Today we caught up with Paul Vicary, one of our former mentees to share his business story and find out how working with a Heropreneurs helped him develop his business X-Calibre. Paul has had an incredible journey, we hope you enjoy finding out more about him and his business.
Paul Vicary began his military career at the age of 16 with The Light Infantry (now The Rifles.) After several tours of Northern Ireland and Bosnia, he volunteered for and successfully passed Special Forces selection. Paul would go onto receive a Meritorious Medal for his dedicated and discreet service. During his military career, he would also find the time to walk to both the Geographic North and South Poles.
With 35 years of military experience under his belt, it was time for Paul to embark on a new challenge: the process of establishing X-Calibre, a training and consultancy business offering a variety of courses which aim to help educate people on a selection of topics and, ultimately, save lives. Not only a serviceman and a polar explorer, but a trained paramedic to boot, Paul knew he had an extremely valuable mixture of skills and experience that could be put to good use. However, despite all his experience, he would still need a helping hand.
This is where Heropreneurs comes into the story. Paul was assigned a mentor who could guide and advise him on every step of his entrepreneurial journey. Starting a business can be an extremely uncertain process and having a seasoned voice to ask the right questions and challenge the wrong decisions was vital. From serving as a “sounding board” to providing more practical advice, Paul was given the assurance by his mentor he needed to see his company thrive.
“Having a discreet, neutral person to chat with and vent to was immensely important, especially during that period of transition.”
Heropreneurs’ help in setting up the company was not just limited to a free mentoring service. Paul accessed a range of networking events, workshops and skills sessions that provided the essential requirements and contacts to help fledgling businesses on the road to success.
This support continued even after the pandemic struck in 2020. In this extremely challenging working environment, X-Calibre was still able to receive the help it needed to flourish. Paul’s exemplary determination to succeed was acknowledged when he received the 2021 Heropreneur of the Year award at a ceremony at The Shard in London.
Initially only envisaged as a small company promoting a positive mental health culture, X-Calibre is now helping vast numbers of people and businesses in a range of areas including stress management, healthy eating, drink and drug awareness and suicide prevention. Paul sees potential for the company to expand into even more areas, such is his ambition for X-Calibre. Though Paul is now a well-established businessman in his own right, Heropreneurs is always on hand to offer that vital support.
“I’ve still got close links with my mentor and I know he’s there and I can reach out if I need to. It’s good to have a person to make you take that step when you’re a bit tentative.”
Check out X-Calibre’s website here.
Or alternatively, you can learn about Paul’s coaching, resiliency and other training services on a solo basis here
Paul is also a published author. His book Plan D draws upon his varied life experiences to provide a guide for coping in the face of overwhelming odds. Order his book here
"Having the opportunity to mentor Paul was a real privilege. Our military backgrounds helped us form a bond of trust. Conversations focused on making the best use of Paul’s skills, experience and motivation in order to supercharge his commercial activity. He is clearly a very talented individual and I am extremely impressed with the results he quickly achieved with X-Calibre."
Tim Richardson- Mentor
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