After a successful career as a restaurant and bar manager, Charles Borrell started to seek a change of direction in 2004 and began to paint contemporary and abstract seascapes.

He made contact with Head for Business (H4B) just over a year ago for advice about how to approach galleries and potential clients. We put him in touch with a local art gallery where he exhibited his work in May 2006, as part of The Deptford Alternative Arts Fair. Other exhibitions quickly followed, the most recent being the Battersea Contemporary Arts Fair.

Charles says that joining H4B was a big break for him. “One of the biggest challenges I faced was how to go about turning a creative interest into a successful business venture. Painting is my passion, but I wanted to improve my organisational and planning skills so that dealing with administration and sales would be less overwhelming."

As well as receiving one-to-one advice, Charles participated in H4B’s ‘Is Enterprise for Me?’ course which encouraged him to focus on his ambition, discuss his plans with other members of the group and try out new ideas.

Although Charles is now well established, with future exhibitions in the pipeline and regular pitches at Greenwich Craft Market and the Bayswater Road Art Market, he continues his involvement with H4B. He recently contacted the team in connection with a proposal from one of his customers who wanted to hire his paintings. H4B provided him with support and a draft contract that enabled him to move forward and seal the deal.