Innovator makes tech work for non-techies
After nearly two decades working in the Greater Manchester tech industry, Liam Brennan pursued his ambition to go it on his own and enrolled on EnterprisingYou to help him with his new business.
Liam grew up in a busy but structured household. His mum fostered 65 children over the course of his childhood, and in his teens she cared for neurodivergent children and others with additional needs including Cerebral Palsy and Down’s Syndrome.
It was his experience growing up and his subsequent diagnosis of ADHD and Autism that Inspired Liam to set up Left Foot Forward.
“I didn't realise until I was in my early 30s there might be differences with the way that my brain works,” says Liam. “I'd always been in a household that had structures and routines. That enabled my brothers and sisters to find peace and calm. It was having these structures in place that masked the symptoms that otherwise I would have struggled with.’’
“I've always found different routes and ways around doing the typical things that I'd need to, or I've overapplied myself to the point of exhaustion and that's what led me into setting up my own business.”
Liam saw an opportunity in the market to develop something different, that would help companies and people make the better use of technology, applying his unique outlook on life and insight into how tech can help people. The result was Left Foot Forward, a business that supports companies with technology.
Liam had found that his tech experience didn’t help in developing a brand for his new business and he also had trouble working out how to persuade people to buy his services. To address this, he joined EnterprisingYou, where his dedicated adviser one-on-one adviser was Tony Ayin.
“My business advisor on EnterprisingYou encouraged me and coached me in the right direction, helped me to think about what my key selling points are. I'm aware that I've got some failings and some faults in life, but I'm exceptional at other things. I can explain concepts to people in ways that a lot of people struggle to and I’m passionate about enabling others to conquer their technical fears.”
While working with Tony on a one-on-one basis, Liam was able to improve his overall business skills and specifically his sales skills. He received support and advice which helped him streamline his approach to business planning. The programme enabled Liam to communicate his value proposition better and instilled in Liam that he had a ‘super power’ – he is great at converting techy/IT subjects and language, so it is easy to understand for his clients. This can be seen in the success of his business, which saw an increase in revenue during his time with EnterprisingYou.
Tony appreciates Liam’s approach.
“Liam was clear on what support he needed and adopted a growth mindset from the outset. He was a joy to coach and has a fantastic grasp of how to embrace technology for improving business productivity.”
Liam has worked with EnterprisingYou to grow his Left Foot Forward business and to develop a new venture called GhostPosts, which aims to make content creation more accessible and sustainable. The exchange of ideas and the testing of them is something Liam appreciates as well as the ongoing relationships he has found, with other start-ups and with the GM Business Growth Hub specialists. Following his time with EnterprisingYou he also accessed further Hub support from Journey to Net Zero and Global Scale Up.
The support Liam received is an example of the wide range of fully funded business support services from GM Business Growth Hub, for people who have an idea for a business all the way up to well established companies in Greater Manchester.
You can find out more about Liam’s businesses here: https://www.leftfootforward.uk and here: GhostPosts.ai.