Howard Moss – Astonish
In this week’s episode we speak to Howard Moss, Owner & CEO of Astonish.
Howard explains how the company, founded by his passionate and entrepreneurial father, has developed from the ‘panic & chaos of early days’ on Meanwood Road to competing with the likes of P&G and Unilever. He tells us how installing basic processes moved the company forward, introduces us to a legendary sales person, Mike Alan, and explains how you go about expanding a product range.
He also teaches us, in 3 simple steps, how to be a great business owner.
INTRODUCING HOWARD MOSS
Howard Moss is the Chief Executive of The London Oil Refining company, manufacturing household and personal care cleaning products under the brands of Astonish and Moss & Adams. Born and bred in Leeds, Howard has catapulted the company to great success, with 25% growth year-on-year, supplying ethical and eco products to Asda, Sainsbury’s, Morrisons, Aldi, Home Bargains, Lidl and more.
The company is committed to a sustainable manufacturing and production process and was awarded the Queens Award for Enterprise in 2022.
EPISODE HIGHLIGHTS
[00:02:00] How the company started
[00:07:15] The development of the business
[00:13:00] Fulfilling customer demand and expanding distribution channels
[00:16:00] The expansion of the product range
[00:17:00] How do you expand a product range?
[00:20:30] Competing with P&G or Unilever
[00:24:00] Manufacturing from brief all the way to shelf
[00:30:00] Learnings from mistakes in the business
[00:35:00] 3 key tenets in being a great business owner
[00:37:00] The benefits of sponsoring Leeds United
KEY TAKEAWAYS & BUSINESS LEARNINGS
- The importance of ensuring components being in place before starting production
- You can’t rely on only having one product
- Speed to market can beat the big boys
- If business was that simple everyone would be doing it
- Don’t be too proud to admit mistakes and put them right asap
- Recruit by values not just what’s on the CV
- You have to have great self-belief to be a successful entrepreneur
BEST MOMENTS
“As an interim I started out to temporarily help my Dad and it wasn’t planned to be my career”
“When I started there was zero process”
“ There always seemed to be an immense amount of panic on”
“ We were one of the first companies to use a brand name on separate categories”
“We’ve always stayed true to what we believe; best in class product and true value for money”
“Evolution doesn’t just mean new products…we have to also underperforming products”
“once we transferred a user, we know we have a loyal customer”
VALUABLE RESOURCES FOR YOU
Relevant links from the show, recommended Leeds business
Website: www.leedsbusinesspodcast.com
Website: https://astonish.co.uk/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/astonish-cleaners-379323125/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/astonishcleaners
Twitter: https://twitter.com/astonishcleaner
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ABOUT YOUR HOST
Phil Fraser went from an accidental kitchen table start up, with no investment, all the way to multi-million pound sale to a PLC 18 years later. He’s travelled the full SME business journey of launch, growth, scale and exit.
As well as hosting the Leeds Business Podcast, Phil now works with ambitious SME-owners as a Business Sounding Board (think somewhere between Business Coach and Business Mentor). In simple terms, he’s ‘a pair of ears and an extra pair eyes’ for SME Owners helping them to be better at what they do. Phil’s mantra is It doesn’t need to be ‘lonely at the top’. He helps Business Owners to be better business owners, by helping with their clarity and focus.
As a Business Sounding Board, he gives SME Owners the time & space to regularly discuss their challenges and opportunities, with no sense of judgement or bias, and in complete confidence. This allows them to explore their options in full, culminating with a list of issues to address/clarify, a clear target in mind, a roadmap to success, and a renewed enthusiasm and confidence for the challenges ahead.
Phil has appeared as a guest on over 60 podcasts, webinars and interviews, from around the whole globe, talking on a variety of business subjects. You can view them all at https://philfraser.co.uk/watch-hear-phil/.
LEEDS BUSINESS PODCAST
Astonish, P&G, Unilever, Leeds United, Leeds, Leeds Business, Business in Leeds, Nous of Fraser, Business Sounding Board, Business Coach, Business Mentor,
Email: phil@leedsbusinesspodcast.com
