Defining Moment

I always thought that business was something that other people did. I’ve never had tonnes of confidence and I’ve never been officially trained in business. To say I was a businesswoman when I first started out made it seem like I knew something about… read more

Lifestyle Story

It’s about living with yourself at the end of the day, being able to do something that you can make an impact on. Whatever comes out of my mouth is mine now; I don’t have to go through five other people for permission to say something. Also, if I think… read more

Lifestyle Story

I never had tonnes of confidence, but I’ve got a lot more since I started the business. I’m having the best time in the world now.… read more

Secret

What I wanted to change was massive; it was a better outcome for children. But if you’ve got something that you believe in, don’t change that core. I think if I tried to be too clever, thinking oh there’s money there, we can bring in more people to do… read more

Secret

People are very honest about their mistakes, and very generous with their time. I’ve picked up great advice from people who have said, you need to do this, or have you thought about that. That kind of knowledge could take a business forever to learn,… read more

How I...

Inter Nannies ran for a year and a half until our partnership broke up amicably. It had worked well at the start; I liked doing the creative stuff like marketing which up until then I hadn’t realised was a business skill. I think the reason why the… read more

How I...

I’ve got a great team around me. With lecturers, unless you give them the freedom to create and to be responsible as teachers and let them use their skills, then you get dissatisfied people. My team come in and they solve problems. They’re not just… read more

How I...

When I started out on my own in 2001, I tried to partner a local college so I could have a code of practice. I’d got people to a level 1 but I wanted to move them to a level 2 so I asked if I could run accreditation through them. That college kept me… read more

Pearl Of Wisdom

When I was younger, I thought all business people did was take advantage of people to make money. Sharks in suits really. I think that’s the public perception of entrepreneurs: just people who chase cash. However, the most successful people I know have… read more

Pearl Of Wisdom

There’s things about creativity that creates entrepreneurs, it’s all about taking risks in order to get something accomplished. If we risk assess everything, we can’t do this because we can’t take the money out, it’s the world gone mad. People need the… read more

Pearl Of Wisdom

If you’re thinking of starting up your own business, do it, because anybody can. In fact, you can probably do more than you think you can and it’s probably the best experience you’ll ever have. It was the best thing I ever did. Make sure you ask for… read more

Challenge

The trouble is, my business is a small business but it competes with big business: schools and colleges. I’ve got to be different and responsive. I’ve got to know where government policy’s going to go and design programmes that are flexible to the… read more

Challenge

We pay more than the university pays, so I could go out tomorrow and probably recruit lots of people, but they wouldn’t necessarily be right for the business. It is difficult to find people and get them engaged. We have a core team of five people who are… read more

Success

I’ve found that it’s been dead easy to delegate jobs. I’ve lost some of the one to ones with people, but I’m doing much more exciting things now. I sit in on the Sector Skills Council and represent the UK on the board. I sit there, trying to pinch… read more

Support Story

I get my support from my family: my husband and my two girls. My husband has never said, don’t do it. He understood that if I felt I could, then I probably would, so I’ve been very fortunate there. My girls think the business is great; they’re always… read more

Support Story

I didn’t go for many business support organisations when I started. We got a small grant from Business Link when we started up, and got various support from business advisors. The worst advice was from people who hadn’t done business themselves. Ex… read more

Support Story

We tend to listen to what businesses need. We’ve got a lot of help from Tedco who’ve been fantastic. Business Link were useful in the sense that I had people to talk to. It’s also really helpful to listen to role models. It could be a completely… read more