Member Article

Divorced with £200 in the bank to £4m turnover: an interview with founder of The Taylor Lynn Corporation

Following a divorce, with just £200 in the bank, Liz launched her own events mangement company, Liz Taylor Associates, in 1985.

She later joined forces with industry colleague Dianne Lynn to form an events management company Taylor Lynn Corporation in 1995 creating a successful team until 2008, when Liz managed an amicable partnership buy-out.

Based in Manchester, the company’s turnover for 2014 pushed the £4m marker and is now celebrating 30 years of being in the businesses.

Today TLC works with top corporate and celebrity names, with clients such as X factor judge Gary Barlow, retail guru Mary Portas, football star Gary Neville, Manchester City FC player Yaya Toure, actress Sally Lyndsay and a host of Coronation Street stars.

Liz Taylor’s time in business has witnessed the bombing of Manchester, the rebuild and reinvestment in the city, the Commonwealth Games and recession.

In spite of economic challenges in the corporate market, the company continues to grow.

She has witnessed many changes in both the city, the region and the country as a whole, but also in how the business world for women has altered and how the way in which we conduct business has become far more ‘relaxed’.

Liz spoke to Bdaily she said: “We achieve the impossible.

“It doesn’t matter what the client’s budget level, they choose TLC because we constantly break down technological barriers, use our creative depth to propel our events to a new level of fun, and where other companies may feel something is not possible with an event, we find the solutions.

“I love my work – that makes getting up at 5am every day and heading to the office or an event easy for me.

“Still having huge passion for my work after 30 years is a huge motivator.

“My first year was incredibly successful, so I invested it all back into the business and didn’t take a wage from the company for two years.

“It was all about re-investing to grow my client base.”

What is the biggest challenge you face?

“Our biggest challenge is staying ahead of the competition and we do this by continuous innovation.

“It is key to always look ahead at what is going to be popular and on-trend with our clients, never to deliver what is popular now.

“We lead and others follow.”

Is there anything unusual about your company that you would like to share?

“People think that we employ hundreds and hundreds of people.

“We don’t.

“It’s me and five other people.

“We work with a huge bank of suppliers but on a day-to-day basis it’s just the six of us which is how we manage to keep the quality and consistency of our events so high.

“I am very hands on, and still roll up my sleeves and get stuck into whatever job needs doing – whether that’s setting tables, sound checking or greeting guests on the door, I’ll do it.”

How has your industry changed since you first set up the business?

“The events market was a fledgling industry 30 years ago so as you can imagine it’s changed a great deal.

“Companies/individuals didn’t employ event companies and I helped to pave the way for that to happen in the north-west.

“At that time, it was an uphill battle to help corporate business understand the merits of using an events planner and just how much I could add to their marketing.

“The sheer scale of the industry, on a worldwide level now, still astounds me and its continued growth means this will is only set to expand further.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Sophia Taha .