Dave, one of the YoungVoice successes has left a lovely review on LinkedIn and I wanted to share it here in this post.  I am very proud of him indeed and thank him for his kind words.
“I attended a job fare at the university campus in Ipswich to see if there were any local opportunities with my skills after graduating from Bucks New University (Ba Hons Digital animation and interactive design).

I spoke to an advisor and said I was interested in going freelance as a web design/graphic designer and perhaps starting my own small design business. She introduced me to Andy and he kindly welcomed me into his office and spoke to me very openly about his business Andy Proctor Ltd and his charity project YoungVoice, and asked me what I did and where I hoped to go with it. It was inspiring to actually meet someone doing what I hoped to be doing one day (Building websites for actual customers for a living and not just for fun).

After Andy gave up over an hour of his time talking to me and sharing, what I now believe to be invaluable information in the field of web development and good business in general. He offered me a volunteer position with YoungVoice, where I could work on real projects and at the same time, offered to be my mentor.
I accepted the offer immediately as I could tell that it was an amazing opportunity for me, plus I could tell that Andy was a really friendly, knowledgeable and honest guy that I would enjoy working with and being mentored by.

It was an absolute pleasure and an awesome learning curve working with Andy, from the start I felt that he trusted me and had faith in my skills which boosted my confidence right from the off. I was building websites for YoungVoice on day one, which is what I wanted to be doing (so was invaluable for me). I knew WordPress fairly well before meeting Andy, but he taught me lots of tips and tricks that I wasn’t aware of.

Andy also recognised my graphic design and animation skills, and went out of his way to find me many graphic design and animation jobs and promote my skills amongst his many contacts in various industries, which was ideal for me as it gave me a chance to work on my full range of skills pretty much daily.

Andy’s positivity and determination was infectious and really motivated me.
Without fail, at some point each day he would stop what he was doing and kindly take time out to share valuable knowledge, not only specific to the web design industry but business in general, eg negotiating, tax, Admin e.g. Pitching, quoting, invoicing, correspondence and much more.

Within Three months of working with Andy, I set up my own Business Starfuse Design. I know this would not of been possible so soon without the masses of support and encouragement from Andy. Every step of the way he was there and happy to help.

I don’t think I could ever have learnt the skills I learned while working with Andy, at university. (Especially the practical skills like negotiating, pitching and admin).
Thank you Andy.

David Letts.

See Dave’s company here http://starfuse.co.uk/