Navigating unpredictable waters as a small business owner can be stressful.
What obstacles lurk beneath the surface of your target market? How many sharks are circling for a bite of your audience? Is the good ship ready and prepped for the journey?
It’s a high-risk, high-pressure role that relies on the confidence one has in their ideas, a good slice of luck, and a determination to succeed that has no guarantee of success.
Step forward Ben Hickman, the man behind Adnovar – a business coaching consultancy based in Carlisle that specialises in supporting small businesses to achieve their goals and develop strategies to overcome challenges.
With a background in running a successful small business of his own, Alterline Research in Manchester, Ben returned to his native Cumbria in 2022 to begin his next adventure.
Joined in Hethersgill near Carlisle by his wife, a local schoolteacher and three children aged 10, eight and three, Adnovar builds on Ben’s passion for developing solutions that help his clients achieve their objectives.
Ben said: “I don’t offer advice. Business coaching is about empowering people to succeed in their own way, on their own terms, bringing to life their ideas.
“I built my first business and my family at the same time, so I really understand the pressures of juggling so many commitments, and trying to make ends meet at work and at home when it seems impossible.”
Ben set up Alterline Research in Manchester in 2011 with his business partner Nick Carley and the pair have since found a niche in the higher education research market, working with universities all over the world to provide insight and analysis of their courses, student experience, widening participation and accessibility goals and student retention.
They have worked with more than 85 of the UK’s 120 universities and have clients in the United States, Canada and South Africa.
Their signature product is called Library Life Pulse – a user experience tool found in university libraries all over the world to understand how students utilise and access their library spaces, helping to create more dynamic and practical learning and research environments.
“It took several years to become successful, but Alterline now has a reliable model which supports our higher education institution clients and so I have been able to take a step back from the day to day, and put my energy, skills and experience into a new passion, which is helping to support local small businesses in my home county of Cumbria,” said Ben.
Ben says that there are several common concerns shared by his clients, including the cost-of-living crisis, consumer confidence and a sense that markets are slowing down.
“People are tired. Brexit, Covid, the cost of living, have all contributed to a sense of uncertainty, but my job is to help people enjoy their business adventure, understanding what they really want out of it. Life is too short, it’s a tough world out there but there are lots of options, people always have choices,” said Ben.
Adnovar offers a free consultation appointment and Ben only takes on a new client if he can ‘guarantee’ making a difference to the business greater than the fee he charges, which is based on a daily rate.
“I want to help more small businesses in Cumbria and develop my ideas about outdoor coaching – taking time out to walk side-by-side in the forests or hills gets people into a different head space, and it can be much easier for them to convey their thoughts, concerns and ideas, rather than sitting opposite each other at a boardroom table,” said Ben.
With a level seven certificate in business coaching and mentoring from the Institute of Leadership and Management, Ben is a prime example of the success he wants to help his clients achieve.
Starting out with little more than a notepad and pen, his team has developed Alterline into one of the UK’s leading research companies for higher education, and since launching Adnovar, Ben is quickly becoming one of the prominent voices in the Cumbrian business community.
“Cumbria needs to retain more of its young talent and promote the huge benefits of staying here. Making sure people feel supported and that opportunities are well publicised is key to this,” said Ben.
With a growing list of clients across north Cumbria, Ben is finally enjoying being back where he belongs.
