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With some 41 years since his first venture, a portfolio that boasts football family trees, websites and property development, at least six previous and three current directorships, Andy Pringle epitomises what it is to be a serial entrepreneur.

In 1974, Andy established his first venture, the first of countless endeavours that would lead him to become the entrepreneur standing before us this evening.  “At school, at the age of 15 or 16, we ran a disco and to suddenly have the equivalent of 50 weeks’ pocket money in one day, I thought: there’s something in this!”

One of Andy’s current businesses, Start Your Own Business, was created to help anyone running, or thinking of starting, their own business. Just 8 years ago this was an 8-page paper magazine; now, this comparative behemoth of a website boasts some 32,000 pages, a far cry from its humble beginnings.

On top of running multiple businesses, Andy is also a mentor for entrepreneurs and whilst a few may have yet to flourish, the successes have outweighed the failures. “I have worked with people that are millionaires now… I’m very proud of that.”

Andy’s biggest strength is starting and growing a business and then moving on to the next exciting idea. I get the distinct feeling that money isn’t Andy’s only motivation. “I love starting stuff … at the end you can look back and say you’ve done it, but then I get bored, I wouldn’t want to stay around and maintain it, I’d want to go and do something else.”

In terms of planning, Andy chooses his end goal and works back in a series of smaller steps, using a ‘domino effect’ analogy, simply put: “One domino can push over a domino one and a half times its size.”

From this evening, I have learned that there is no such thing as too much research.  However, judge your results very carefully – it’s easy to listen only to the positive ones. For finances, when it comes to your initial cash flow estimates: double the cost and halve the income.

A thoroughly interesting and enjoyable talk from a witty, humble and inspirational entrepreneur.

Based on a report by Sean Ruane