Lock Picking Gift the Key to Leeds Locksmith’s Business Venture

Jan Koum was working for Yahoo! When he had the simple idea that people should be able to send messages between mobile phones no matter what country they were in. In 2022, Whatsapp had 2.4 billion users.

In 1967 Ralph Loren was working in a menswear department when he thought he might as well go it alone. By 2018 he was in the top 100 richest people in the world.

Kevin Plank, going against all the advice available, stuffed a few pieces of specially-branded sporty underwear in his car boot and went on the road to try and sell them. This year, his Under Armour brand was valued at $3.5 billion.

Entrepreneurs come in all shapes and sizes and take inspiration from all areas, and although Leeds-based locksmith Andrew Dunn isn’t on the rich lists just yet, his source of inspiration for his business, Lemon Locksmith, is no less interesting than those billionaire businesspeople.

Andrew says: “I have always been interested in how things worked from a young age and as a child I was fascinated with locks. One Christmas my parents bought me a practice lock picking set and I would sit at home for hours practising picking locks while watching movies. I did this for years, practising opening different types of locks. After one lock become too easy I would switch it for another lock. I saw it as a bit of a game and used to time myself in picking the lock. I found it fun.”

Some years later, having refined his skills, it occurred to Andrew that there may be demand for his lock picking talent – after all, keys are in the top five of the world’s most lost items.

“I aim to set up a franchise”

Andy presents Leeds Childrens Charity with a cheque

A conversation with the team at Start-Up Yorkshire helped take his entrepreneurial vision further: “Start-Up Yorkshire provided me with mentoring regarding SEO and AdWords training. It especially helped me with learning to use social media platforms in order to increase my locksmith business sales and contacts.”

Using social media has become a key component of Lemon Locksmith’s marketing strategy, helping the company secure a major contract. Andrew explains: “Thirty percent of my sales come from social media. I received a large contract to supply locks for every door in a new Leeds city centre complex simply by engaging in the right places on social media.”

The tech side of Andrew’s business is something he pays special attention to, using downtime to create interesting articles on his website, lemonlocksmith.co.uk.

“A lot of time goes into it,” Andrew says. “I spend at least two hours each evening writing high quality content for articles on my site. I try to do this while watching a movie with the kids so that I can spend some of my time with them while also getting some work done at the same time. I often spend one evening researching what to write and then the following evening typing up the articles.”

It looks like Andrew has hit on a formula for success, with Lemon Locksmith already building up an impressive client portfolio. Certainly, there’s room to grow the business further – and Andrew is ambitious.

“In the future I aim to set up a franchise to grow my business through the UK. I believe, due to my unique name and marketing, I will be able to grow a memorable brand that will compete well against the big boys. I have always been inspired by successful entrepreneurs such as those on Dragons’ Den and I aim to one day be like them.”

For more info on Lemon Locksmith call 07721 876571 or visit the Facebook page