Spotlight Series: Airwards

Legacy Club goes under the hood of some early stage entrepreneurs, to see what makes them and their businesses tick!

The sky is literally the limit for Richard Nichols, Founder of Airwards

Please tell us a little bit about you the person (not you the business owner): I've been in London for 8 yrs (the longest I've lived anywhere). As a bit of a TCK I have lived in more than 30 houses, 5 countries and 7 schools and love meeting people and finding out their stories. Believing in different things for different people, my love language is quality time and if I had to identify as a seven deadly sin it'd probably be gluttony (do love my food!).

Describe your business in less than 30 words: Airwards is a unifying global accreditation scheme recognising best practice drone work. An industry-first, panoptic awards platform and not-for-profit which champions the pioneering and impactful work accomplished with drones.

What industry or sector does your business fall in to?: Drones / Aviation / Digital

What did you do before you started your business?: I ran a digital studio with my business partner called Vitamin London. We designed and built platforms, websites and brands.https://www.vitaminlondon.com/

What have been the biggest struggles that you have encountered, and what did you do to overcome them?: What to do... I've never really "known" what I want to do and still ask myself what I want to be when I grow up. Struggling with seeing others seemingly sailing smoothly through university, careers and more was hard when you yourself don't seem to be doing the same. Realising this is ok, that almost everyone doesn't know what they want to do and have got to where they are through either luck, happenstance or by pursuing something they love was a real eye opener. If you focus on things you are passionate about you're far more likely to succeed and enjoy what you do in the meantime.

Have you had any external investment to date?: No

What has been the impact of COVID-19 on your business and did you make any changes, or pivots?: Covid has thrown up both challenges and advantages for businesses.
Some of the challenges have been:
- People's attention. I have received a lot of verbal support and praise that something like this needs to be done in the drone industry but actual actionable support has been tougher to obtain. People’s time is hugely taken up with covid operations in their own business.
- The company isn't old enough to have any sort of Covid loan. Again, the process of getting a normal business startup loan from a bank hasn’t worked as their time is also taken up with covid loans. This has meant self funding from savings. Equally a lot of other forms of funding / grants etc.. seem to be taken up with covid operations or covid related funding.
- Being in your own bubble / working from home means less cross-pollination from others doing something similar to you. There are fewer moments where, in a co-working space, you might find a nugget of information. There are also fewer after-work meet-ups where you can discuss each others’ woes / problems and celebrate achievements. Of course you can still do that in a different way via new digital mechanisms, but it doesn't have the same feeling.
Advantages
- It’s a sad fact that a lot of other people are in the same boat losing their jobs. This has meant there are a lot of highly skilled individuals who are now #opentowork that I’ve found through social media. I have actually hired a part-time online event manager with previous digital awards experience off the back of the hashtag.
- A lot of companies (software and otherwise) have been hugely supportive in sharing costs. i.e. providing a few months of software use for free / discounts.
- Having time in May-August meant I could really knuckle down and focus on the idea. With everyone else being in the same boat there seemed to be less FOMO on what is happening elsewhere.
- There has been huge support from people online, forums, social media communities etc… looking to help with everything from websites to marketing to branding etc..
- Having the event 100% online means a reduction in costs which means a reduction in submission fees + sponsor fee requests, thus making it more open to everyone to submit their work.

Do you struggle with, or have you found any of the following barriers to your business growth?: Access to finance/funding, Other

Do you have any business hero's, if so, who are they?: Everyone who is willing to throw themselves whole heartedly into their business and make it a success, not just financially, but to improve the human condition and capabilities.

Financial Rewards or Business Awards?: Business Awards

What was the last book you read?: Why we sleep

Tell us something totally unique about your business: It aims to be the worlds first global drone awards platform.

Finally, please tell us what we can look forward to with your business as we head in to 2021: The event / winners announced for the inaugural awards aims to be done by start of Q2-2021