So I set out to create a photo agency in the East Midlands to provide pictures for National Newspapers. The business was called East Midlands Picture Services – and was based in Nottingham. In the next 20 years, the name would be shortened to EMPICS – and it would become the largest independently-owned sports photography agency in the world.
The business was to be a partnership with my best friend. Unfortunately, as we explored getting support from banks for our new venture the response was not particularly positive. My pal decided it was not for him, so we didn’t become business partners.
Eventually, I managed to get a £2,000 overdraft from Williams & Glyn Bank (now part of RBS). The business started in June 1985 – and 20 years later I left the business after a trade sale to the Press Association.
Looking back through some old papers, I found a copy of the original business plan. It’s linked to here as a PDF. Readers might find it amusing on many levels – the language, the fact it was individually typed (well before the time of wordprocessing) and that the cashflows are handwritten on graph paper (no Excel spreadsheets in those days!).
EMPICS was not a hi-tech startup – it ended up just being me on my own in an office in Nottingham. It was not a raiser of venture capital or seed funding (although as the business grew we did have 3i as a VC investor and a business angel). However, it was a leap into the unknown – and a roller coaster ride. To be recommended – to the brave…
My last “proper job” was in 1983-5. I was a photographer at the Leicester Mercury. It was one of the most enjoyable times of my life. Working within a community, making connections, then gradually gaining trust and respect is a rewarding process.
In 1981, I started my first job after school as a Trainee Press Photographer at Mercury Press Agency in Liverpool. I’d not bargained for my first week in employment to involve the coverage of some of the worst rioting on mainland Britain. I’ll always remember the phone ringing late at night after the family had […]
I lived in a council house on the ring road in Liverpool (Queens Drive) – and had very supportive parents (although I might not have thought so at the time). I went to a Catholic Boys’ Grammar School, St Francis Xavier’s – I and was very religious (up until the moment I was 18 – […]
It’s amazing how easy it is to take and send high-quality photos these days. You can pick up an iPhone, take a snap and with a couple of clicks send the image around the world. It wasn’t always that simple – here’s a tale from 1985 (just over 25 years ago) when taking and transmitting […]
In the late 1980s, there was a transformation in the world of national newspapers. New titles, such as The Independent and Today came in to the market – and Rupert Murdoch fought the battle of Wapping to help rid the industry of some terrible, union backed practices (see “On the Wire – how many men […]