Told by a short-sighted careers adviser at fifteen that “Girls don’t become doctors”, Julie missed the chance to do the one thing she had always dreamt of doing. She lost interest in her education, dropped out of school after GCSEs, and ended up in a Civil Service administration job.
Her career became a series of opportunities and setbacks, but by 1985 Julie was running a thriving design studio in the West End. Life was good, salaries were generous and the business was growing fast, but Julie realised that although her design knowledge was second to none, there were gaping holes in her knowledge of running a business. And why shouldn’t there be?
As businesses grow, there isn’t usually anyone saying to the owner “Now you need to go and learn about A, B and C”. And even if you do realise that you need to know more, how do you find out what it is that you need to know? Or where you can find out? You’re usually too busy growing your business to think about it anyway.
Years later, when Julie sat amongst a roomful of budding entrepreneurs on a course, she realised that none of them were going to plough through the mountain of information they had been given. She was an avid reader, but even she would have been daunted by all that inaccessible information.
“Someone ought to put all the important bits of that information into one book,” she mused. “Someone ought…”, “Someone ought…”, she kept thinking, on numerous occasions over the next couple of years. Then, semi-reluctantly (knowing how much hard work it would take), Julie decided that she would have to do it herself.
The Essential Business Guide was the result. After a successful Brighton test, and rapidly gaining a reputation as the ‘small business bible’, the UK edition of the Guide was published in June 2005, with Microsoft as title sponsor. The book has received enthusiastic reviews, and is selling well all over the country.
Julie is a familiar figure in the small business community in the South East, and is becoming well known throughout the UK through her many speaking engagements. She specialises in bringing to life the realities of running your own business day to day, the highs and lows, the joys of success, the despair and the fallout that failure brings with it, and strategies to survive it all.
Her career became a series of opportunities and setbacks, but by 1985 Julie was running a thriving design studio in the West End. Life was good, salaries were generous and the business was growing fast, but Julie realised that although her design knowledge was second to none, there were gaping holes in her knowledge of running a business. And why shouldn’t there be?
As businesses grow, there isn’t usually anyone saying to the owner “Now you need to go and learn about A, B and C”. And even if you do realise that you need to know more, how do you find out what it is that you need to know? Or where you can find out? You’re usually too busy growing your business to think about it anyway.
Years later, when Julie sat amongst a roomful of budding entrepreneurs on a course, she realised that none of them were going to plough through the mountain of information they had been given. She was an avid reader, but even she would have been daunted by all that inaccessible information.
“Someone ought to put all the important bits of that information into one book,” she mused. “Someone ought…”, “Someone ought…”, she kept thinking, on numerous occasions over the next couple of years. Then, semi-reluctantly (knowing how much hard work it would take), Julie decided that she would have to do it herself.
The Essential Business Guide was the result. After a successful Brighton test, and rapidly gaining a reputation as the ‘small business bible’, the UK edition of the Guide was published in June 2005, with Microsoft as title sponsor. The book has received enthusiastic reviews, and is selling well all over the country.
Julie is a familiar figure in the small business community in the South East, and is becoming well known throughout the UK through her many speaking engagements. She specialises in bringing to life the realities of running your own business day to day, the highs and lows, the joys of success, the despair and the fallout that failure brings with it, and strategies to survive it all.
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