Being made redundant kickstarted one Perthshire woman into starting her own business.
Alisha Murray from Pitlochry launched AM Equine Services after the yard she previously worked at lost the land and she found herself out of a job.
Having been interested in horses from a young age, she had been “toying” with the idea of branching out on her own.
Any initial nerves were overcome by support from her former employer, with huge encouragement from her parents.
We found out more about her business journey so far and her plans for the future.
How did you get to where you are today?
I started riding when I was about three, I had weekly lessons at stables and got my first pony when I was around six or seven.
It’s grown from there. I started competing, got new ponies, gained my qualifications and started working – one thing led to another.
In terms of the business, the support and grant from GrowBiz has been very beneficial to me –It meant I could get my equipment and it got me on my feet.
I’ve grown through word of mouth – its gone really well. I’ve found Facebook has worked well too – friends of friends can see what I do, they may be looking for someone to look after their horses. I’m building a nice local network.
My kit is used every week, having it branded with my logo is great and clients have commented how smart it is. That’s definitely been a big help.
Who has helped you along the way?
My mum basically has been my biggest supporter and my rock. Without her, I probably wouldn’t be where I was today. And my dad as well – he puts up with a lot of my mad ideas and has supported taking me to events up and down the country when I’m sure he’d rather have been in bed on a Sunday morning!
Both my parents are self-employed, this has really helped too, knowing it’s possible to do this.
What was your biggest mistake?
My biggest mistake would be probably not having enough time for me these past few weeks. What I’ve started doing is scoring days in my diary for my time. if I want to fill it, I can.
But it’s not like this feels like a job, I love what I do. So yes, probably not being able to say no to people is probably one of my biggest mistakes.
What is your greatest achievement to date?
I’m proud of my qualifications in Horse Care – it feels like it was a big achievement to get all of them under my belt. It was quite difficult timing because I was at college during lockdown.
Especially hard when you’re doing a hands-on course. Winning in competitions is always a good thing, I like coming home with the red rosettes!
I’m really proud though of bringing my young horse on to the stage of competing – when he arrived, he was completely feral so bringing him on has been challenging but really rewarding too – it feels so much more satisfying to get him to the stage of calmly competing, knowing I’ve done this myself, rather than buying a horse that’s already there.
How has the cost-of-living crisis impacted your business?
The cost of fuel has been my biggest challenge. My clients can be quite a distance from each other.
When fuel costs were at their highest, I questioned how viable things were and was really glad to see them come down.
What I do for my clients is a necessary service, keeping their horses fit and healthy, so this side hasn’t been impacted.
But I do think people who would have had that bit of spare money, perhaps aren’t spending it now.
What do you hope to achieve in the future?
I’d like to further my education.
Through the Equine Touch Physio course and I’d like to progress to being an accredited coach with my teaching as well.
Do you want to recruit in the future?
I think it would be difficult as I’m quite a pernickety person. I’d be worried if I employed somebody, they wouldn’t do the job as well as I would.
But I suppose, if the right person came along and I could trust them, then I don’t see why not.
What is the hardest thing about running your own business?
Keeping up to date with my paperwork, I find that quite hard to do. It’s very easy to think “I’ll just do it next week”.
I think that will probably get harder when the lighter nights come and I’m out riding until late.
I use the GrowBiz spreadsheets for this, but I need to carve out some time to do paperwork during the week and make sure I’m getting time for me too. One to work on!
Any advice to wannabe entrepreneurs?
Definitely put the feelers out first and see if there’s a gap for the business you want to do.
I’m glad I didn’t just jump into it with both feet and then realise there’s either nobody there, or there’s lots of people doing the same thing.
And I’d advise people to get organised. I’m naturally quite organised – early on my business was set up through HMRC. I felt I had a solid base by doing these things early, so I’d definitely suggest that.
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