Carl Hopkins

Carl Hopkins started out in the world of marketing in 1984 as a junior designer. In fact, it’s partly thanks to an economic downturn similar to the one we’re witnessing now that Carl got his big break at that agency. The financial crisis of the early 90s saw Carl’s employers lose their management. “This left a ‘gap’ for me to step up and try to fill,” Carl says, “which I feel I did!” It just goes to prove that difficult circumstances can create opportunities as well as challenges.

In 2000, Carl bought the company, Judith Donovan Associates (now JDA). After raising the agency’s turnover by £10 million and tripling profits, Carl finally sold JDA in 2007 to concentrate on a number of other projects.

Carl is greatly involved in promoting enterprise in Yorkshire, campaigning for women’s enterprise and helping ethnic minorities and socially excluded groups find their way back into employment. He also dedicates his spare time to visiting schools and universities throughout the region to present awards and share his story. Through his various businesses, Carl has increased his links with charities, supporting Breast Cancer Haven Yorkshire and GMFA, the gay men’s health charity.

Now well established as a tough-talking, no-nonsense mentor and investor, Carl is involved in JumbleAID, an eco-friendly and socially conscious bidding site, and agencybods.co.uk, a bold new talent-finding site that rewards the right candidates and partly refunds clients’ fees if the employees it finds aren’t a great match. Carl has also established kloog, a business development service where he shares his experiences and insights with other companies.

In August 2008 Carl appeared on Channel 4’s The Secret Millionaire. Find out how he become the Lifetime Honorary President of Easington Miners’ Brass Band (despite the fact, he says, that “I cannot play a note on any instrument and have never been down a mine”) in his Secret Millionaire’s Secret Diary.

How did you first get access to funding to buy JDA?

My only round of finance raising was from my own pocket. I borrowed against my house and racked up my credit cards. I was recently divorced, plus had just bought a house I couldn’t really afford, so I was already in a hole of debt and thought ‘what the hell’.

What would your advice be to someone thinking about setting up their own business?

If you are convinced it’s the right thing to do, if you have sought good advice and done your research, if you have thought about the worst case scenarios, then I say go for it. If you are scared of failure then you will never learn and I doubt you will ever succeed in anything. If you have never failed at something then I suggest you have never done anything.

Tell us three things we won’t know about you!

You won’t know that I taught myself to juggle clubs and ride a unicycle - sadly I cannot do them both at the same time.
You won’t know that I have over 3,500 Spiderman, Hulk, X-men comics (and others).
You won’t know I am an Elvis fan and have been to Graceland and wept. I have a dog called ‘Presley’ in his honour.