26-year-old Bognor businessman shares journey that saw his company turn over 1 million in just a year

Sam Hickman started Summerley Recruitment after becoming unhappy with his job in lockdown

A Chichester businessman has shared the journey that saw his company turn over 1 million within his first year of operating. 

Sam Hickman started Summerley Recruitment after becoming unhappy with his job during lockdown, which led him to consider starting a business. As he went on furlough, he developed the idea further, working out ways he could bring his dream into fruition. 

Sam told V2 Radio: “I went and worked at Amazon in the yard, did that for 10 months alongside doing Amazon deliveries, did some B2B sales and did some food delivery driving.

"I then just saved like hell and then set up and launched in October 2020."

 Click here to listen to the interview

Describing Summerley as a "specialist hospitality and catering recruitment agency", Sam admitted his worries that it would be "quite hard to get everything going during the pandemic" as hospitality across the nation was forced to shut down. 

However, the end of lockdown proved different: "Because I spent the first part of it getting candidates and recruiting over the winter and early 2021, when hospitality all got going again, we were ready really.

"We had quite a few, probably around 200 to 250, staff that were available and interested, and then when it all kicked off again we were sort of ready to go basically.”

Since, Summerley Recruitment has supported events such as the British Formula 1 Grand Prix, Brighton Pride, and Goodwood's Festival of Speed. Sam plans to expand the business into London this year, although he still sometimes finds it "strange" to be "the only person who can make big decisions". 

He elaborated, "Not being to ask a supervisor or manager for help or anything, it's all on you, which has been hard at times."

Although, Sam encourages anyone who has thought about turning an idea into a business to "definitely give it a go". 

"If there is something you’re passionate about and you do love to do, work related or not work related, if you can mould that into a business then I would say definitely give it a go because now I don’t really feel like I work.

"I literally feel like I’m doing Summerley. It feels almost like a purpose and I’m just so happy it’s happened.”

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