From Eighties teenage pop star to franchise success story

A teenage popstar, who appeared on the same stage as The Boomtown Rats, gave it all up to become a mechanical engineer. He then joined a franchise phenomenon and the rest, as they say, is history.

He proposed to his wife while the two of them were staring into the cauldron of the world's deadliest and most active volcano.

"When she said yes, sparks flew and hot larva boiled over the rim," said Mr Ingoldsby.

He continues to rattle off an amazing list of facts and anecdotes at a dizzying rate.

For example, there are only 138 Ingoldsbys in the world and one of them, Sir Richard, signed the charter condemning King Charles l to the executioner's block.

Mr Ingoldsby was a teenage pop star, whose band appeared on the same stage as The Boomtown Rats, The Pogues and The Housemartins.

His parents were a Fifties version of Romeo and Juliet: Mother Monica was the daughter of a private school owner and the head of Ireland's Customs and Excise; father Sean was dirt poor, one of 13 children with insufficient shoes to go round. They met at a dance and their families forbade them to marry, so they eloped to London. They are still together, 48 years later.

"Probably holding hands as we speak," said Mr Ingoldsby, boss of printing.com's North-East franchise, which stretches from Scarborough to Consett.

printing.com plc is a business phenomenon started by Tony Rafferty five years ago. He created a way to centralise printing using a software system to feed jobs in batches to a modern lithographic printing hub in Manchester.

Putting together print runs from 250 outlets across the country cut waste materials, waiting time and costs. This year, turnover will exceed £30m.

Mr Ingoldsby signed for his own territory in 2005. In the first six months, he made £20,000. This year his turnover will be about £750,000. His headquarters, a retail outlet in Corporation Road, Middlesbrough, will account for nearly half of that and the rest comes from seven other "bolted on" franchisees No wonder there are three more outlets in the pipeline.

But let's get back to the man. This is one of those occasions when someone's stories are so startling you wonder if they are all true. When questioned about that, he concedes: "Well, I like to embellish a little. You've got to interest people."

Pushed a bit more, he has a confession about the volcano: "It did erupt in a shower of pyrotechnics, but Debbie and I were well out of the way."

So the bigger problem is not whether to believe him - Mr Ingoldsby's outspoken honesty makes him a trusted sounding board for the North-East Chamber of Commerce and he has impeccable eco-credentials - but where to start with his multi-faceted success story.

How about when he was a teenager and used to run with a gang on a council estate in Scunthorpe? That's the compelling stuff of many rags-to-riches autobiographies bound to be on a million Christmas lists.

"Every one of them is now dead, in prison or a drug addict," he states bluntly. How did he escape a similar fate?

"My wife says there are three stages in my life when I made massive shifts and looking back now, I see she is right. The first was when I was 16 and I decided to stop hanging around with the gang. I got a job, which meant I had money and they didn't. I went to different pubs so I didn't see them and I joined pub football teams, things like that.

"And the second massive shift was when I was 19 and decided to split with the band. Unfortunately, one of them wouldn't speak to me for 15 years because I decided to leave when we were doing really well."

That's a bit of an understatement. Harry the Spider's Coming Out Party, a "fun" punk band known for performing their own numbers, was supporting the best of British rock bands in 1984, and were about to hit the big time after only a year together.

"It may be hard to believe now I'm 42, but at 18 I was a bit of a catch with the ladies. I used to strip off and throw myself into the crowds. On one occasion, I body surfed into the crowd and they threw me back onto the stage and I hit an amplifier. I didn't feel a thing at the time because my adrenalin was so high, but the next day, I couldn't get out of bed. I'd actually cracked two ribs.

"The picture of me holding the ice-lolly appeared in a fanzine. The day the photographer turned up I told my mum to tell them to go away because I hadn't got to bed until 6am and it was only 11am. But my mum, being my mum, told me that since I had arranged it, I had better get out of bed quick."

He did and the image is a classic snapshot of Eighties ultra cool, which later appeared in a local art gallery.

"I experimented with some drugs. But, when I saw people injecting, I decided I had to get out. I had also started to believe the things people were writing about me and I was a bit full of it. I knew my parents wouldn't like the person I had become and I didn't either."

At the time, he was an apprentice at British Steel, in Scunthorpe, South Yorkshire. He left to take a degree in mechanical engineering in Nottingham, and despite only getting a third class degree - he proudly points out his wife has first class honours - he worked his way up with big companies specialising in robotic systems, including Nissan, Johnson and TV tube maker LG Phillips.

He was travelling abroad, he and Debbie were having a wonderful time and then his firstborn changed everything: "I had Dan and I didn't want to be away from home. So, I started looking into buying a business." That was the third massive shift.

He took advice from a friend's father - a venture capitalist - who has bought and sold about a 100 companies in the past ten years, and who also happens to be chairman of printing.com plc as well as at least 20 other companies.

"But I didn't tell him I had bought the franchise until after I had done it. If it hadn't worked, he might have felt a bit responsible and I didn't want my friendships to change."

He based his decision on grass roots research, meeting and phoning franchise holders and asking them what they thought. "I asked them what the catch was with printing.com and they said they hadn't found one."

Further research showed that there were more than 170 print and design companies in the North-East, which meant demand - and competition - existed.

"It's a fragmented market and there are presses all over the place. Traditionally, people speak to receptionists and their requests are often lost in translation. The waiting times are longer because small presses try to fill their print runs to save on materials. We guarantee thee days for business cards.

"With us, people come off the street and speak directly to a designer. We also do full colour printing very competitively and that's what people want now."

He points to the price list, which compares the industry average price to printing.com

For example, clients can save 60 per cent on business cards, which cost £49 for 500 with full colour on one side and save 55 per cent on 1,000 letterheads on recycled paper.

Mr Ingoldsby thinks the success of his franchise is down to the quality of the work, his talented designers and his attitude.

"I'm passionate about what I do and I'm very positive. I can't wait to come into work in the morning.

"When a customer opens his box of printing and I see the expression on his face, it's great."

It seems the feeling is mutual. Last week, delighted customers gave him a box of biscuits, a voucher for a massage and £80 in cash to share with his staff. He has also been given an original painting which is now hanging in the Mayor of Middlesbrough's office.

"I gave it to Middlesbrough Council because they had given me £1,000 to start my business and I wanted to put something back."

Putting back is a central part of Mr Ingoldsby's business ethos.

He gives free design advice to customers, even creating brand images - because their success means I will be successful and I want them to be happy - and he started a tree planting scheme regionally, which was taken up by printing.com nationally. Every eight orders, the company plants a native broadleaf tree in a community forest.

But success for Ingoldsby is much closer to home.

Sons Dan and James have been joined by eight-week-old Tom. "A smile from him - that's got to be worth at least a million pounds.