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Self Starter of the Week - Hall of Fame 2014

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by Startacus Admin

Since founding Startacus-the self start society, we’ve quickly realised that self starters like to talk - about themselves, about their ideas, about their projects, about their businesses...about lots of things really. We’ve also realised that we rather like talking and giving credit to these self starters and so the more we can merge those two important factors together...well..the better!

Self Starter
In 2013 our Self Starter of the Week and then the Self Starter of the Year award (supported by Marketest) gave great credit and a fab £1k prize to the overall winner. This year, again supported by Marketest and loads of other fab sponsors, we are again awarding a weekly Self Starter of the Week and three Self Starters of the Year (an overall winner and two runners up). Of course, you can read all about this year’s awards, the criteria for entering and the fab prizes on offer here, or stick around on this page that will now be known as the Self Starter of the Week Hall of Fame 2014!

Check out the winners below and each week, a new fab winner will be added to the list!

***STOP THE PRESSES** THE SELF STARTER OF THE YEAR AWARD GOES TOO.... click here to find out ***STOP THE PRESSES**

December...

Post our 12 days of Business Giveaways, we wanted to give a wee shout out to four more self starters - our final ‘Self Starters of the Week for 2014’. So here’s wishing a merry business to the four and last, Self Starters of the Week for 2014...

Ross Harrison

Why?

Ross has been an uber fan and supporter of Startacus since day dot. We thought it wise to finally give Ross a little cheer for being such a vocal fan of Startacus. That and Ross is a very proactive Self Starter himself and we look forward to hearing more great things from Ross and his self published books and proofreading services in 2015. Arise, Ross Harrison, Self Starter of the Week.Self Starter

Check out Ross Amazon author profile here

Ross’ Startacus profile here

And his Twitter profile here

Ella Paradis

Why?

Ella ParadisElla is a really engaged member of the Startacus community and give than she is about to launch her new business ‘Day Thrill’ in early 2015.  Her idea has come from a deeply felt fear of wasting her life and not doing the things that make her happy- a fear she is hoping to relieve by pursuing an entrepreneurial dream.  ‘Day Thrill’ will make adventures more accessible to everyone. They will design groundbreaking events and travel opportunities for the busy 21st century professional to achieve better work and fun life balance.  That’s exactly what Startacus likes to hear!   

Why not check out Ella’s Startacus profile?

Register your interest in Day Thrill

Follow Ella on Twitter

 


Olly Whittle

Why?

Olly WhittleOlly recently won a free startup publicity package care of Startacus and we have been chatting to Olly ever since about his startup - BeBirbal - which aims to make video social sharing a global activity. You can read all about Olly and his startup via our BeBirbal recent interview, but we reckon his entrepreneurial spirit, hard work and invention deserves a little more promotion. So, irrespective of the startup publicity that we are already giving him, we thought it only right to give credit where credits due - Olly - congrats you’ve joined the Self Starter Hall of Fame for 2014.

Check out BeBirbal

Olly Whittle Startacus profile

And his twitter profile


Kitson Broadhurst

Why?

Kitson is one of the brains behind an unusual, entertaining and highly informative little blog called Chasing Ed, a chronicle of his and his partner’s journey as they chase the entrepreneurial dream.   We love the sentiment behind this blog since it’s intended as a helping hand and word of Self Starterencouragement for anyone who is has ever thought of starting their own business.   They say “You're not alone in chasing the entrepreneurial dream. We're here to make the chase that bit easier, you in?”  Chasing Ed are in our collaboration space, why not have a look and tell them what you think?

Check out Kitson Broadhurst’s Startacus profile

Follow him on Twitter

The Chasing Ed website 


November

w / c 17th November 2014

The Self Starter of the Week is Stephen McCue

Why?

Sometimes being a go-getting self starter is about more than having a business and making loads of money.  Some of the best self starters are those people who go all-in to make a positive change in the world, giving their time and talents for the good of others... people like Stephen McCue.  Stephen is a dyslexic dyslexia and inclusion specialist and founder of founded Dyslexia Pathways CIC, Scotland's first dyslexia focused social enterprise.  With funding from the Big Lottery, Foundation Scotland, Fife Cultural Trust and Fife Learning Network they are providing a wide range of support to people with dyslexia and promoting dyslexia as a difference that reflects the diversity of humanity.

Pop over to his website for more information on what they do.

Follow him on Twitter @SteveMcCue1

Or check out his Startacus profile

w/c 10th November 2014

The Self Starter of the Week is Sam Shaw

Why?

We like the go-getter, the doer, the tryer - and reckon Sam Shaw might be all three of 'em. We first heard of Sam when he showcased his blog 'The Young the Wild and the Broke' on Startacus. We followed this up with an interview and now, a couple of a weeks later, thought what better way to give him a pat on the back than to award him with our weekly award. Sam is now in the running for the end of year Self Starter of the Year award and 1k Market Research prize.  Why not take a look at his Blog, which is all about enjoying life in London on a budget. 


October

w/c 27th October 2014 

The Self Starter of the Week is Janice 
Valentine
Why?

Janice is on a journey - it's part career discovery, part creativity, part personal journey / discovery. We digg Self StarterJanice's creative and entrepreneurial spirit and her aim to become fully engulfed in the creative and entrepreneurial culture in Dublin.

In the planning stages of starting her own business, she is a champion of Ireland’s startup community and creativity. A master of following dreams and an advocate of living life to its maximum potential ,Janice believes a way to do this is to understand your own creativity and find ways to harness it to make your working and personal life the best it possibly can be.

Follow her on Twitter @JaniceValentine and check out her blog.


w/c 20th October 2014

The Self Starter of the Week is Mike Harrison

Why?

Mike has admittedly been one of our longest and most loyal members. A regular visitor to the site and a fab Mike Harrisonsupporter of Startacus since the early days. So, we thought it about time that we gave Mike a little pat on the back in return. But, credit where credit is due, Mike has been a self-starter / 'starterupper' since day dot too - we recently featured his new project, MicroHackers, a parent and child STEM group, encouraging learning through making.  Therefore we thought it's about time that we made Mike our self starter of the Week!

Check out the MicroHackers page on Startacus here
Check out Mike Harrison's page on Startacus here
Check out Mike's Twitter profile here.               


w/c 13th October 2014 

The Self Starter of the Week is Kyle Gawley

Why?

Back in May, we ran an article on Get Invited, a next generation online ticketing and event registration service Kyle Gawleyfounded by Belfast based Kyle Gawley. Kyle, also a Startacus member, and the Get Invited team have been working hard over the last few months, and have just bagged the job as official ticketing partner for the 2015 LAUNCH Festival – the rather large business start-up conference based in the States (more on this next week). So we thought it only right to award Kyle our latest Self Starter of the Week title - so arise Kyle Gawley our latest champion of the self starter! 

Check out the Get Invited website here 
Check out Kyle's Startacus profile here 
And his Twitter profile here


w/c 29th September 2014

The Self Starter of the Week is Prashant Lagisetti

Why? 

Prashant LagisettiPrashant recently escaped from the corporate noose of the finance industry (his words not ours!) and is in the midst of launching www.localoids.com a travel and language social network connecting real travellers with real locals. Currently accepting invitations to join the platform we wanted to offer Startacus member Prashant a supporting hand and hope you all do the same and support his venture. We will find out more about Localoids later this week on Startacus, but for now and big good luck and high-five to Prashant - our latest Self Starter of the Week! 

Check out Localoids page on Startacus here 
The Localoids site here 
Prashant's twitter account here


w/c 22nd September 2014

The Self Starter of the Week is Anikka Burton

Why?

Isn’t it marvellous when someone manages to turn a horrible situation into something wonderful? Well that is exactly why Anikka Burton is this weeks Self Starter of the Week! You can read our Startacus feature here on all the details of Anikka's self starter journey, but safe to say she has good reason to be awarded with the much acclaimed SelfAnikka Burton Starter of the Week title. Having faced and battled cancer - she started a blog and then a business, to give advocacy, support and a few smiles to others in a similar situation. Hi-five to Anikka and well earned too! Congrats! 

Congratulate Anikka on Twitter here and visit her Startacus profile here! 


w/c 15th September 2014

The Self Starter of the Week is Karl Newsam

Why

Karl Newsam In this our Sheffield startup month we were delighted to come across a gent who is bringing a new self starter flavour to the streets of his city, with the opening of his London standard theatre school Kicks Theatre Arts.  After working as a successful dancer on the London and international circuits he has returned to his home city of Sheffield, determined to share with its youth, the value of his experience.  Karl is a great illustration of the potential to turn your career into a business of your own a very worthy 'self starter of the week'. 

You can read all about 'Kicks Theatre Arts' and Karl's journey here.

You can follow him on twitter here

You can visit his Startacus profile here




w/c 8th September 2014

The Self Starter of the Week is Jamal Mon Désir

Why?

Jamal's startup project on Startacus is MAD Foundry, a creative lab that trains student while providing brands self starterwith fresh-faced teams that offer versatile brand strategies. The agency is an innovative concept giving energetic young talent the platform to showcase their branding skills and was in part set up to help combat graduate unemployment and underemployment in the creative sector. Any ideas (big or small) that go someway to helping combat underemployment and unemployment get our approval (we started Startacus after redundancy) and therefore a big high five to Jamal for his efforts and hard work to date. Congrats Jamal! 
 
Jamal's Startacus profile can be found here
His Twitter account is here
His website is here 


August

W/C 25th August 2014Self Starter of the Week- Col Skinner

The Self Starter of the Week is Col Skinner

Col Skinner is our kind of guy. Fed up with a career of answering to ‘the man’ he decided enough was enough and set about a courageous self starter journey to turn his career into a self employment opportunity.  Thus he began his Digital Consultancy agency Profoundry.  Startacus is all about people who 'take the bull by the horns' 'seize the day' and act out any other number of inspirational cliches and Col Skinner is a great example of this self starter spirit...thats why he's our latest self starter of the week!

Col Skinner's Startacus profile can be found here
Twitter account is here
His website is here


W/C 18th August 2014

The Self Starter of the Week is Ivan Marti

Why?

To be fair, we could have chosen both Ivan and the other Co-Founder of Looplay Fran Rom for this weekly award - but as you all know there can only be one weekly winner. Ivan and Fran are on the case Looplaywith Looplay, an all-in-one DIY solution for free musicians to register, license, manage, distribute & sell their music direct-to-fan. Its not necessily a case of reinventing the wheel - more a case of making it an all-round smoother and nicer ride (!). Not only have the guys highlighted their fab startup in our showcase area, they seem keen to get involved in the site and also understand that some pr and free publicity can add value to your startup and it's journey. So a big up to Ivan (and Fran!) this weeks Self Starter of the Week!
 
Ivan Marti's Startacus profile can be found here
His Twitter Account here 
The Looplay page on Startacus here


W/C 11th August 2014

The Self Starter of the Week is Stephen Henderson

Why?

First up, read our feature on Stephen's unique 'drumkit in a box' instrument. But that only tells half the story. Anyone who goes from, aged 16 making a product for his friends and family, to developing said product into a fully fledged and trading business (aged 19) deserves a pat on the back! That and he isStephen Henderson currently crowdfunding the next part of his business venture on Kickstarter and as a Startacus member we thought it' be nice to drum him up a bit of free press!!

His Stephen Henderson can be found here
His twitter account can be found here
His kickstarter page can be found here

W/C 4th August 2014

The Self Starter of the Week is Hannah Cackett

Why?

First up Hannah has been a loyal follow of Startacus for the last while (tick!). Secondly we wanted to Self Starter remind you all that being a self starter isn't always about having an invention, or coming up with the next global / scalable business (although we love those ideas / startups too!). Hannah is a BA(Hons) Interior Design Graduate just starting out as a freelance designer for Startups and independent traders. She has added her big idea to Startacus - and we want to support her plans to offer a 3D design service for Pop Ups & Events through to permanent shops, as well as Branding & Graphic Design. Congrats Hannah, you are this weeks Self Starter of the Week! 

Her Startacus profile can be found here
Her twitter account can be found here
Her idea space on Startacus is here! 


July

W/C 28th July 2014

The Self Starter of the Week is Kole Abasa

Why?


We first chatted with Kole on Twitter a few weeks back and we were delighted with his all-round Self Starterenthusiasm for Startacus! Not that that automatically bags you the Self Starter of the Week title, but we loved his positive approach and his general love for all things 'idea'. His Startacus profile states as much: "Serial entrepreneur (just cant help myself) and believer in good things, especially the power of ideas, founder of a few kick ass start-ups". We of course look forward to hearing more from Kole and seeing some of his fab startup ideas showcased in our Collaboration space, but in in meantime, we wanted to pass a little positivity back his way. Cheers Kole! 

His Startacus profile can be found here
His twitter account can be found here


W/C 21st July 2014

The Self Starter of the Week is Matt Pass

Why?


Matt has 15 years commercial experience as a Web Developer and having built sites for some of the biggest & smallest companies worldwide and he has identified what's really right and wrong with web Matt Pass ICEcoderdevelopment. And bingo, Matt has gone on to create something of his own with ICEcoder, a free and open source code editor that runs in the browser. Matt has already showcased his big idea in our Collaboration area and answered a few questions in a ICEcoder Startacus feature too - so we thought his proactive approach deserved some recognition. Arise Matt Pass - this weeks Startacus Self Starter of the Week! 

His Startacus profile can be found here
His twitter account can be found here
The ICEcoder website can be found here


W/c 14th July 2014

The Self Starter of the Week is Holly Edge

Why?

Holly recently showcased her startup in our fab Collaboration space and so it makes sense that we found out a little more about her startup Style Yard. Holly, came up with the concept for Style Yard Self Starterwhile buying and selling clothes online to update her wardrobe on a budget. She missed the high quality service provided by high street retailers and found selling online could be a lot of hassle! Bingo, the concept for Style Yard was born. With the help of The Princes Trust, her future sister-in-law and co-founder Rebekah Patterson, they are launching their hassle free alternative to online marketplaces in August! Go Holly and the Style Yard team and a virtual high five from the Startacus team for being awarded this weeks Startacus Self Starter of the Week! 

Her Startacus profile can be found here
Her twitter account can be found here
The Style Yard website can be found here


7th July 2014

The Self Starter of the week - Rishi Chowdhury


Why?Rishi Chowdhury

As you know we recently completed some major changes to our collaboration space (if you didn't know then be sure to check it out!) and one of the first folks to add their idea, project or startup was Rishi Chowdhury.  Don't get us wrong, plenty of other folks have done the same,  but it came as no surprise to us that Rishi was one of the first and thats why he is is our self starter of the week.

Rishi is a man after our own hearts- he is tireless in his endeavours to give his fellow self starters a helping hand, which he does through his new incubator Incubus Ventures and London tech meetup 'Flagons Den'.  He is especially keen to support young entrepreneurs (those aged 18-25) and he recently told us all about the importance of doing so!  His innovative incubator (which takes place on a double decker London bus!) is now looking for enterprising folks aged 18 - 25 for their Autumn intake, so why not give him a shout.

His Startacus profile can be found here!
His twitter account is here
His startup 'Incubus Ventures' can be found in our collaboration space!


June

30th June 2014

The Self Starter of the Week Joel Gibbard

Why?

June of this year was our Bristol startup month during which we came across loads of brSelf Starter of the Week- Joel Gibbardilliant, innovative, passionate people…but one of our favorites was Joel Gibbard.

Joel is the brains and passion behind the groundbreaking ‘The Open Hand Project which aims to make robotic prosthetic hands more accessible to amputees. Joel is something of an expert when it comes to robotics - a skill which he has teamed up with innovative 3D printing technology to create amazing hand prosthetics at up to 100x less cost than their traditionally manufactured counterparts. What's more Joel is dedicated to ensuring that Open Hand Project operates for the benefit of those who need its products…and not shareholders hungry for a profit! He gets a big thumbs up from us, check out The Open Hand Project and see the great work that he is doing!



23rd June 2014

The Self Starter of the Week is Russ Carley

Why?
Kent based Industrial Designer, Russ Carley, recently showed Startacus his concept design for a Russ Carley Bodopodsdisaster relief shelter, Bodopods, at the Makegood festival of culture, creativity & entrepreneurship in London. We were so impressed that we asked Russ to write about his innovative relief shelter solution. And bingo, we thought to top it all off, why not award Russ with our Self Starter of the Week title. A much deserved and worthy winner we think, and we hope you agree! Congrats Russ you are our latest Self Starter of the Week! 

Russ Carley's Startacus profile can be found here! 
The Bodopods website can be found
 
The Bodopods twitter feed can be found here
 
16th June 2014

The Self Starter of the Week is Suzanne Noble

Why? 

Suzanne is the founder of Frugl, a new events discovery App that helps Londoners on a budget find affordable things to do. Having launched in March 2014 they have since then have been working very hard at promoting the App and curating the content to provide users with the best events going on in the Capital. We recently chatted with Suzanne about her business and her background, going from Frugl Suzanne NoblePR Agency owner to tech startup, so we reckon a pat on the back is well deserved for taking that leap. Arise Suzanne, you are this weeks Self Starter of the Week! 

Suzanne Noble's Startacus profile can be found here! 
The website can be found
here
The Frugl twitter feed can be found here


9th June 2014 

The Self Starter of the Week is Iain Rorison

Why?

Bundll.comIain is the Founder of Bundll - a private social network for all your social groups. A "social network" I hear you cry "aint we got enough of them!". But wait, sit back whilst we give you a little mini pitch - Each 'bundll' is a private social network just for the people in it, allowing for natural sharing amongst that group without the social media hangover. Bundll is a simple way to capture breakfast with your family, lunch with your coworkers, a date with your partner and a night out with your best friends - without worrying who will see what. (their words not ours to be fair, but we thought that did a very good job at summing it up!). So a big up to Iain and the team for launching Bundll, taking on the social networking giants, gaining backing from from angel investors...and now being awarded with the acclaimed self starter of the week title! Horray! 

Iain Rorison'S Startacus profile can be found here! 
The Bundll website can be found here
Iain's twitter feed can be found here 


Check out May's winners on page 2..

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Published on: 30th June 2014

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