From Bank Clerk To EntrepreneurWritten by Carolyn James
What seems like a century ago, I left school and joined a well-known High Street Bank. In those days working as a bank clerk was a well-established route for many school leavers and perceived to be a proper job with prospects. It wasn’t long before I became disillusioned with world of banking and sought a change of job. In complete contrast to my previous job, I became a clerk in local hospital dealing with injured and infirm, but it was a role that I found strangely interesting and rewarding. In today’s parlance, it is known as job satisfaction. My career progressed rapidly and after working in a number of different departments I became Admissions Officer of a major regional hospital where I soon gained valuable front line experience. There is nothing more conducive to honing your powers of communication, persuasion, resilience and empathy than dealing with people when they are at their most vulnerable. Working in an Accident and Emergency Department definitely puts one’s life completely into perspective and is like being part of a TV medical soap opera. My career came to halt when I met my husband and moved away from area. I have to admit that back in early 70’s marrying and having obligatory 2.4 children was still acceptable norm, although liberation for women was gathering pace. Being a conservative soul, I slipped into mainstream and before I knew it I was wife of a career man and mother of two children living in a three-bed semi. Returning to work was not a consideration and this proved to be a sensible decision as my husband was posted to four different locations throughout UK in space of 6 years. At end of this period, children were at school, our relocation days were over and we were finally able to establish some roots and settle down as a family. It was time to start considering my own needs and to plan a return to mainstream work environment. This was not an easy thing to do after almost seven years of raising a family, but I plucked up courage and found myself back in health care sector as a part time receptionist at my local doctor’s surgery, a role that I found very satisfying. My confidence increased and my job gave me a focus outside of my immediate family. I regained some independence, earned my own money and met a new circle of friends. At last I had an opportunity to talk about something other than children and I felt that old grey matter was once again being stimulated! After a while, novelty of working in a doctor’s surgery wore off and I felt that I needed a fresh challenge. At same time my husband also felt that he had had enough of corporate life and wanted to do something completely different. For a couple that had had a very structured life, crossroads seemed to be particularly difficult to negotiate. After two years had passed and a couple of false starts, I decided that I wanted to pursue my own business interest with a little bit of help from my husband. He had pursued a portfolio career and had time and expertise to help me develop my plans and make sure that I was on right tracks. The idea was quite simple and was borne out of my own frustration of finding quality lighting products locally for home. Although we didn’t live in an isolated area, we still had to travel at least forty miles to find a lighting outlet that sold, what I considered to be, quality lighting. Upon further investigation, I found that there are many areas in UK that are not well served with lighting shops and therefore I felt that there must be an opportunity to fill this gap in market.
| | Don't Wait for Tax Time to Look at the Bottom Line Written by C.J.Hayden, MCC
A curious thing happens to entrepreneurs in spring of every year. They wake up one day and realize they had better figure out how much money they made last year so they can pay their taxes. But wait, shouldn't a business owner already KNOW how much money he or she made last year, last quarter, or last month? If you don't keep track of how much money you're making, you have no idea whether your business is successful or not. You can't tell how well your marketing is working. And I don't just mean you should know amount of your total sales or gross revenue. You need to know what your net profit is. If you don't, there's no way you can know how to increase it. If you want your business to be successful, you need to make a financial plan and check it against facts on a monthly basis, then take immediate action to correct any problems. Here are steps you should take: Create a financial plan for your business. Estimate how much revenue you expect to bring in each month, and project what your expenses will be. If you need it, get help from business planning books, software, or an accountant. Review plan monthly. Even if business owners take time to prepare a financial plan with profit and loss projections, they often let it sit in a drawer. It's not enough to have a plan -- you have to review it regularly. Remember that lost profits can't be recovered. When entrepreneurs compare their projections to reality and find earnings too low or expenses too high, they often conclude, "I'll make it up later." The problem is that you really can't make it up later: every month profits are too low is a month that is gone forever. Make adjustments right away. If revenues are lower than expected, increase efforts in sales and marketing or look for ways to increase your rates. If overhead costs are too high, find ways to cut back. There are other businesses like yours around. What is their secret for operating profitably?
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