A BUILDER who admitted he was "devastated" after being made redundant and is now running two successful businesses is hoping to inspire others thinking of setting up on their own.

Carl Mintern, who went to school in Dorchester and grew up in the nearby village of Muckleford, was made redundant in 2008 when the building company he worked for in Yeovil collapsed.

As a father of a young child, with rent and bills to pay, he said it was an upsetting time for the whole family.

Carl, now 37, said: "I have never been so upset, it was the first my first long term employment, I had a young family and my wife and I were considering having another child.

"I was absolutely devastated because for the first time in my life I had responsibilities on top of just looking after myself.

"They came in and said the company is folding and you have got a week's work left.

"I had no way of paying the rent for the next month so I had no choice and went round knocking on doors and handing out my details saying I had just been made redundant and was a general builder looking to do anything."

Carl said he was amazed at the response from his the success of going door to door, with his efforts rewarded with more and more jobs.

Eventually he set up his own company, Carl Mintern Building and Landscaping Limited, and says it continues to go from strength to strength, now employing 17 staff.

Earlier this year he also teamed up with a childhood friend who had worked for a fencing company in Dorchester to set up their own business in the county town.

Carl's second venture has also started well and employs four staff, meaning he now employs more than 20 people across his two businesses.

He is keen not to forget the local communities that supported him when times were tough though and once a month Carl, whose building firm is based in Hernstridge just across the Somerset border but covers Dorset, carries out free work for schools and other groups.

He said: "It's just a way of giving something back to the communities that allowed me to get where I am today."

Carl said he was a "completely different person" to the one he was seven years ago and urged anyone thinking of starting up their own businesses to take the plunge and not be disheartened if they do not get it right straight away.

He said: "I would say just do it because you learn more in a week marking mistakes and learning from them than you can in a year at college or reading books."