Former youth professional, Gérard Jones had trials with Chelsea FC at 17yrs along and was featured in the world’s biggest football magazine FourFourTwo aged 19. Having been release at 19yrs, he went to study at the University of Hull. He studied BSc (Hons) Sports Coaching & Performance.
Gérard School of Football ltd was born in Feb 2009 and from small beginnings has grown to become one of the largest football coaching providers in Humberside & East Yorkshire. They’ve been nominated for several business and sports coaching awards and have signed a deal with Arsenal FC.
You decided to create your football school at 19, how did you manage to get it off the ground at such a young age?
It was very difficult, I’d just got released from playing for Halifax Town having been on trial with Stockport County and without a job I went into coaching straight away with the dream of becoming recognised as a leader in youth development. With this I enrolled at Hull University to study BSc (Hons) Sports Coaching & Performance whilst completing my coaching badges and started coaching for East Riding County Football Association running Development Centres for girls along with coaching the University Football Teams and scouting for Bradford City Centre of Excellence (CofE). This was where it all started as I needed to gain experience before I went alone and as soon as I got enough I wanted to make a name for myself and make my CV stand out from the crowd so I set up Gérard School of Football Ltd (GSF) in Feb 2009 with the vision of maximising youth development in the East Yorkshire region and eventually UK-wide, giving children the opportunity to further their talent, passion and enthusiasm for the game. By having the playing and coaching experience under my belt, this enabled me to get it off the ground at such a young age despite criticisms from competitors regarding my age, I used money I’d raised from coaching to set up Limited Company, buy equipment, kit and pay for website and I literally grew from this with sheer enthusiasm and determination to succeed.
At 19, how did you know what you wanted to do? Was it an instant decision not to pursue a career in playing football?
It’s wierd because even when I was younger at CofE’s before I went on to sign for Youth/Reserves at pro-clubs, I always talked with my dad in car to and from games and training about developing youth and how if we had the money we’d do it differently, so I guess I always knew I’d be involved in football in some way, probably more as a coach than a player.
I’ve always wanted to be successful but most importantly respected for my expertise and best of all, continue to further my knowledge and understanding to continue to be the best, and I think it’s because of these reasons, the fact that I’ve always dreamed of being successful with football, developing youth, and wanting to improve myself that I knew what I wanted to do with my life.
Has it been easy to scale the business and find the right people to put in the team around you?
Not at all, this is something that is still difficult to this day. When I first started out it was great because it was only me coaching so the business grew quickly because of how good I was at my job so I didn’t have to rely on others but the more we (GSF) grew, the more I needed others to help and this was when I learnt how hard it is to be an employer because you have to find people who 1) enjoy what they do 2) are as enthusiastic and committed as you and 3) are willing to put the same quality in if not more as you do!
These qualities are extremely hard to find as most people don’t care and those are the one’s that ultimately end up nowhere in life. This is why I worked hard developing a strong recruitment process which involves high standards and high expectations and that way I’ve built a team of the best people for developing youth and coaching all abilities along with the other sides of business in the region to deliver the quality I expect.
The key to maintaining high quality is keeping them motivated, continually developing the standard of their delivery along with my own and showing them that you trust them to do a job to a high standard. This simple formula which I’ve developed over the years has enabled GSF to become the market leader.
What’s the best thing about running your own business?
Being a decision maker, often in life you want to do something and believe that the way your offering to do it is the best but you have to ask permission and more often that not, lose the opportunity to act immediately.
I’m a decision maker and don’t have to answer to anyone other than myself.
And, are there any bad things?
Relying on others as they don’t have the same attitude as you do. You can’t take holidays, you can’t be sick and your constantly working 24hours a day whereas staff may be 9-5. GSF is one of the Top 100 Best Business Start-ups in UK and has featured on BBC Look North, national and international magazines, newspapers, radio, you name it we’ve done it, but even now with how big we are, if anything I’m working even harder now then I was when I first started and often I don’t have the time in the day to do half the jobs I’ve got to complete because I’m simply too busy doing other things.
People think being a director of a company is easy, but really it’s one of the most difficult jobs as you put in more than what you get out more often than not, but in saying this, I’m glad I’ve done it because if I hadn’t I wouldn’t have gained the credibility, experience, contacts and exposure I have without it.
What would be your advice to other young people thinking of starting up in business?
Research, Research and more Research!!! – Find out as much information as you can about the market, who does what, at what price, where, when, how and most important of all WHY! If you know these answers you know what motivates them, what their interpretation of success is and how you can stand out from the crowd and exploit their weaknesses
Take your time! – Don’t rush into things 100 miles an hour, take your time researching, getting cash in to start up, etc
Every decision you make, stop, think about it, go away from it and come back and think about it again, if there’s any element of doubt don’t do it unless you think it’s a risk worth taking and base every decision you make on evidence and facts.
Finally never stop believing in yourself, people will knock you down, you will face adversity but it’s how you overcome it to become successful that measures and puts value on what it is you’ve achieved, dream big, think big and act big, don’t take no for an answer!
Thanks Gérard! Awesome stuff. You can check out more about Gérard here: http://www.gerardschooloffootball.co.uk/