Bradford Islander Rubina Khan’s story (crammed into a postcard)
Hi, my name is Rubina Khan and my business is Yarn Spinners Tours which specialises in guided tours of historic Bradford. I began trading in June 2006, just seven months after undertaking an Enterprise Island Challenge.
It was my first day back at work after a holiday and I had a real case of the ‘holiday blues.’ I thought: “I don’t want to be here.” Then I saw these leaflets in the office for something called The Enterprise Island Challenge and I said: “What’s all this?” I read one and everything just fell into place. I thought: “This is my chance.”
I was in my 30s and had always worked for other people until then. But it had been in the back of my mind for quite a while that I’d like to do open top bus tours of Bradford.
In fact, I’d already been to Business Links with the idea. That was after I left my job in a hotel where I’d worked for six years. I’d completed a degree in Tourism Management and been promised the job of Guest Liaison Manager. Then the hotel got taken over and the new owner said that job no longer existed. So I quit.
That was when I went to Business Links with my open top bus tours idea. They thought it over but said it wasn’t feasible. And then they said: “If we can help you with anything else, come back to us.”
That really dampened my fire. I shouldn’t have let that put me off but I ended up getting a job at Thomas Cook where I stayed until I had saved up enough money to go travelling for three months.
I was skint when I got back and went to work for the council. But the idea of starting my own business wouldn’t go away. Then the Enterprise Island Challenge came up.
The Challenge was brilliant. I remember being so nervous when I was waiting to go in and pitch my idea to Iain and the rest of the panel. But when I got inside and saw how informal it was, I felt really comfortable. They were really enthusiastic about my ideas and it gave me such a boost. Then when Iain offered me a place, I could have cried. I was so excited.
At the residential weekend, it was fantastic being with other people like me. I didn’t feel silly or thick or scared because I wasn’t a proper ‘business person’ – because none of us were.
The Enterprise Island Challenge was in November 2005 and I started trading as “Yarn Spinners Tours” in June, 2006, seven months later. I wanted to go part time in my job but it took so long for personnel to make up their minds that I handed in my notice and left in July, 2006.
My first year in business has been exhausting but I have no doubts at all that I am doing the right thing. But I think at the start I was a bit over optimistic about how long it would take to get the business established as a full time operation.
I’m more realistic about that now and I’ve taken a job as a community radio reporter, working 12 hours a week which covers my rent. In fact, I heard about the job through my business and now the job also provides me with useful networking opportunities.
By going on the Enterprise Island Challenge, I came to realise that the open top bus tours were something that could be part of my business – but further down the line. In fact, I started off with Discovering Victorian Bradford guided walks, with me in costume. Then I added Ghost Walks and, more recently, Heritage Cemetery Walks. I’ve got “Essence of Asia” tours in the pipeline which will take in visits to a Sikh temple and a mosque, followed by a sari demonstration at an asian department store.
I thought I’d get a lot of business during holiday periods but things suddenly got very busy in January, February and March when my first school bookings came in and all the networking events I’d been going to finally started paying off.
I made some good friends on the Enterprise Island Challenge and that’s been a help in a number of ways. It was through another ‘Islander’ that I heard about the Bradford University Business Support Programme which offers office space, mentoring and other help, all for free.
My advice to other people starting up in business is something I learned on the Enterprise Island Challenge: take any free stuff that’s going so you can reduce your overheads and don’t be scared to enter competitions.
I went in for one recently and won £2000 to help develop my business.
Check out Rubina Khan’s website at
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