Each week, we ask small businesses key questions. Here we speak to Neil Haston, owner and director of Turriff-based Haston Creative.
How and why did you start in business?
Was I mad? Had I taken leave of my senses? These were the questions I asked myself when I decided to leave behind a great job and a monthly salary with a reputable creative agency. But in 2017 the opportunity presented itself when I was offered voluntary redundancy by the agency I was with in Aberdeen.
It was a massive leap of faith to start a new business, with no clients or income, but four years down the line I can honestly say it was one of the best decisions I have ever made.
How did you get to where you are today?
I have to back-track to my gap year when I took off from Aberdeen to travel the world. After 8,500 miles of hitching and Greyhound busing it around the US, I returned to London to work and save enough cash for my next leg – Thailand, Australia and New Zealand. Twelve years later, I was still in London.
During that time I worked as a designer with a small agency just off Baker Street, an art director with various ad agencies, and latterly as a creative director with Saatchi & Saatchi.
Hankering after a move back to Scotland, in 1990 I met up with an account handler from my first job in Aberdeen to discuss the possibility. Together with a creative writer and a very talented designer, we set up a new agency in Leith, Edinburgh. Six years later, a creative director’s role became available in Aberdeen. I upped sticks and headed north, this time with my wife, Marguerite, and two small children, Annie and Andrew.
After two years with Tayburn, 12 with Covey-McCormick and another six with Citrus Mix, we’re up to date. I’ve worked with some fantastic people over the years – the great Vincent Price, Roger Law and the Spitting Image team, and Richard Wilson to namedrop a few.
Who helped you?
As well as keeping us all entertained, Marguerite never complained about being dragged away from her East Lothian roots and being faced with learning a foreign language – Doric. Also a director in Haston Creative, she brings her talent as a voiceover artist into the business, working out of her recording studio at home.
Help has also come from organisations like BNI and Network NorthEast, while I’ve also recently joined the Federation of Small Businesses to tap into its networking opportunities.
What has been your biggest mistake?
Buying a half-built AC Cobra from my brother-in-law without the knowledge to complete it has been my biggest mistake. It followed me to three different homes and sat in each of their garages, just taking up space. I never even drove the thing.
What is your greatest achievement?
Without a doubt, it was selling the AC Cobra back to my brother-in-law 30 years later.
If you were in power in government, what would you change?
There should be much more ambitious targets on climate change if we’re going to hand over a decent place for future generations to live. We ditched our old oil boiler in favour of a biomass system seven years ago, and we reduce, reuse and recycle as much as we can.
What do you still hope to achieve?
A lottery win wouldn’t go amiss. Other than that, an exhibition of personal photographic work is next on my tick-list.
What do you do to relax?
I love to canoe down the River Deveron, usually on a Sunday when there is no fishing. We bought a 16ft Canadian canoe when the children were much younger, so the four of us would set off from Turriff and head for the sea at Banff. It’s about 11 miles by road, so probably 16 by river. It takes us four hours plus, depending on how often we stop.
You can’t beat that moment when you push off from the riverbank – the sense of freedom and leaving all the stresses of life behind you and doing something completely different.
What are you currently reading, listening to or glued to on TV?
I watch crime programmes by default, mainly because I have no access to the remote control.
What do you waste your money on?
I’m a sucker for buying second-hand “bargains”, on Facebook Marketplace, that all too often end up at the recycling centre.
How would your friends describe you?
Easy going and laid-back.
What would your enemies say about you?
I try hard not to have enemies and make a point of seeing the good side in everyone. Life’s too short to have enemies.
What do you drive and dream of driving?
My weapon of choice is a BMW X3 3.0D – I’m on my third one. With its four-wheel drive, it’s perfect for living in the shire through the winter months. I also passed my motorbike test when I was in London, and these days my dream bikes would be a Honda Gold Wing for long road trips through the Alps and an Africa Twin for a bit of off-road adventure.
Variety is the spice of life for business consultant Andrew Mackay
How poker-playing accountant Robert Davidson took a gamble on Sllick
