Construction Trader – Jake Body

I started working on the business in January 2019 when a family member passed the domain name constructiontrader.com onto me. Since then, I was focused on launching it as quickly as possible. I put countless hours into building the website – all self taught! – to make it look right, and be as simple as possible for users to navigate.

Construction Trader officially launched and started trading in August 2019, on my 18th Birthday! It is an online marketplace for buying and selling machinery, from diggers to dumper trucks, and anything else related to the construction industry. It is different from other marketplaces because it currently offers free listing for sellers and the cost of running the site is through paid advertising.

This has been a huge task to take an idea to a live business in just 8 months and one of my proudest moments would either be making my first sale on Construction Trader, or exhibiting the business at Kent Construction Expo 2019. The Expo was a great experience for myself – it was a packed event at The County ShowGround, Detling, meeting people from the construction industry as well as an exciting opportunity to promote my business to the public and really raise awareness of Construction Trader. It was a big step for us and a great opportunity.

I think the biggest challenge for me at this stage of the business was learning to build a website from scratch. I made sure I had the right people around me that offered support and they also connected me with others who gave me some great advice as well. However, it was a lot to learn in a very short period.

I would say my business mentoring from The Kent Foundation has helped me massively too. I have met with one mentor who has given me invaluable advice on the banking and financial elements of the business, and another who has spent a lot of time with me looking for great ideas to boost my audience and build good relationships with clients. The list goes on with the support that they have offered me. I can’t thank The Kent Foundation staff enough too as they have also been like a mentor to me giving me advice and a shoulder to lean on whenever I’ve had issues.

My plans for the future is to become the number one place to buy and sell construction machinery, to be in a good financial position, and to constantly work towards giving our customers a great service. I would also look to employ staff in the future to support the business development when we take it to the next level.

My tips would be to work hard and the results will come, and when times are hard, don’t give up, and get some support.

For more information about Jake’s business, visit his website here. Construction Trader