A Bit About Me

Hi. My Name is André Anthony. As you can tell from my photo I'm no spring chicken and you can probably guess that I've been around the block a few times. So let me tell you a bit about myself.

Maxine I live in the ancient village of Irchester in the beautiful county of Northamptonshire in the UK with my lovely wife Maxine (that's her on the right), whom I've been married to since 1972. I have three grown sons and five grandchildren. My hobbies include acting with a local amateur operatic and dramatic society, drawing, painting and, very occasionally nowadays, golf.

I'm by no means what you would call a Internet guru (whatever that is) but I do have some pretty good credentials and experience gained from running my own business. In fact 4 businesses - one humungous failure (horrendous experience, great learning tool) and 3 pretty successful ventures, one of which I had for eighteen years before I got bored with it and decided to sell it off (at a profit, of course).

Before getting into "doing my own thing", I had a successful 17 year career in Purchasing and Materials Management with a number of high profile Multinationals. Negotiation, organization, administration and research were my thing and I got used a lot as a management trouble shooter. Being a professional customer taught me a lot about the do's and don'ts of running a business which I was able to carry over to my own businesses.

So what about my businesses? - Here's the potted history :

In 1983 I started my own Electronics Assembly Company - nearly failed until I turned my back on general electronics, changed direction and specialised in Computer Cable Assembly for the then emerging PC Industry (a very lucrative Niche market). I eventually sold this business off in 2001.

In 1988 I set up a new company and branched out into Data Network Installation Cabling (a logical extension to my cable assembly business) which I eventually merged with the assembly business to cut the double overhead and consolidate the admin. functions.

In 1988 I also set up a Software and Programming company and brought in expert help to run the business - humungous failure. I knew next to nothing about software and even less about programming - I shut the business down about a year later (Moral : Stick to what you know).

In 1998 I decided I needed something different so started a Direct Mail company, partnered with a quite well known (at least in the UK) business writer and sold info products. Though not an overwhelming success, I did make some good money from the business and learned a lot about direct response marketing.

Since 2002 I've moved into web design. Just simple informational, showcase and business card sites for local mom and pop type businesses. That all started when I designed and built a couple of websites for my old businesses. Someone saw one of them, asked me to build one for their business and it sort of took off from there. Voila! I have a new business.

So why the NicheMarketKnowHow.com website? Well, I get a buzz out of helping people. I figure I've gained a lot of experience and knowledge over the years which I can put to good use ferreting out products, tools and resources (many of which I use myself) that will help budding Niche Marketers get their business ball rolling.