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From Vocationals to a career in Business

November 8, 2018

Josh Robinson posing for a picture with his LMSUK colleagues

Alumni and entrepreneur, Josh Robinson, has thanked Havant & South Downs College for kickstarting his journey to success with his company LMSUK Media.

Josh started his path on a BTEC Level 3 Extended Diploma in 2015, after realising that his hands-on skillset was better suited for a Vocational course.

It wasn’t long before Josh realised his passion for business. He said: “Soon after starting the course I met Dom and Alec. They introduced me to Evolve Enterprise which offers loans to students starting up their own business.”

This was how Josh began LMSUK Media. The company provides promotional services to bands, DJ’s and artists across the South Coast.

Josh continued: “With the help from Dom and Alec I was loaned £200 and a camcorder and that was when the ball started rolling. We did a few events at Drift in Southsea and they went well. Obviously, there were hard times, not every event we held was a success, but we started doing interviews backstage and got our name more widely known.”

Josh continued to say that he noticed a gap in the market through market research. A lot of the young people of Portsmouth were travelling to Southampton to listen to techno music – this was when Josh created his outhouse brand.

“Our outhouse brand has done really well, we started in little venues and very soon we had more than 100 people queuing to get in.

“We did it one step at a time – a lot of people who want to start a business are focused on the money, whereas I just think ‘okay, that went well, how can we make it bigger and better for next time?’”

Josh added that the skills he learned at HSDC helped him succeed in the real world of business.

“The skills they teach you in terms of event planning are brilliant,” he said.  “I still to this day have a checklist of 20 things I need to do to make sure I run a good event, which I was taught at College. I know if I tick each of them off, we will have a successful event.”

As well as running his own business, Josh is studying a degree in Business at the University of Portsmouth.

Offering some words of wisdom to future College students, Josh said: “My advice to year 11’s when looking and choosing your option – do not go where your friends go. Don’t let that affect you, I’m still in contact with those friends now but I didn’t let their decisions sway my opinion.

“I knew that I was passionate about Business, and the place best suited to me was Havant & South Downs College.”