Castleford tool shop scoops top award at ceremony in London

The national award was presented to Ben Richardson, founder of Toolz 4 You Ltd, at the BizX Awards in London.

Mr Richardson set up the business in 2016, reconditioning tools and re-selling them on eBay, gradually adding in reconditioned machinery and other platforms to sell on.

Since then, he has doubled the size of his business, driven profit growth enough to finally make an income for himself, grown a team around him and moved to bigger premises.

And not only that but he has recently got married, having paid for the wedding and honeymoon himself, bought a new house and had his first baby in December.

Mr Richardson has a clear focus on long term goals and with the help of the team at ActionCOACH Wakefield, he has learnt to break that down into 90 day goals.

“Coaching keeps me on track and accountable, so I know I will achieve these goals,” he said.

"I also reinvest time and money in myself and my team and am constantly looking for ways to improve the business.”

Around 50 per cent of his turnover comes from eBay, with the rest coming from other digital platforms including his own website, Facebook, WhatsApp and LinkedIn.

He said the key to success was building relationships with customers, even as an online shop, to offer great service and market specific items directly to the people when they need them.