Established in July 2021, Orchard Safety Ltd is a health and safety consultancy providing small businesses with technical support and an external health and safety team, and larger businesses with additional health and safety resources. Their offering includes project and retained support, health and safety training, auditing, and the development and delivery of strategic safety programmes.
After completing university, Sam began his career in health and safety. He climbed the career ladder, completing various qualifications and gaining experience in a number of different industries, finishing in a Head of Health and Safety role at a large food manufacturing company. During the COVID-19 pandemic, and facing the challenges that brought to his role, Sam decided this wasn’t what he wanted to do for the rest of his life and took the plunge to start up his own business - something he had been wanting to do but had always put off.
“I took the plunge, and I haven’t looked back since!”
The plan was to do this as a side hustle, alongside the full-time role. But by December 2021, Sam had enough work that he could leave his job and focus on the business full time.
Running a business was a completely new concept for me.
“I knew how to do the health and safety stuff, but there was more work to do.”
I was business shy.
“I was coy and uncomfortable talking about money.”
Sales terrified me.
“I remember a friend asking me what I did, and I found I couldn’t really explain what it was.”
Sam joined Success Groups Build, in March 2022 and quickly graduated to Success Groups Scale in May 2023.
My mate, who was a member of BBB, recommended I take a look to see if BBB could help. He told me they had really helped him with his business, stopped him messing around and got him focused on growth. He offered to put me in touch and that’s when I connected with Tracey.
Tracey really took the time to understand me and where I was at. She asked me loads of questions and
it was a real shock when I realised I didn’t have the answers!
I had the health and safety knowledge sorted, but running a business? No idea!”
The Build group was a brilliant, safe, informal space to ask the weird and the wonderful. In the early days, when I was a newbie and quite nervous, I would often hold back a question, scared that it would make me look silly. But very often someone else would ask it, instantly making me feel that other people were facing the same challenges as me. Everyone was at a similar level and that removed the fear from asking my questions or sharing where I was stuck. I still speak to and work with them outside of the group.”
“A complete enrichment of information.”
“The main monthly sessions were an opportunity to get out of working IN my business for a whole day, and instead focus on working ON my business. No delivery, no distractions, just a whole day of hearing and digesting loads of content, challenges and solutions – a complete enrichment of information. I’ve spent a lot of time implementing what I’ve taken away from sessions and I still refer to my hundreds of notes.”
“Showing up to the group each month was as much about sharing my successes as it was about celebrating my peers’ successes. Even people facing the toughest challenges were still showing up having hit 100% of their goals, and the room would be raucous with celebration and admiration.
It’s like having a mini group of cheer leaders willing you on to be the best you can be,
or putting their arm around you if things were a bit tough.”
“I’ve had a couple of bumpy moments along the way and the group were there to support me, reaching out with messages to help, support, and to push me in the right direction.
Since joining BBB, my business has grown rapidly.
My time in the Build group helped me build solid foundations in my business that have enabled me to grow quickly. It wasn’t long before I was ready to graduate to Scale.”
“The rapid growth in my business has caused things to feel chaotic at times, but the group and Tracey have worked with me to get past that.
The Scale group is very similar in format to Build, and there is absolutely no judgement, but the conversations are more mature or advanced and right for me at this level. I’m now in a group of people who have got very established businesses – much bigger and more successful than mine – and it instantly makes me feel like ‘I want a bit of that’. It makes you want to up your game. You’re not competing with them, but you hold yourself more accountable and push yourself that bit harder.”
“Hearing about the kind of clients they are working with, and the bigger deals they are winning, gives you that extra fire in your belly, and creates a bit more drive, because you want to be up at that level too.”
The conversations are more advanced. At the Scale level we are talking about people problems, hiring and managing a team, forecasting, cash flow, strategy & direction, the problems you face when working on bigger projects from an execution and delivery perspective, which is really helpful for me now.
Everyone is super open, informal, honest, encouraging and supportive, and why I was ever nervous to graduate up to Scale, I’ve no idea. They are a great sounding board for trying different things or discussing ideas to help nudge me in the right direction.”
“When I set up my business I was taking it day by day. I’m now looking at what the next 3-5 years look like, something I’ve never done before. I recently asked for some help on getting this right and immediately other members of the group shared their own strategy and vision documents.
It’s been invaluable in helping me map out how I’m going to build my business going forwards.
Outside of BBB, you just wouldn’t get that. It’s worth its weight in gold.”
“The supportive nature of the BBB Groups is testament to what George and Tracey have created.
The quarterly face-to-face meetings are a great opportunity to deep dive into your challenges and issues within your business. It adds an extra dynamic to the membership and it’s a great networking opportunity. It’s also really satisfying to be able to offer other business owners my thoughts, ideas and experience and shows how I’ve evolved as a business owner.
It’s given me a real confidence boost.”
“One of my biggest successes is revenue – it's gone nuts and what we’ve achieved is way beyond my expectations! :) My target for 2023 was £150K revenue, which we hit and surpassed.
This year we set an ambitious £250K target, and we’re already well over 50% of the way to achieving that, which is just crazy. I’m now so much more confident with the financials and forecasting, using the goal setting system accumulator goals and the accountability this creates, which has helped me enormously.”
“I was struggling to move forward when I was constantly delivering. BBB helped me realise the time was right to start building a team.”
“There have been loads of hints, tips and nuggets of gold – too many to count. They have helped create a change in me, which has led to a change in the way I approach the business.”
“I was terrified of sales, and BBB has helped me sell. I’ve learnt loads and have played around with and implemented different approaches. I have a sales strategy now, and that is winning me work. I’m much more confident having a conversation and positioning myself in front of the right clients. One of the greatest learnings for me was when George took us through the consultative sales process – that was a complete game changer for me!”
“The BBB Goal Setting programme has helped me personally too. I’ve applied the same goal setting principles to health and fitness. The time you invest in setting goals and focusing your mindset on them is invaluable, I can’t stress that enough. Goal setting has been a bit of game changer for me, particularly when you’re held accountable each month. You can’t really hide behind your excuses, because you have to verbalise to your group why you haven’t hit them and what you’re going to do about it. It’s a great way to keep you on track.”
“BBB has taught me the power of accountability and how much it means to me. I’ve applied it to both business and my personal life. I know I need to do what I’ve set to reach the goals I want to achieve, and I want to turn up to the group every month saying I’ve done just that because I love the sense of achievement and reaction I get from my peers.”
“I’ve personally seen the start of a mindset shift from a consultant, delivery mindset to business director. We secured our biggest project to date with a well-known national retailer, I took on too much of the delivery and couldn’t see a way out, but BBB has helped me see that to continue to grow, I can’t keep ‘doing the doing’. We’ve now invested in a CRM system and BBB are helping me focus on seamless back-end processes and automations. That has given me TIME to focus on things that will help my business grow – nailing our customer journey, how we deliver, and sales strategy. BBB have provided the structure I needed, so I’m not wasting time and pissing around with things that won’t work, and I’m starting to enjoy it a lot more.”
“The BBB WhatsApp group keeps me accountable, and it’s a place you can share your successes, because when you see others sharing their successes there’s a sense of wanting to impress the team too. It makes you feel good. Also, the monthly sessions and seeing everybody regularly keeps me accountable, along with the goal setting. Having to update the team on how you’ve done on your goals means you’re always striving for 100%. If I didn’t have accountability, I’d just procrastinate, because who would know? So the goal setting does really help.”
“One of the biggest things for me was the accountability BBB could offer. The BBB Goal Setting Programme and System taught me how to set goals.”
“The beauty of BBB for me is that it’s time spent each month purely focused on my business. When you’re new to business, you don’t realise how important having time to spend on your business is. An hour on a Friday is not enough, nowhere near. You need at least a full day every month – I would argue you need more – followed by time to reflect and time to implement actions. Being in a room, even a virtual one, with other business owners once a month is invaluable.”
“The beauty of BBB for me is that it’s time spent each month purely focused on my business. When you’re new to business, you don’t realise how important having time to spend on your business is. An hour on a Friday is not enough, nowhere near. You need at least a full day every month – I would argue you need more – followed by time to reflect and time to implement actions. Being in a room, even a virtual one, with other business owners once a month is invaluable.”
“If you’re considering joining BBB, I’ll ask you...
“If the answer to any of those questions is ‘yes’ then you need BBB. This group is perfect for anyone looking for support, accountability, and a group of cheerleaders genuinely looking to bring the best out of you and your business.”
“There is a perception that business groups and communities are stuffy, hard-core sales focused and just about the money – that's not what BBB is, in my opinion. It’s a safe environment where you are listened to and supported, celebrated or given the kick up the arse you need. It’s not just about profit and loss, it’s about helping you keep your head, stopping you falling down any mindset black holes and keeping you on the path to achieve. You might be struggling with imposter syndrome, low confidence and self-esteem, comparison, but you’re surrounded by a group of business owners who have probably been there before and can help you get out of it. I’ve never come across that sort of support in a business forum before.”
"Tracey and George think I can hit £1m in the next 2-3 years – challenge accepted!”