SME Focus: With the British Bankers� Association reporting a drop in bank lending to business in May, companies that are looking to raise expansion funding face a hard slog.

With the British Bankers' Association reporting a drop in bank lending to business in May and a prominent accountancy firm launching a debt advisory arm in quick succession, companies that are looking to raise expansion funding face a hard slog. In this week's SME Focus, however, a part-time pugilist recalls that his successful marketing business was started with not much more than an eye for an opportunity, and a lot of self-belief.

Name: Mark Fowlestone Age: 42.

What is your business called?
Multiply.

Where is it based?
Edinburgh What does it produce, what services does it offer?
We are a marketing communications agency, with essentially three parts.

The first is classic marketing, from advertising, sales promotion, and graphic design to direct marketing.

The next part is digital, developing everything from web communities to e-learning tools, and the third part is ideation - we run and shape workshops for clients, particularly looking at new product development.

We recently found ourselves in Fort Lauderdale helping create a libation or two.

To whom does it sell?
Our core clients include prominent firms in the food and drink, consumer goods and banking sectors.

What is its turnover?
£3m, and this is our sixth successive year of growth.

How many employees?
38.

When was it formed?
September 2003. The company we worked for was pulling out of Scotland and the day I got the news I got together with three other board members (Kate Fenton, David Bradley-Bird and Andrew Murchie) and decided we would start afresh, and we formed Multiply.

Why did you take the plunge?
We realised the business was there, that we had the talent, the contacts, the work ethic and the aspirations to do it ourselves. The only damning thing was that we should have done it five years earlier. We realised that as long as you get a good bunch of people with varied skills together anyone can start a successful business, there is no mystical law.

What were you doing before you took the plunge?
I was managing director of marketing comms agency KLP, which was part of the HAVAS network. KLP was famous in Scotland for campaigns like T in the Park. It really was an inspirational place to work and spawned many great people and businesses. Prior to KLP I worked for both advertising and marketing agencies in and around London.

How did you raise the start-up funding?
The four partners took the plunge and put all their savings together. The beauty of a marketing agency is, other than brains, all you need is Apple Macs, office space and an uber work ethic.

What was your biggest break?
The first day of trading I got a call from Famous Grouse and they asked us to pitch and we won.

About two months later I took a call from a prospective client, had a really good chat and she said yes, come in for a meeting.

I then realised she had called the wrong agency but because we got on so well she invited us in to pitch and we won that account, and five years on they are still with us.

What was your worst moment?
Pitching and losing is always the worst feeling. You put your heart and soul into something and for two or three weeks nothing exists in your mind other than that client and their marketing problem.

Whenever we get beat it's the ultimate kick in the teeth. I remember that an old boss of mine used the famous Green Bay Packers quote: "Show me a good loser and I will show you a loser," and sadly this resonates. When I get beat, I am the worst loser possible.

What do you most enjoy about running the business?
Not having bosses, not having shareholders or faceless individuals determining how you run things. When you run your own business you can put your own personality into it, and that is an amazing feeling.

Being able to make all the decisions is critical as well. You do make decisions which are wrong but at least you have tried and you can learn by them. Also the freedom to try new business ventures is hugely stimulating.

We took a gamble last year on investing in motion graphics that has paid off handsomely.

What do you least enjoy?
Being a co-owner and founder certainly turns up your commitment - work truly becomes a part of you and you will try everything to succeed. This philosophy puts massive strain on your time - most weekends get a few hours of work and almost every night.

What is your biggest bugbear?
The people who work for Multiply are our single most valuable asset and we try to nurture and protect.

Hence I dislike recruitment consultants that try and nick our staff with one phone call and the next moment ring up to ask if we are looking for anybody to fill the gap they have created. It sucks and benefits no-one except their monthly bonus.

What are your ambitions for the firm?
In Scotland we want to grow the motion graphics and digital sides of the business and to expand our partnerships with like-minded companies that maybe have a different specialism.

Getting together with a guerrilla marketing specialist and online media planning set-up has meant we have broadened our skills - with people we like.

What are your top priorities?
To try always to exceed expectations; to give every individual employee ownership of a project, which ensures projects don't get lost' in a fast-moving organisation; to always have the support of a minimum of five core clients; to have a happy and motivated staff; and to avoid growing stale. I want people to always think of Multiply as a fresh young company no matter how much we grow.

What single thing would most help?
The Scottish marketing and advertising industry constantly punches above its weight for its size and scale. I sometimes get disillusioned when clients go south for an agency when they just need to look a wee bit closer to home.

What could the Westminster and/or Scottish governments do to help?
When we started off there was very little intellectual support from government bodies or the financial institutions.

Marketing and advertising was an alien business to them and we got absolutely no support, no advice, we just had to take a gamble.

It's imperative to have advisors or managers that have the skills to help you but we found that they had very limited experience in helping out marketing agencies.

What was the most valuable lesson you have learned?
The marketing industry is very small and you will come across the same people whether it is one year down the line or five, so always respect them and never let them down - it will always come back and haunt you.

How do you relax?
I commit myself to playing golf every Sunday, something I never thought I would get into, but now I have a burning desire to win every time I pick up a club.

I also, and potentially foolishly, signed myself up for a doctorate last year at Edinburgh Napier. I am developing a framework to allow storytelling to shape brands - it's part-time but it feels like it's more.

Finally, I get rid of any residual energy with the sweet science, joining other would-be pugilists at Holyrood Boxing Gymnasium.