JOSH GILL CEO, Everflow Group
Why did you launch Everflow?
I set up Everflow for a couple of reasons. One was to create jobs and a workplace that people enjoyed coming to, and that benefitted the people spending the majority of their time there. I’ve worked in plenty of places where it’s not been fun, and I didn’t want that for my business. Secondly, people were overcomplicating water for customers, they weren’t using technology to its best advantage, so we set out to make water simple.
What has been your proudest moment in business so far?
We employ nearly 80 people and, like I said, one of the reasons for staring Everflow was to create a good workplace. At the end of last year, I expected our employee net promoter score (a metric to assess employee satisfaction) to have declined due to the upheaval Covid brought, but it had actually gone up to +77. Anything over 60 is classed as world-leading, so that’s my biggest achievement by a mile, over and above turnover and all the financial metrics, which are clearly phenomenal, having grown turnover from just under £3m to close to £60m in the space of three years.
What is the best part of what you do?
Well, it used to be being in the office, back when that was a thing! I love the fun we have that was part of our working lives and the way we do what we do. We have a great team that work well together and put customers first, and it’s cool that my work involves hanging out with those people. I also really enjoy trying to figure out what steps we can take next to automate more and more – it’s an interesting challenge to think about how we can drive further efficiencies.
What has been the greatest challenge to you in business?
Probably having the confidence to believe in myself as the business has grown. Managing a team of six is considerably different to leading a team of 80+, and I’m always questioning myself. No matter how good your controls and reporting are within a business, and ours are exceptional for a business of our age, it is always difficult letting go of control, and accepting that things aren’t going to fall apart, no matter what stage of business you’re at – it gets harder and harder the bigger you get.
What has being in business taught you about yourself?
That every person can manage more than they think they can. Most people aren’t willing to push themselves as hard as they could – that’s why there are very few elite athletes, because people aren’t necessarily willing to push themselves and that’s the same in business. You can always go further than you think.
Who is your business inspiration?
John Elliott, the founder of Ebac, in Newton Aycliffe. He announced he would be leaving his business to employees and I thought that was really cool. Shortly after I launched Everflow, I reached out to him, and he invited me to go and look around – I thought it was amazing that he took time out of his busy schedule to chat with me. I asked him what advice he’d give to me as someone just starting out, and he said: “Whatever you do don’t be flexible, because flexibility will kill your business.” That really resonated with me because, at the time, we were always trying to do more than we should, overcomplicating things, accepting brokers on different terms, and so everything took too much time. John’s advice was to always be clear what your offer is and people can take it or leave it, so we changed to be way less flexible and that was one thing that really helped us grow quickly.
What mantra do you live by?
This might sound weird, but I always said to myself that I would never grow up, by which I mean that I’d never lose that sense of fun, of not taking things too seriously. Growing up, a lot of the adults I knew did, and would lose that sense of wonder and excitement about life. I promised myself if I ever found myself in that situation, I’d change the situation. I sometimes worry that the business is getting too corporate, and it grates, so I’m always trying to balance the need for control and making it more light-hearted. It’s a difficult task, it was easier when we were.
