We last spoke to Gary Baker in September 2004 not long after he founded his company Tie Warehouse. We thought it high time we paid him another visit to see how he has been getting on.

How has your business been getting along since we last spoke?
Very well – probably better than expected at this stage. The number of ties we have available has more than doubled, and sales are continuing to grow month on month. We also had some great publicity in national newspapers and magazines and a lot more people know of Tie Warehouse by name now, which is always a good sign. Over the last couple of months we’ve had ties bought for a popular TV programme, and even as a gift for a visiting popstar, so we’re certainly covering a wide area now.

What do you feel you have learnt about running a business and yourself in this time?
Dogged determination and a constant focus on what you are trying to achieve are vital for success. It’s so easy to give up when things don’t go well, or to be distracted by the hundreds of things vying for your attention at any one time. You just cannot afford for that to happen. You also have to have complete belief in what you are doing and your ability to do it, and never take criticism personally.

What about being your own boss, has it turned out how you expected? What have been the main down and up sides?
On the whole I can’t complain, as the old joke goes - my boss is great. It’s a lot easier when things are going well – when things don’t go quite to plan it’s easy to start questioning yourself. But the best way around this is to simply get things back on track again to bring back that positive mood. The biggest downside is that you’ve got no-one to blame when things go wrong.

What do you feel has been your biggest achievement since starting up?
I think there are two areas I am especially proud of. The first, is achieving the often quite ambitious sales targets I’ve set, especially since the beginning of 2005. The second, is the response from customers which has been nothing short of brilliant – we regularly receive emails from customers delighted with our service and that’s always immensely satisfying. Customer service is at the heart of everything we do, so it’s fantastic when we get it right.

What has been your biggest disappointment?
To be honest, I’d be hard-pressed to find any major disappointments. I’m not saying everything’s always rosy, but after a while you learn to start treating any disappointments as learning experiences, rather than as negatives.

Looking back, what would you have done differently?
Most of what I’ve done I have been happy with, but I think I would probably have expanded the range we have quicker than I did. The problem is always that the wider the range, the higher your stock holding costs, so it’s a fine balance.