meet the boss
Matt Blewett - Name
Matt Blewett
- Company
Shuttercraft
- Position
Owner director of a franchise
- Industry
Shutters and blinds
Gloucestershire/ Oxfordshire
What was your first job or role after education? I left school in 1982 and when on to do an apprenticeship in arpentry and joinery, qualified after three years with a City and Guild Advanced Carpentry and Joinery certificate. Could you describe your career path for the reader? Since I left school in 1982, I have never been out of work. In 1990 I got involved in the blind industry, and I started as an employed fitter and worked my way up to selling and installing blinds in an area in the South West and South Wales. I then got headhunted by a conservatory manufacture for 2 years until I was asked to return to the blind manufacture. I took on a role as a Regional Sales Manager, responsible for the South West sales team of 9 people, turning over a £2.3M in the region. In 2008 my role changed again, due to the credit crunch, I was asked to be a Senior Sales Designer for the same company for 12 months and returning to a self-employed role again for the next 3 years. This where I began looking for another opportunity to do something for myself and being my own boss. I approached a shutter supplier S:CRAFT, to become a trade partner in the
Gloucestershire area. This became an opportunity to buy a franchise business in shutters and I’ve never looked back. Over the last 9 years owning the franchise, I have grown to employing 4 people and acquiring a 2nd territory in Oxfordshire to a £500K turnover business. What is your current role and what is your favourite part about it? My current role is business owner and director of a shutter franchise, where I carry out a day to day selling directly to the homeowner, a supply and installation service of very high-quality plantation shutters in the Gloucestershire and Oxfordshire areas. My favourite part of my day is meeting new customers and making their homes look amazing with newly fitted stylish shutters. Their reaction on seeing the shutters fitted on their windows speaks volumes, “that looks amazing, what a difference the shutters make on the room, it makes the room look bigger, and I don’t feel like I am in a goldfish bowl!” Are you optimistic, realistic or pessimistic about 2021? I am very optimistic and realistic about 2021. The market in shutters is still
