Longbow Shop catches Dragon’s eye

Millionaire entrepreneur and former Dragon Theo Paphitis has given one of our customers his Small Business Sunday award. 

The Longbow Shop, based at our Price Street Business Centre, in Birkenhead, was selected by Theo on 20th October. Each Sunday the entrepreneur, who is best known for his appearances on the BBC hit show Dragons Den, chooses small businesses for the honour and tweets about them to his almost 350,000 followers on Twitter.

Award helps raise profile of business

Jason Powell, who founded the Longbow Shop and is one of the company’s three directors, says the award has helped them spread the word about the business, which sells traditional archery equipment.

He says: “#SBS has been key in gaining new contacts through Twitter and has allowed us to reach out to prospective customers that may not have already heard of us.”

Theo began Small Business Sunday in October 2010. He asks entrepreneurs to tweet him between 5pm and 7.30pm each Sunday and describe their business.

The Longbow Shop’s winning tweet was: “@TheoPaphitis #SBS the UK’s largest traditional archery shop based in the North West – no tights required!”

As well as having their message retweeted to Theo’s followers, the shop now has a profile on the Small Business Sunday website.

Business advice: keep the faith

This profile includes a piece of business advice from Jason to other people running a small business.

He says: “Keep faith in what you are trying to do and never give up through the harder times – there’s always a solution or a way through it. Always remember cash flow is vital and above all have fun while you build the business.

“Most important of all is don’t forget the family and keep hold of your sense of humour! Aim true… shoot well.”

Theo says: “I was struck by the number of business owners on Twitter who wanted to tell me about their new products and services. Small Business Sunday was born so that people have a specific time slot to tweet and can pitch their ‘sell’ directly to me.

“My vision is that everyone who has ever won an #SBS re-tweet from me becomes part of a friendly club. Like-minded individuals can share successes and learnings.

I know I have been lucky in business and I am keen now to spread goodwill to others, of course not forgetting that very often, you make your own luck by making use of every opportunity.

The Longbow Shop opened at Price Street Business Centre two years ago and has gone from strength to strength. In July, the traditional archery specialist took on a second business unit, doubling the size of the shop.

The new and improved shop now includes a shooting range which allows customers to try out bows and arrows before they buy.

You can follow The Longbow Shop on Twitter @TheLongbowShop and make sure to give us a follow too @BizspaceUK!