Testimonials

firstWakefield District Development Agency

“Dear Carl

I write to formally thank you for your inspirational address as our guest speaker at first Friday, which was tremendously well received by our delegates.

Judging from the feedback we have gathered this was a most successful and enjoyable first Friday event, and your participation and enthusiasm was key to making it such a success.

It’s vitally important we at first build on opportunities like those developed at the event, and the inspiration and motivation provided by speakers such as yourself is really helping us to connect with an even wider audience.

With very best wishes

Yours sincerely”

Faye Yarrow
Marketing Manager
first Wakefield District Development Agency

Brighouse High School

“Hi Carl

Can I also thank you for giving your time yesterday. I thought the pitch of your talk was perfect and having spoken to some students this morning I know that they thoroughly enjoyed it. The talk was interesting for them as they could see that you can become a success if you put your mind to it and find the right route for you.

I particularly enjoyed your tips that you gave at the end and they echoed the message that we try to give to the students.

I look forward to you coming in again.”

Many regards

Caroline Lee
Brighouse High School

Media Displays

“Attended Conference today, Carl Hopkins from Secret Millionaire was speaking, what an inspirational guy he is, straight talking and fantastic.”

Ian Taylor
Media Displays

WRM Media

“We were very impressed with inspirational guest speaker Carl Hopkins at first Friday today.”

Open Comms

“Hannah has just come back to the office buzzing after first Friday. Carl Hopkins certainly made an impression.”

Lindsay Davies
Open Comms

Impress Promotions Leeds

“Hi Carl,

Great Presentation at _first Wakefield.

Thanks for taking the time out to speak to me earlier today. I trust you found it to be as useful as I did.

All the very best for now.”

Carl Barton
Impress Promotions Leeds

Connaught

“Connaught Partnerships were delighted with the role that Carl Hopkins and Joblink Solutions played in helping us launch The Big Community Idea 2010.

Carl’s involvement in the launch and his presense as a finalist judge has helped add a ‘real life’ case study to the campaign, and has inspired the candidates to visualise that they too can achieve similar ambitions.

The presentation given by Joblink Solutions to the final 10 finalists helped them to realise how far they had come as individuals (and as businesses), as well as further develop their confidence and aspirations as the final presentation day approaches.”

Peter Jones
Chief Executive, Connaught Partnerships Ltd

Hull Children’s University

“Carl, Your presentation was sensational,. Kids were captivated from start to finish! Story of an incredible journey of life which would hook in any human being and you hit pitch and interest of kids spot on. Spoke with them afterwards, both boys and girls and they echoed my feedback…loved it ! Teachers valued it too.

Great for our kids to relate to “the boy done good” story and then told how it was done and how they can make things happen for themselves irrespective of circumstances or background. Teacher told me that several of them were from 3 and 4 generations of unemployment and their parents were encouraging them to become benefit seekers.

Thank you so much your story will have multiplied 40 fold here in East Hull. Take care and all the best”

Dr. John Buttrick
Manager, Hull Children’s University

Make Your Mark

“Thank you so much for being our keynote speaker. The feedback we received was extremely positive particularly from the young entrepreneurs who felt inspired and positive about their futures.”

Jane Walton
Head of Region, Yorkshire and the Humber
Make Your Mark

The University of Leeds

“Carl, I would like to say thank you for speaking to our students the talk was fantastic and the feedback from all our students has been that it was excellent, I know you really inspired several of them!”

Liam Patterson
The University of Leeds

“The presentation was aimed at reminding staff and students why, in the current climate, having an enterprising attitude and developing enterprise skills is essential. Carl’s story really brought the impact of being enterprising and entrepreneurial to life and therefore inspired both staff and students alike to take this back into school.”

Becky Mollart
Schools Liaison Officer
Rotherham Ready

“Carl was an excellent speaker. He covered his background briefly in a very positive way and related well to our pupils who also come from low aspirational social backgrounds. His well modulated tone of voice was just right. All the essential points about marketing yourself first were presented in good bite size slots and his message was simple but clear. They were a very attentive audience and although they had few questions at the end they gave him 100% of their attention throughout the talk and left and talked about Carl and his message for the following lesson and through break time. He has made a real impact on many of our pupils. It was a pleasure meeting ‘a real millionaire’ He is right to make criticisms of his own learning experience – it was not good enough – but I hope he could see from the relationships we have with our pupils that many teachers can also inspire pupils to be successful and even want to start their own businesses. I would without hesitation recommend him to other schools. It was a pleasure attending the session.”

Nicola Hogarth
Assistant Headteacher
Sowerby Bridge High School

Community Foundation For Calderdale

“ Carl was professional from start to finish. He prepared well by visiting the Foundation prior to the event and delivered a perfectly balanced presentation with humour and passion…”
“Carl, Thank you so much for coming along and delivering such a polished humorous presentation and for assisting the Foundation with some of our spheres of activity…

Thank you for your company on the evening – it was great to be able to chat with a fellow passionate Leeds fan!”

Steve Duncan
Chief Executive Officer
CFFC

St Marys C of E Junior and Infant School

I would like to say a massive thank you for the opportunity you gave my class by enabling them to take part in the enterprise project. They have learnt so much from the experience as have I. No matter what happened they faced each ‘problem’ as a challenge. This level of cooperation and positivity has rarely been seen before as the class has had a somewhat unsettled time and this provided them with the much needed boost of confidence.

The children have made £168 profit, which they are really proud of especially as their main selling opportunities were cancelled or rather rainy.

Your contribution to this project was really important to the children. They were really surprised by the fact that you were a ‘normal’ person who had started out working in normal jobs. This was particularly important to a couple of pupils in the class who live outside of the local, affluent area, and who hold down similar jobs. This really helped them see that they didn’t need to be a footballer or a model to do well, rather to work hard at what they are doing. They really appreciated your fun side, (the henna girls will be forever grateful) and this fed into their positive attitude.

Whilst it has been the busiest project we have undertaken, it has certainly been the most rewarding. Thank you again for your time and investment.

Mrs Alexia Fox and the Upper Juniors Enterprise team.

LYNY Chamber

Carl provided members of the LYNY Chamber with fabulous insight into the trials and tribulations of growing a small business into a significant enterprise. In a speech peppered with humour, Carl shared his knowledge and experience of JDA Associates, as it evolved from start up to him becoming its MD and ultimately to his exit strategy. Carl also discussed at length his views on the role business leaders could play in putting something back into the community and how he saw his story inspiring future generations.
All in all a thoroughly entertaining and motivational experience.

Mark Goldstone – Head of Business Representation & Policy