Paul Latham joined the Army when he was 19 and served a 24
year term, including tours of duty in Kuwait, Northern Ireland,
Bosnia, Iraq and Afghanistan. He became a driver by trade, rose
through the ranks and by the time he finished his non-commission he
was one of only 21 Master Drivers, supervising driver training and
road safety plans for 72 units. Nearing the end of his time
in the Forces, Paul was looking for his next challenge and wanted
to use the skills he had developed in his time in the army,
including planning, project management, logistics, communication,
training and development and, of course, driving!
The prospect of franchising in the logistics industry appealed
to Paul as he “wanted to work for himself” so a franchise in
logistics seemed to fit the bill. He looked around at the various
options open to him and identified three potential franchise
packages that were of initial interest. One he initially discounted
as it seemed “very expensive for not much return” and for another
his area was not available. He then proceeded to scrutinise the
Diamond Logistics franchise package and talked to Kate Lester and
others at Diamond. He was pleased to find that the postcode area
that he was interested in, Derby, was available.
Paul says he was “very impressed with the training and support
available, and the franchise was very good value for money.“ Also
“Kate makes things happen” he said “I was impressed with her ‘get
up and go’ attitude and wanted to be part of the Diamond
team.“ With the help of Kate and the Diamond head office team
Paul was able to get his business up and running within a couple of
months, he booked the franchise in December and was trading
immediately he left the services in March 2014.
Paul had already secured his business premises and, in
February had employed a business development specialist (also with
a military background) who had lined up two major customers even
before the business had its first vehicle and opened the depot
doors. In the three months that the Derby franchise has been
operating Paul says that business is good. He had a three year plan
to grow the turnover to £1 million but he’s now revising that
timescale to achieve the milestone within two years rather than
three. “It’s superb being my own boss” he says “but knowing that
I’m part of a dynamic and fast growing network is a great motivator
and tremendously exciting.“
