since then, Call Agents UK has gone from strength to strength, and now offers a range of bespoke telemarketing; lead generation and events support, and call answering services.

The pair are delighted with the success of the business, which is a testament to their own hard work and determination to succeed.

“It’s really great – we didn’t quite expect to be where we are now, especially with very little formal business training,” says Rachel

“It’s been a massive learning curve – but the best experience we could have ever imagined. There has been much to learn beyond the sales and support expertise we offer. We are immensely grateful to the continued support offered to us from all our mentors, Teesside University and the north east networks.”

While the business in now seeing positive growth, it hasn’t always been an easy ride for Sharon and Rachel, who cite their biggest challenge over the past year as “finding our feet in a recession climate”.

“It’s been hard, but we both share the same vision and are determined to make the company succeed,” Rachel continues. “We’ve got different skills sets, and we know our strengths and weaknesses, which means we can really push each other out of our comfort zones.”

The promising win of a large national contract on Call Agents UK’s birthday has now set the tone for the future of the company.

Rachel added: “We’re now hoping to double, if not triple our staff numbers over the next year, and are looking forward to negotiating more big business contracts. We already have plans to move into bigger offices before the end of the year.

“We’ve definitely made the right decision – as long as you’ve got energy, commitment and a good team around you, I’d recommend anyone looking to start up to give it a go. “

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Ruth Mitchell .