Mr Branson, A hero, inspiration and idol

So, at 15 Years of age, I started researching about a business success as part of a school project. I really wanted to get top grades for this so I went all out. Researching multi million pound companies turning over millions. At that age, the only thing on my mind was bike riding, owning a BB gun and throwing wet toilet paper to the ceiling of my high school toilets.... As well as the whole girlfriend drama. It wasn't until I stumbled across Richard Branson. I had heard his name a few times what with my school being a business specialist school and all that. SO I delved into the depths of Mr Branson doing a 1 page introduction about him. I read through allot of stories and books. I think it was at this point my business mind kicked in. I was truly inspired by Mr Branson because through thick and thin and all the doubts and failure comments from others, he stuck at it. Many people throw in the towel and raise the white flag when times get rough but choppy waters make the ride a little bit more fun.. right? Well it's more that we can take a lesson from the choppy waters and learn from mistakes. I recently read his new book "Like a Virgin" which is an amazing book. One of the many lessons I have took from Mr Branson is his whole Fun philosophy and how maintaining your business should be fun for everyone, not just customers but the staff aswell. I was more so interesting in how Mr Branson had taken time to scope his business from the customers view and the other lesson I took from the book was that it is better to look at your business from the outside in. Only then can you begin to get a scope on where your business may be going wrong. How long customers are on hold for. How the customer services team speak  to their customers etc.

Mr Branson is a man who is in fact my Idol, inspiration and hero. All my business ventures which I plan to do within my lifetime to achieve success and satisfaction. For a man that hasn't done anything for me physically and directly. He has provided me with the ambition to strive for success in life and get the best out of what is yet to come.

So fellow bloggers. Now you know what drives my business mind and the ambition to get the best for and from the customers. You'll never be failed. I leave you with a quote which is very inspirational and is on my bedroom wall....

"You have to be the change you wish to see in this world." - Ghandi.

David Bailey
19 and enthisiastic

Disruption to Our services

Hey there fellow bloggers!

As you maybe aware, recently our Data Centre was hit with a set back after torrential downpours flooded our new build. Luckily we haven't been set back allot as all the important stuff was due to be put in at a later date. We are in the process of replacing wiring and floor tiles. On the plus side, our staff room was temporarily a swimming pool which would have been great for the staff... right? Anyway. We are well into our recovery stage and resuming the main bit of work. Our chairman is there every day with all hands on deck. (Note the joke there in relation to the fact our Datacentre remains underwater, hey, someone has to make light of the situation). Progress is being made once again.

Launch Event
Our launch event is still taking place this month. A night of music, talking, questions and a few drinks. Stay posted on details of this event with our chairmans blog.

We will keep you updated as best as we can when we get more information. At present we are focusing on restoring all of our conditions so progress can once again be made. If you have any questions then please feel free to email myself at d.bailey@sparkgate.eu

Peach out Bloggers!

Investing in you

Hey fellow Bloggers/sparks

So, you keep hearing all of the hype from us about SparkGate Fiber and Praxis Group etc. Now I hear you asking about our core operations.... SparkGate Hosting. So, we admit, as a company we sidetracked our core operations slightly and sidewinded our attention to the fiber side of us however in the midst of all of that, we still incremented, in slow progressions, new strategies and plans to further solidify SparkGate Hosting. My business partner, close friend and proud Chairman of the company messaged me on Saturday night at 11.20 through GTalk asking if i'm available for a chat. At that time of night I would normally say no however as I was awake and the fact that he never messages me at that time to chat... I thought it was going to be pretty important. With good and bad thoughts racing through my mind, I called through to him where he answered calm. Liam then dropped the bombshell of bombs on me. Liam informed me a secret he had been hiding from me due to the scale and how much he knew it would mean to me. i was shocked when Liam revealed a newly built 2.8 Million pound data center to me which was ready for completion. Yes, you and I both got that correctly. SparkGate Hosting is now a proud owner to a new data center. This means the most modern technology, up to date security protocols and latest software. I'm not going to reveal all of the best bits of this new development as that's yet to come. I was then informed that the company were to honor me with the responsibility of being the Chief Executive Officer of SparkGate Hosting. So yes, that means aswell as running the Corporation as a whole, I will also be directing SparkGate Hosting. This to me is a great progression. I took a personal Favourite to SparkGate Hosting a few years back when me and Liam first started it. We had took the company over from it's previous owners who had left us with a bit of work to do to gain customer trust which was dented from the previous owners. To me, SparkGate Hosting was the Spark of the company. The start of our big adventure which was full of wrong turns and decisions. That that doesn't kill you, can only make you stronger. the hosting company is what drove our own presence forward and we only just realized how true our own Mission statement was. 

So, my fellow Sparks. We are on this journey together. We will go places and will drive your presence forward. With more and more new developments coming in. It won't be long before we're in your house fixing your phone line. Or just helping you through the world of Web Hosting. 

I ask you all to join me on the 26th of October to raise a glass and toast to both ours and your future. We will keep you updated on our launch event. 

Thanks your reading guys! Be safe out there!

Dave

Remembering the 9/11 Fallen

As a serviceman of West Midlands Fire Service and not just the CEO of the business. My greatest passion is towards the Fire Service. Helping people is my passion. Just as it was for the 343 fire fighters of the FDNY 11 years ago on this day. Fire fighters from across New York rushed to Ground Zero to establish what was going on and what needed to be done. Each and every one of the 343 that passed all had a purpose. Whether it was instructed from a chief or their own according. They each were working to evacuate and empty the crippled towers. Its very rare to find people who can look at a 100+ story building that is on fire and have the courage to still keep calm, kit up and get in there. Truth is, half of them would have most likely processed the thought of that they may well not come out of the building. Firefighters as they were, they mentally switched into a different chain of thoughts. Seconding their own lives, they entered to then be faced with cries of help from the top floors from those trapped by fire or smoke. In my primes of life more ambitious than ever to start my career within the Fire Service as well as my business, continuing the fallen brothers legacy is my motivation. People need someone to call for when they need help. Someone who  would race to their aid. Well that's what a fire fighter does. That's what the 343 FDNY and neighboring cities and towns did. To those, I salute and hold my head high knowing what you did would have been for the greater good. I personally will never forget and not a year goes by that I don't shed a tear for ALL of the victims of 9/11. I hope we can all take what has happened and find a shed of light to celebrate the lives of the fallen. You are the bravest of the brave as are all of the first responders of that day. America, you stand tall in your pride. Thank you for all of your efforts to this day. For me, they are never forgotten and will never be.

SparkGate no longer a Spark

Well, as a Huge Fire Service geek. All Sparks lead to a flame, a flame grows into a fire and then it carries on. Well now, let's relate that to SparkGate. I'd say we are now at the small fire stage. We've grew into something much more bigger than a spark. We continue to grow. My passion with that of my business partners, we continue to work to develop a core operation that pleases the most valuable people to us, you! Sure you hear that all the time from businesses that promise you this and that. I mean I've heard the same. I was promised a new phone free of charge with no strings attached from a lovely company who needless to say, I never recommend or use. Obviously, more fool me, it wasn't free. Dayum. I think hearing it from the people who run the business only means more and meaningful. That's what I like to hear. So right now, as a company. We're doing all the dirty work before we consider launching to start trading. Myself and all of the other executives of SparkGate are meeting in a few weeks at our corporate headquarters to discuss where we stand. All of our time has been done doing paper work, website development and more. The business is at it's stable stage where all of the tests required have been done. Prices have been agreed and more. We're confident and are growing more and more passionate. I would just like at this point to make note of the fact I am not getting paid for all of this start up preparation. Our first few months as a company laucnhing bug will be very big and difficult as we can't predict what will happen. We hope it's good ofcourse. And we hope you like it as well. So stay tuned. Keep an eye on our Twitter and Facebook where we actually have a competition going on for you to get a hold of some goodies such as a new Google Nexus 7 tablet as well as a HTC One X. If you don't know the link.. it's www.facebook.com/sparkgate or www.twitter.com/sparkgatehost

Thank you so far for your continued patience and support. As a people person, it's truly amazing!

Happy Blogging!

Growing SparkGate

Well hey Bloggers. It's been a while. Rest assured i'm alive so please don't panic yourselves. My fellow CEO and I have been working on something big to grow SparkGate into more than a spark. See what I did there?.. anyway. I shall not reveal too much as this is an incredibly big move for a hosting company like ourselves. We want to develop SparkGate further and to do so, it takes that stuff that sadly doesn't grow on trees. Well we have successfully gained a nice lump sum backing that we are wisely investing into a pricey addition to the web hosting industry. We are a thriving company that are always looking to grow stronger and to do this, we need to think about what the important people want. Yes. Thats you!! We are confident that with our research and analysis..  this will be something you do want. Especially in this ever advancing day and age with everything now switching to technology. So. I leave you with this.. stay tuned on our Twitter for updates and follow us if you are not already. Www.twitter.com/sparkgatehost

Have a grand day!!

02 I owe 2

As the entire UK know, 11/7/12 was No2 day when around 1.30, o2 started to get tweeted like mad from paying customers regarding signal issues. 20 minutes later o2 comfirmed that something was wrong. For 24 whole grusome long hours customers were left without a cyber social life. For me however my problem started on the Sunday when my touchscreen Blackberry 9860 decided to suicide itself down my toilet. After my quick thinking it was only seconds later I pulled it from the nice clean toilet... despite these attempts, it was no use. It was doomed. I refused to believe it. I quickly seized the remaining bag of rice in the house and put my phone to dry in there and even hair dryed and vacummed it. It was the most pampered phone out there! But I accepted defeat 2 days after when it started up but no visuals. I had to guess what I was doing (apologies 999 if I called you many times without knowing). So... if you want to get straight to the point then start reading here... After accepting my toilet exploring phone was gone.. I made a call to o2, this on the 2nd day of the network issues. How many of their customer services team took up smoking I wonder? So as that really attractive sounding female robot normally does, she explained I would be put through to there UK customer services. I reached an American guy. I started explaining what happened and despite 20 minutes on the phone, my call was handled amazing. He took all my details and even had a laugh! Yes..  a laugh! A joke... my situation is... my new replacement device is here in 20 mins and all this a day after. They even asked me what time I wanted it to be delivered! So o2, despite your problems that you encountered which were out of your control (yes, it confuses me as to why people think you guys were bored at the office and felt like killing the network) Your American customer service guy and to be honest, every other one i've spoke to in the 6 years I've been with you, your one in a million. Well done, hats off and happy to see you get up and dust yourselves off and continue moving forward. Now, Kettle needs a boil. Just need a kettle...

Sparkgate's Core Values, basically what we do most...

From Vice CEO David Bailey




So let's start by giving you a joke about the high wall, actually, better not, you'd never get over it.... Done laughing? OK, let's go.




So, at 16, I decided to start web hosting. I studied Public Services at college and in High school... Yea, your right, no business. I had no experience with hosting. Why hosting then? Because it's new and actually is exciting. Since that age and now four years on, I've developed my business skills and input the core elements of a successful business into my own. SparkGate values it's customers. Plain and simple. Well actually in bold, but simple. Our competitors say that they do but have you tried ringing them? I placed an order with one of our biggest competitors a few years back and as someone on the other side of the desk, it was clear to see that promises were broken. Sure there was an automated email saying thank you for your payment but when it came to speaking to someone regarding an issue, at 5 minutes to 5pm, they told me the support department was now shut. That's too short of a mile. We go the extra mile. A phone call to inform customers that their services are active. So far, only us that do that. When we experience problems on our end, not the customers fault, we make damn sure we tell them and act as quickly to rectify the issue and ensure the customers get what they want. What drives our business is our people, not our top end servers or software. Every part of the team chain must be linked at all times. If I as a CEO TELL my staff to do something, they won't want to. If I ask then it will get done. This affects the customer experience in the long run and so I lead by example. My philosophy on Leadership is this: Involve  Listen, Educate, Action, Delegate. People want a leader who can do all of that and not someone who sits at his office desk sorting stuff that can be resolved as a team. So, we not only value it's customers and people, we work with you where we can. A basic element such as a website is the first impression. I mean when you go out to your local club, you gotta be honest with me now, you look at how someone dresses and comes across. It's a standard default installation in all of us. We strive to enhance your business or personal image so that potential customers or investors get the best out of you. "Driving your presence forward" That backs my point up. It's our mission statement. Alot of our competitors give up at the purchase point and forget that maintain your customers is a core value. If I've got Jerry Blogs who's been a customer for 5 years. I'm not going to assume he is happy with his service. I'm going to push new ideas his way.Assumption is a deadly weapon because Our Jerry could be browsing best prices. Rewarding our loyal customers is another important feature. Not many businesses have this simply because of the economic situation of today. Well instead of buying a fancy new 74 floor glass design with fancy offices, headquarters in the business districts of the finest cities around. We spend it on you because let's be honest, unless your actually going to pop into us and have a cuppa, your not really going to be benefited by a headquarters. Anyway. If your not bored already. Well done. That's my today's digest.
Remember, SparkGate Loves you. We value you and support you.
Stay Safe peoples.


David Bailey
Vice CEO
SparkGate Corporation