The King of Shaves brand was created by Will King in the depths of the UK recession in the early 1990's.

Following redundancy, King decided to build his own business, King of Shaves, and his first product was shaving oil, which solved his personal problem with shaving - razor burn. It wasn't long before he was filling thousands of small plastic bottles in the kitchen of his home, and then his big break came when he landed a deal for Harrods to stock his product in September 1993, followed by Boots in May 1994.

Fast forward seventeen years and today over thirty different King of Shaves brand products, including the iconic wet shave system razor, the Azor, are stocked in all major outlets across the UK as well as being available in the USA, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, South Africa and Brazil.  King of Shaves products are also sold throughout America in a landmark distribution deal with Remington and the company has recently launched its first electrical range, sold exclusively in Argos.  Combining its wet shave hardware and software products, King of Shaves is second only to Gillette in the UK, and King is a multi award-winning businessman, and considered by many as one of the UK's most creative and passionate entrepreneurs.

Will King took the time recently to speak to Entrepreneur Country about being the master of his own destiny and S.P.A.C.E. Reading the title for this article you may have scoffed at 'lazy' writing, I mean, how easy is it to play on the title of an Oscar winning British film and the name of one of Britain's most successful and charismatic entrepreneurs?

Very easy- which is precisely why Will King did it- releasing a 3min YouTube parody of The Kings Speech to promote his King of Shaves brand. The result is a viral triumph, viewed and tweeted about by thousands (even if it is unlikely to win Will a best actor nod).

Entrepreneur Country caught up with the King of Shaves at the Southampton University Fish on Toast Society where he was speaking to a packed audience about his entrepreneurial journey, becoming the master of his own destiny and on the importance of S.P.A.C.E.

The self-styled King of Shaves could quite easily have called himself the King of Cool. He’s energetic, charismatic and confident but as he talks about his entrepreneurial journey it is clear that the dynamism and spark he shows today was hard fought as he battled to make a success of a fledgling business.

The backdrop to the ascendency to the throne for the King of Shaves bears a remarkable resemblance to the current troubled economic climate. It was during the early 1990’s, amidst rising unemployment, falling house prices and a turbulent recession that Will King, a successful advertising salesman found himself redundant, living in a flat with his girlfriend and struggling for direction.

Growing up in Suffolk, the eldest of three boys to two teachers at the age of 15 he was Britain's youngest sailing instructor. Despite an educational background in engineering, the young King had never succeeded in fulfilling his dream of becoming a yacht designer but did possess an ability to analyse and resolve problems. Faced with redundancy his moment of clarity came when pondering a solution to a perennial problem for many men- trying to get a close and effective shave. His experimental solution was to try his girlfriends oil lotion as opposed to the traditional shaving foam.

Buoyed by the results of his impromptu experiment Will backed by some market research and £15,000 seed capital from family and friends decided to take his first tentative steps into the world of manufacturing- the opportunity to hand-fill 10,000 bottles of shaving oil in the kitchen of his girlfriends flat.

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It took nearly two weeks and blistered hands before he was finished- and that’s where the hard work really started- getting retailers to stock his product. First year results would have been enough to have scared off most- sales amounted to just £300 on costs of over £30,000. King now describes that period of his life as like "living in the valley of death".

Convinced that his shaving oil was better than what his competitors' were offering, King persevered. With a quiet chuckle to himself he concludes that ignorance can at times be a good thing. “If I had known back then when I was starting out that I was about to compete with a $60bn company like Gillette, I may have thought twice about it.” But Will is not the type of individual to give an inch in the face of adversity, “there wasn’t a product like mine on the shelves, so I guess the result was that ignorance plus a great product equalled success.”

“If you are going to be a success out there you have to work bloody hard.”

"In the 1990’s people shaved with a can of foam so a small bottle of oil was clearly something different,” explains Will. His first real ‘win’ was managing to get hold of contact details for Mohamed Al Fayed's personal assistant and persuading Harrods to take an order for 12-bottles of his King shaving oil. As Will reminisces, “it wasn't much but it was enough that I could go to a major retailer like Boots and be able to say that "I'm in Harrods"- it opened doors”.

“I learnt very quickly how important it was to project confidence. I thought I might have a good product but if you want retailers to stock your product and customers to buy it you need more than to just ‘think it’s good’ you have to believe in it 100 percent and believe and have confidence in yourself.”

Meeting Will, just weeks after he has signed a major deal to take King of Shaves to the United States, it is difficult to imagine that he could ever have doubted his own confidence or ability. He’s adamant that not all successful business people are born with the skills or confidence, “not everyone is necessarily born an entrepreneur. You can create it, you need the a great product.”

What Will King clearly has is a natural knack of understanding his market and leveraging new media. In 1995, knowing that he couldn't match the marketing spend of the likes of Gillette he bought the domain name shave.com for $35. At a time when the Internet was still a largely unknown and under utilised entity, King set up a blog through which the King of Shaves built a cult following. Will’s successful career in advertising clearly continues to stand him in good stead- his first blogs in the 1990’s are now backed by ingenious viral marketing campaigns, such as his King’s Speech Youtube video, and the prolific use of social media such as Facebook and Twitter where Will personally interacts with customers.

Donned in denim jeans, black leather jacket and of course freshly shaven Will is the antipathy of anti-boardroom spirit- there’s no doubt there’s a time and place for a suit but he’s confident, relaxed and energetic and there’s no doubt that he genuinely enjoys what he’s doing. But as he explains success is down to hard work, “Simon Cowell is a 20-year over-night success. He got where he is because of hard work and a love and belief in what he was doing. I love what I do but I know I have to work hard to be a success in this market.”

The King of Shaves business continued to lose money until 1997, when it turned a modest profit of £125,000 on sales of £1.25m and in 1998 he approached the fashionable clothing retailer Ted Baker offering to design a range of fragrances- a pitch which secured him a worldwide fragrance licensing deal.

Today in the UK, King of Shaves has a 13% share of the estimates £59m shaving ‘software’ market, which covers oils, foams and gels but King notes the bigger challenge, "the razor blades market is worth around £550m. of which Gillette has an 85% market share by value, Wilkinson Sword around 10% and that is pretty much it."

“So I guess I’m lucky really, I’ve only got two competitors to keep an eye on, Gillette and Wilkinson Sword, and as long as they’re going in a different direction to me then that suits me just fine. Besides, it’s nice not having to worry about having Tiger Woods and Roger Federer on my payroll.”

King of Shaves retail sales are expected to top £100m by the end of 2012 as it looks to expand to Brazil, Japan and the lucrative US markets, where he will take on his largest competitor, Gillette through a distribution partnership with the owner of electric razors brand Remington.

Eighteen years on from it’s launch the King of Shaves brand sells a product every 3 seconds and is stocked by every major retailer in the UK. A company born during the last recession has successfully weathered the most recent one through a sound business plan and strong brand image. King is adamant in his belief that, “great businesses will prosper and that a recession remains a great time for start-ups who are willing to seize opportunities. In a boom, cash is king as everyone is making money, but in a period of gloom, creativity is king. Look at the fashion industry- the likes of Ted Baker, Fat Face and White Stuff were all created in the last recession."

Will King is clearly a man on a mission to change the face of shaving, not just in the UK but around the world. He is clear about the challenges of going head to head with the likes of Gillette and their massive marketing spend. "Awareness is our biggest competitor now," he believes. "This is a British company, making a British-designed and British-manufactured razor sold in Britain and growing nicely home and abroad. "

For a man who is still enjoying the highs and lows of the entrepreneurial rollercoaster Will King remains as passionate about his business, it’s people and customers as the day he started. His successes have enabled him to indulge his passions of sailing and working with young aspiring entrepreneurs and he sees this as just reward to the hard work he has and continues to put into his business. Many entrepreneurs will share a quote or advice that has inspired them- when Will speaks at schools or universities he shares a philosophy S.P.A.C.E.

S- enjoy the satisfaction of success

P- be passionate and persistent in order to achieve

A- have the attitude of action- just get on and do it!

C- align confidence with common sense

E- enjoy, enthuse and exceed at everything you do

Whilst the giants play it safe with traditional marketing campaigns, King is ambushing a bigger market share through a clever use of low-cost campaigns on social networks such as Facebook and Twitter. He is innovative, passionate and has his finger on the pulse of what consumer want- but he certainly is not complacent.

“Impossible is nothing; just get on a do it. But do something great; there is no market for average, mediocre or okay.”