Colin talks to Max Merritt, who has not only recently founded a window cleaning company in Lincolnshire, but a podcast series documenting the entire process. 

Max joins Colin today to talk about many topics, such as the nuts and bolts of building a business from scratch, the hazards of being a window cleaner, and how the lockdown has affected the startup process.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• The best way to grow a business is to scale it to the point at which it becomes autonomous without the founder. It requires putting in place an effective team, and setting dynamic systems and processes in place.
• Health and safety isn’t just about a document. It’s about common sense. It’s about being proactive, and reacting dynamically and with awareness to your immediate environment.
• Once you have five or more people working for your company, the law states that you must become far more structured in terms of recording information and filing documentation.
• Implementing new systems and processes can be a disruptive experience. The best companies are the ones who understand this, and instead collaborate integrally with their workforce, consulting and communicating effectively to bring about positive change.

BEST MOMENTS

‘Health and safety and window cleaning: it’s absolutely massive!’

’Considering what’s going on around you is more important than ticking a box’

’The most successful businesses are the ones who do it collaboratively’

‘I’ve got to walk before I start to run'

VALUABLE RESOURCES

The Apprentice Window Cleaner - https://www.listennotes.com/podcasts/the-apprentice-window-cleaner-max-merritt-wJ_B1VrZUCu/

Lincs Window Cleaning - https://lincswindowcleaning.co.uk

ABOUT THE HOST

Colin Nottage

‘Making health and safety as important as everything else we do.’

This is the belief that Colin is passionate about and through his consultancy Influential Management Group (IMG) is able to spread into industry. Colin works at a strategic level with company owners and board members. He helps business leaders establish and achieve their health and safety ambitions.

He has developed a number of leading competency improvement programmes that are delivered across industry and his strengths are his ability to take a practical approach to problem-solving and being able to liaise at all levels within an organisation.

Colin also runs a company that vets contractors online and a network that develops and support H&S consultancies to become better businesses.

Colin chairs the Construction Dust Partnership, an industry collaboration directly involving many organisations, including the Health and Safety Executive.

He is a Post Graduate Tutor at Strathclyde University and a highly sought-after health and safety speaker and trainer. He has a Post Graduate Certificate in Safety and Risk management, an engineering degree and is a Chartered Member of the Institution of Occupational Safety and Health (IOSH).