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I managed to be in the right place at the right time and got myself onto the board of Circular Distributors at the tender age of 28. There was no sales director at this point, so I thought why not? This sounds pretty remarkable now, but at that time CD was part of Brunnings, a provincial ad agency and a public limited company.

Ultimately CD did not fit into what was predominately an advertising agency group and a change of CEO at Brunnings created an opportunity for an MBO. I was one of the four directors who took part in that and, though it was a very exciting time, personally it was about as tough as it gets.

Having just taken out a loan to build a bigger house, mortgage rates flew up while my wife was expecting our second child.

But it was worth it because, as masters of our own destiny, we were able to put our stamp on CD's development. I instigated the launch of Lifecycle Marketing, our lifestage marketing subsidiary. I'm not a risk-taker, but I am a believer in going with your business instinct. Diversification should always be complementary to your core business, and in 1991 we thought there was potential to enter the market for publishing a pregnancy guide which would be distributed through GPs nationwide. My thinking was that direct marketing was a growth business and there was only one competitor in the lifestage market.

Kimberley Clark and Unilever came on board with us to develop Emma's Diary, supported by the Royal Society of General Practitioners. It now has an ABC circulation of 405,735 per edition (811,470 annually). After we created the diary we realised the value of the data we were collecting and created a database for marketing and sampling to young families - one of the most profitable purchasing groups for marketers to target.

Having been poacher for our MBO, I then turned gamekeeper in May 2001 when CD was approached as acquisition target by the Dutch Post Office (TPG Post Group). We weren't courting buyers at the time, but TPG is a good strategic fit with CD - it understands our business and can fund expansion. My advice for those in similar situations is get to know the people in the purchasing company, understand their motivation for buying your business and establish if there's a role for existing management.

For me there was, and now I'm not only still MD of CD and Lifecycle, but also sit on the board of European Mail Networks (an international company within the TPG group). TPG Post UK, the addressed mail business, is run from CD's Maidenhead offices and is also under my management.

An important lesson I've learnt through all this activity is to maintain excellent client servicing, despite your job title, the super-efficient PA and the priority parking space. Clients ultimately pay my salary and they are also a great insight into realising new directions the business should be taking.

The other thing to cherish is staff. I have only ever been as good as those around me and working relationships have to be a two-way street - not just you talking and them listening.

Having mates in the industry who are colleagues or even competitors is not a bad thing and I have made some hopefully lifelong friends, some of whom started out as difficult clients. This business is so close-knit that you never know who you're going to see at the top who may have helped you when you were starting at the bottom.

CV
EDUCATION
- Warwick University BA Hons in Sociology and Business Studies
FIRST JOB
- Waiter in the hotels of North Devon (I can now carry five plates in
one hand)
CLIMBING THE LADDER
- Account manager, Circular Distributors (CD)
- Sales manager, CD
- Sales director, CD
- MD, CD Group
- Board member, European Mail Networks
SECRETS
- Don't shy away from major decisions
- The business you have depends on the team you have built. So have a
diverse and different mix of management skills
- Never forget that you don't have a business if you don't look after
your clients.