22 years in business – Nature or Nurture?

Hart Training & Recruitment are celebrating 22 years in business and to mark this milestone we will be releasing a series of blog posts from Director Phillippa Hart.  This series will depict how Hart began and the journey taken to establish Hart Training & Recruitment as it’s known today.

Where it all began

22 years ago I started Hart Recruitment, sat in an office with an Apprentice called Lisa who became invaluable. This wasn’t just any office in Great Barr this was my father’s office where he had run his own business P M Hart Insurance for the previous 22 years. My brother Simon Hart set up his business ART Cleaning in 2000 and we shared the premises together until he expanded and moved to larger premises in 2012. 

Hart family history

My father John Hart was a very successful speedway rider in his younger years and had run several businesses within the car trade as well as retail shops until he moved into the Insurance business. His father Philip Hart, known as Tiger Hart in the speedway world, had run away to Australia when he was 16 years old, where he discovered his love for speedway. When he returned to the UK the Hart entrepreneurial spirit took hold and not only did he ride speedway across the UK, he set up his first business. His best friends were Ted Williams who set up a prestigious gentleman’s clothing company and Doug Ellis who’d set up a travel agents and later became Chairman and owner of Aston Villa. Now on reflection I can see that even back then, it was about surrounding yourself with likeminded people.   

Not only did this entrepreneurial spirit come from my father’s side of the family but my mother’s grandmother ran her own public house which in the 1920’s was highly unusual. My great Aunt had her own pet shop which survived the Handsworth riots and my uncles and cousins have their own property and trade businesses through to a farm in Australia. People would therefore assume it was inevitable for me and my brother Simon to start our own business and to be fair looking back I suppose it was.  

But is it just in our genes – nature or nurture?

I was bought up in a very hard working family environment. We (me and Simon) never had a day off school – it simply wasn’t allowed! We worked Saturdays in our parents shop and the school holidays in the family insurance brokers P M Hart Insurance. We had animals that we were responsible for – we had a pet goat called Didibud, a French bulldog called Polly and Alsatians called Lucy and Dolly! Dad had made extra money through his speedway riding so Simon rode a motorbike at the age of 3 whilst I sat in the sidecar. My mother Patty ruled the house with an iron fist but there was always a lot of laughter and fun. We ate tea together every night and we were fortunate to have open honest discussions. I was always fiercely independent and competitive – even at school I was adamant that I would leave home and live abroad at 18 years old.

However my first job with Marks and Spencers, on the HR management development scheme, took me to Colchester & Brighton – not quite the sunny Italy I had dreamed of. I left M&S because they wouldn’t pay for me to study the CIPD so I moved to Sainsbury’s in South London. That experience was transformational, not only did I study my CIPD on top of my 50-hour working week, I moved from store to store meeting the most amazing hardworking and driven individuals, some of which I’m so proud to say I still see to this day. At 23 years old I was responsible for 650 colleagues over two stores. This taught me to surround yourself with people who share similar values to yourself and spur you on. 

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