Currently...

My days consist of working full-time on Boxer Watches. I launched it in June 2012 so it's still very much in its infancy. But it's been something I've been working on since the turn of the year, so I'm very much invested in the company.

Right now, I'm continuing to learn all the tools of the trade when it comes to e-commerce; building up an understanding of concepts such as PPC, SEO, A/B testing and all the other jargon that comes with selling products or services online.

I'm also spreading the word of the Boxer Watches brand through my blog and social media such as Facebook and Twitter.

Before I escaped...

I graduated from the University of St Andrews in Scotland with a business degree in 2010. I went straight from there to working and living in London for a lifestyle luxury group called Quintessentially. What began as an internship with them, turned into a full-time role with a 3 month rolling contract.

During that internship, I was also looking for other available opportunities, one of these included an internship with Escape The City! I had a chance to meet Rob and Dom in their first office and was so inspired, I was already looking to 'escape the city' when I had just arrived in it!

But I did decide to take the offer at Quintessentially (it is nice to get paid, especially straight out of university) and worked there for an additional 6 months before they let me go to bring in someone more experienced.

That was April 2011, and since then, I’ve looked for full time jobs while doing some freelancing gigs for dot-com websites, before deciding to go for it on my own in January 2012.

My moment of truth...

My moment of truth came during the Christmas holiday of 2011. I realised I’d worked for quite a few dot-coms and under many entrepreneurs, so why not actually do what I've wanted to do since high school and start my own business?

I also realised there will never be a perfect time in life for certain things; to quit your job, to have kids, or in my case start a business. The stars will never perfectly align and the moment will never appear before your eyes. If you try and wait for it, you'll be waiting a very long time in my opinion.

Also, I had nothing to lose. Most new businesses fail anyway so I didn't feel any pressure to succeed from my family or friends. I had no commitments and enough money in the bank to start something.

So I decided I could either keep applying for jobs I didn't actually want, or teach myself something and improve my CV by starting my own company. It seemed like a win-win scenario for me.

Planning for it...

There wasn't a lot of planning for it in all honesty. I try my best not to over-think things and avoid the dreaded 'paralysis of analysis'.

When I began, I knew I wanted my own product. So e-commerce was the natural progression from there, as I believe it can provide me with a return on investment as well as a return on effort.

When you don't know what you're doing (which I didn't at first) the next step always seems the hardest. And that first step was finding the right product. It was during one of those familiar procrastinating sessions online that I felt like I was in the mood for a new watch, since I enjoy collecting them.

So from that, I asked myself “how hard would it be to design my own one?” And it snowballed from there. I contacted a number of suppliers, decided on one to produce a sample and once I was happy with that, I decided to go for it!

The worst and best bits...

Hardest things: Finding the right supplier is very frustrating! Due to different time zones, it's hard to have a proper conversation and dialogue can turn into a tedious back and forth, when one phone call with an English speaker could resolve so many issues. You have to be prepared for these kinds of things. However long you think it will take you to start a company or launch a business, double it. And even then, you might find yourself running behind schedule.

Best things: There have been a few great moments thankfully. But the best one must be when my first watch sample, which I'd designed, finally arrived in the post. When I held it in my hands, my project felt very real and more so like an actual business. I felt like this is something that I could actually do. I didn’t mind if it didn’t work out and I couldn’t make a living from it, I was just so happy that I was actually trying and giving it a good go so I'd have no regrets in the future. And my first Boxer Watch symbolised that for me.

Best advice...

I love personal development books and business books. And I would love to be able to provide that 'one quote' which defines the best advice I’ve ever received. But I don't think I would be doing justice to all the other great pieces of advice I've come across.

But if I had to repeat the best advice I’ve ever received, it would be when a random blogger online told me to "read the Four Hour Work Week by Tim Ferriss".

This one book has had such a substantial positive influence in my life. I feel it's only right to mention it because I wouldn't be where I am now if it wasn't for that book.

I would recommend it to anyone; whether they’re involved in business or not, retired or in high school, a future-escapee or a fully-fledged entrepreneur, it's that good.

Useful resources and information...

1. For creating an e-commerce store, I'd recommend Shopify. I’d been using them for Boxer Watches before a friend who is a web designer offered to do my site for free which was too good an opportunity to refuse. But Shopify are very good.
2. Secondly, I'd recommend Shipwire, which I also use. They will store your inventory and ship it out to your customers on your behalf. Yes, you may be able to do this by yourself in order to bootstrap and save money, but I find Shipwire affords me more time to work on my business rather than in it.
3. Finally, it's important to know the legalities of whatever it is you're planning on doing and the Business Link website (UK based) is a great resource of information for people looking to become self-employed.