The Courier & Advertiser (Fife Edition)
Napkin note gave pair inspiration for a new venture
Karen Nichol and Sarah-Jane Dale met for lunch in Perth last October. By the end of the meal, the friends’ business plan was written on a napkin.
The pair from Perth and Fife previously worked together at Stirling University.
The pandemic led them both to think about the future and the possibility of being self-employed.
They both took the leap and quit their jobs at the same time, but it was never the intention to start a business together.
Karen had a communications job for a charity that also needed someone to do training. Sarah-Jane was a perfect fit.
Karen said: “I think that planted a seed in our heads.
“Last October we met for lunch in Perth and by the end of that lunch we had literally written our values and started our brand actually on a napkin.
“We were that cliché, doing things on napkins.”
By the end of the lunch, The Skills Collective name was decided and within weeks they started looking for clients.
Karen and Sarah-Jane describe The Skills Collective as a virtual head office.
It offers professional services for businesses who have limited access to or do not have their own senior management office.
Their five key areas are sales, marketing, training, business development and business planning services.
Karen said: “A lot of people made the same decisions as we did and jumped in at the deep end during a pandemic.
“We just seized an opportunity, everyone’s now comfortable talking online, everyone’s comfortable working in their house and they’re comfortable with other people working in their house for them.”
While the company can take on clients based anywhere, the majority are Tayside businesses.
Karen and Sarah-Jane currently have 22 clients, including an air sports business, a gallery and a joiner.
Working with small businesses is one of their favourite parts of the job.
“The small local businesses, the individual people, I admire them so much,” says Karen.
“They have a passion for their thing and we are trying to help them along.
“They can’t do it all and it’s nice to let them do what they’re passionate about and we help them with the things that they don’t enjoy.”
Karen and Sarah-Jane are already planning to make the collective even bigger.
They say: “The ideal is one business where everybody is an expert.
“One month a client might be concentrating on health and safety, another month it’s on marketing.
“Whatever it might be, we are there for them instead of having multiple suppliers.
“Our plan is to keep making that bigger and bigger, so we’ve got a full range on offer.”