"So there I was, with a drunk wizard, a hand grenade and no trousers, and I thought 'well, this has really escalated'."
Life has been kind. I have a great company, a fantastic wife and the two best little boys in the whole world. I do, however, have a sh*t car – but hey, you can’t have everything.
When I think of the 22 year-old boy I was when I started this company back in 1999, I can’t help but feel nostalgic – even if it is combined with a tinge of regret about my penchant for Shockwaves hair gel.
Now that I have the benefit of hindsight, it’s easy to see the mistakes I made (missed opportunities, deals that should have sent me running for the hills, the Shockwaves hair gel) and think that perhaps I should have been bolder, pushed harder, stood up robustly for what I knew was right and followed my gut instincts.
But only the confidence that comes from experience teaches you that. 22 year-old me was caught up in the things I should have been at that age – playing sports, increasing my lager-drinking capacity and using both of these talents to impress women (experience also taught me that this has a low success rate). However, I can now see that LNOF has come so far because we have made mistakes, because we have learnt what was worth fighting for and what sort of company we wanted to be. I’m now older and exceptionally wise, you see.
It may have taken almost 15 years, but today LNOF is fast becoming the company I always dreamt that one day it might be. And that’s not just down to my experience and new-found wisdom. LNOF is an incredible team of people who are passionate and dedicated – so much so that they’ll argue with me about the right way to do things, and that’s because they really care about what they do.
We've reinstated our Ideas section so that we can pass on our knowledge, give you advice and inspiration and hopefully thoroughly entertain you at the same time. We also want to keep you up to date with everything that's happening at LNOF, because, without you lot - there would be no LNOF at all.
We might not be the biggest stag and hen company in the UK (yet), but we’re fair, we’re honest, we deliver exceptional weekends & accessories and above all we are committed to giving our customers an outstanding last night of freedom .This might be the end of a long journey getting here, but this is really just the beginning.
You’re going to be hearing a lot more about us.