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by Catherine Woods - Wednesday, 6th August 2008

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All three of Corbett’s businesses have been very different: the first was a recruitment website for Milton Keynes; the second was a limousine hire and party company; and the third, which he launched with his own savings in July, is a public relations firm called Jargon PR.

Corbett sold his first business to one of his best clients after running the site for nine months. “Milton Keynes is a very fast-growing area. The recruitment pages were always filled with jobs. I thought someone could do better. Internet penetration was pretty high at the time; a jobs website seemed like a good idea and it took off.

"I had taken time out from doing my degree, but when I had to go back to university the following year I realised it was too difficult to do both things. I sold the business for a good price and it’s still going today.”

His second entrepreneurial outing was based on a good idea – organising nights out in London for Milton Keynes’s 20-somethings – but was ultimately much less successful.

Corbett would organise five limos to take 50 people to London’s best clubs, such as Ministry of Sound, every Thursday, Friday and Saturday night. Punters would buy tickets for around £80, which would include things such as club entry. Corbett continues: “Unfortunately getting ten people together is quite difficult; people would commit to it and then one or two people wouldn’t turn up or you'd only get seven people per limo. I would made £200 to £300 per limo but it was on the eighth, ninth and tenth person. It went very well for the first few months, then I was barely breaking even.”

A few years later, Corbett felt it was time to start up again. “The opportunity came along to start Jargon, I wasn’t overly happy where I was working and everything just naturally came together,” he says.

Corbett has two freelancers to help him do the work but reckons he’ll hire some full-time employees in the next few months. The goal is to turn over £140,000 in the first year of trading.

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Tags: simon corbett, jargon pr, public relations, entrepreneur, milton keynes, recruitment website, job site, ministry of sound,