In 1988 my partner, Nancy Woodhead and I, with three month old baby Ruby, departed the wilds of South London for the Scottish Borders.  We bought an old estate steading with another family, the McGurns, with the idea of establishing an intentional community.  In a range of stone buildings in various states of repair from OK to ruinous we set about building a life, of which the themes we most held in common were environmental concern and social justice.  In practice cycling was a central element of our common commitment.

Jim Mc Gurn had started a radical magazine in York the previous year which was called New Cyclist.  Nancy had been a Director of Brixton Cycles a very successful co-operatively owned shop in Coldharbour Lane.  She was also a practiced cycle mechanic.  It started out with me doing up buildings, and they working on the bike front, but shortly after we identified that there was a range of innovative cycle solutions that weren’t being marketed in the UK and Neatwork was born as my contribution to the venture.

Our first products were imported from Germany – the Peer Gynt recumbent from Radius GmbH. and the Rollfiets from Robert Hoening GmbH.  The Rollfiets a brilliant design achievement from Peter Messerschmidt became the Duet, a more consumer friendly name for the UK market – a wheelchair tandem, benefitting from Robert’s production engineering expertise.  Both machines were marked by extremely high build quality, the latest in component technology, excellent functionality and terrific saleability.  They could also only be sold at premium prices.

The original Trailers leaflet, great products and some great copy writing – a team effort

Over time Neatwork expanded into trailers (for children and for luggage) largely creating the UK mass market for these products, an extensive range of cycle products for people with disabilities, and the best in the recumbent cycle market, which hasn’t yet taken off to the same extent.  We also provided cycle solutions such as tandems for the general markets in which we found ourselves which weren’t so easy to come by from the average cycle shop.

At its peak Neatwork was importing and exporting innovative cycle products to and from the UK, Germany, Denmark, Holland, the USA with occasional deals in some more exotic places.  We worked with some fantastic people and had a great team through which a number of very competent and dedicated people circulated.  There were no duff workers in Neatwork.

Trailer leaflet other side…

After some years the McGurns returned to York whence they had come, and after eight years Neatwork was effectively sold on to a group of business angels who had backed us.  The company went into receivership about a year after that.

Lessons learned:

• There are some amazing products out there or yet to be invented.
• There are some great people to work with.
• Neither of these guarantees you business success.

I have been working for Edinburgh Chamber of Commerce on a contract basis for over five years, handling their Press & Policy functions.  Publicity is a key part of the Chamber’s strategy to grow its membership.  You can’t be the Voice of Business without a strong understanding of the needs and aspirations of entrepreneurs and how local, national and international conditions affect their ability to succeed.  So to be a spokesperson and manage a communications programme you need to be well informed, up to speed, and cultivate a wide network of contacts to develop the respect that gets your views heard.  The success of this contract is borne out by over four hundred interviews in the last twelve months (that’s nearly two per working day) and a growth in membership of 9% over that period.  You can check out a selection of issues and coverage here.