Leeds Beckett University - City Campus,
Woodhouse Lane,
LS1 3HE
Leeds Met graduate to launch business and enterprise magazine
The free publication, entitled The Professional, will be printed quarterly and will focus specifically on Leeds business news and features.
John, 24, who hit the ground running, when he founded two successful businesses after graduating from Leeds Met with a BSc (Hons) Sports Coaching degree in 2010, said: "Following a number of insightful focus groups held with a broad range of business people across the city, it became clear to me that there is a gap in the market for a high quality magazine dedicated to Leeds-focused business and enterprise content.
"As a businessman based in Leeds myself, I'm really looking forward to launching this publication and the team and I think it will have a positive impact on the city's thriving business community."
He added that The Professional would also have a website, and that as well as the content being written by professional writers, he plans for the publication to be a platform for journalism students across the city to gain experience and by-lines.
The first issue of the magazine will go to press at the end of the September to coincide with Leeds Business Week.
Last year, John set up Post Runner - a direct marketing service based in Leeds, after noticing a gap in the market for such work to be carried out in a supervised, professional and motivated manner. Now in its second year, Post Runner has gone from strength to strength, with clients including Northern Ballet, the Leeds Grand Theatre and international fast food giant Subway.
In addition John set up a second business, LUX Creations, and has a portfolio of two innovative award-winning products. The first - Clear Notes, are transparent and re-usable sticky notes that allow the user to view any document below the note whilst making annotations. The second product is a Travel Alert iPhone app which gives the user traffic alerts and has an inbuilt alarm system to wake you up earlier in the morning if your chosen travel route is experiencing traffic delays.
Both Post Runner and LUX Creations were launched via Leeds Metropolitan's Business Start-Up and the University's QU2 business centre.
Leeds Metropolitan University offers two business support services: Business Start-Up, which supports students and graduates of Leeds Metropolitan who want to become self-employed or start up in business; and QU2, which offers business support and office space to any business in the region, particularly suiting start-up and early stage businesses with limited budgets.
QU2 and Business Start-Up both provide training and advice on the main aspects of starting and growing a small business including: sales, marketing, legal concerns, accountancy and finance, online marketing and human resources. Clients can also access one-to-one advice from in-house business advisors.