HBA Members' Businesses - Home Business Alliance

HBA Member/Home Business Profiles 2006/2007/2008

Each month, we will add to this web page any HBA Members' home businesses which we have featured in our regular journal, The BOSS. This exposure is entirely free of charge and exclusive to HBA Members. If you do not subscribe to the Home Business Alliance already, we hope you enjoy reading about our Members' success and activities and invite you to join our organisation if you want others to know about you and your business!

Index:

#1/New Year 06: Bryan Cath/West Country Walks
#2/New Year 06: Veronique Lazerat/The Saffron Fields of St Blaise
#3/February 06: Philip Nash/A New Format For Your Holiday
#4/March 06: Karen Rowling/Independent Usborne Organiser
#5/April 06: Tony Spiers/Four Four Time
#6/April 06: Jill Bray/English For Elephants!
#7/June 06: Audrey Simpson-Campbell/Avon Sales Leadership
#8/July 06: Stanley Morgan, best-selling author and actor
#9/October 06: Douglas Hunt/Modern Sunclocks Ltd
#10/November 06: Robin Carlyle/fightyourcorner.com
#11 Christmas/New Year 06/07: Dave and Liz Hull/BikeitLikeit
#12 February 07: Rachel Ross/Purely Peppermint
#13 March/April 07: I'm in the garden/Neil Johnstone, VividGreen.co.uk
#14 June/July 07: DVD Workshop/Mark Brewer/www.direct-sourceproducts.co.uk
#15 August/September 07: Dan Glickman and Money Tree Associates
#16 September/October 07: Punctuation Matters and Baroque Jewels
#17 January/February 08: Mike Truscott - Your Opportunity to Make Money as a Writer

#1/New Year 06: Bryan Cath
West Country Walks

Logo - West Country Walks Hello. My name is Bryan Cath and I have been running my own businesses from home since 1973. My first venture was with a very good Home Tune franchise. We specialised in mobile engine tuning, when engines needed tuning because they had points and carburettors. I built this business up to one of the largest within the franchise with five operators, full-time office staff and radio-controlled units. The franchise grew rapidly, I was about their 30th operator and it soon had several hundred around the country. The franchisees started up a Franchise Advisory Board where we advised our franchisor of problems the franchisees were having. I was the Secretary to this Board for several years and got to know a lot about franchising. This franchise was an early member of the British Franchise Association.

Having run the operation for about 14 years engines were becoming more electronically controlled and our market place was slowly dying. I did not want to become a mobile servicing operation so I quickly sold.

There I was looking unemployment in the face for the first time in my life. What to do? Being practical and not wanting to continue in the motor trade, we upped sticks to North Devon and bought a nine-bedroom hotel. The change in pace of life and smallness of this business compared to what I had just sold was awful. I was bored and my guests – no longer called customers - had nothing in common. I was not one to sell up so my wife and I decided to specialise in walking holidays. I walked with the local ramblers around Exmoor and North Devon, learning the area and stories. I made strict criteria that walks had to meet and created and wrote my own. That winter I made six linear walks leaflets of the area including the spectacular South West Coast Path.

I promoted my new venture in the walking and lifestyle magazines and sent out invitations to outdoor journalists to come and try my holidays. Thank goodness it took off. I bought a minibus to take walkers to and from my linear walks. I wrote more walks and created 4, 7, 10 and 14 days packaged holidays. I had enough people booking 10 and 14 day packages to make my average stay 8.2 nights – very high. Journalists started to come for their free holidays and I got some good write-ups which boosted my trade. I bought a larger minibus so had to get an operator’s licence and pass my PSV driving test. I added cycling holidays on the same format as the walking holidays. These took off much more slowly, but that did not matter.

This was now a mad lifestyle. Get up, cook 15 – 25 breakfasts, serve them, choose the walks and rides, make sandwiches, take them out, come back and do prep. Eat, short break and go out and collect them. Cook evening meals, serve them, run the Bar and collapse. Very high job satisfaction, reasonable turnover but high overheads. We lasted 11 years.

I sold the hotel and went to the local tourist board to offer my services as a walking advisor and provider with them marketing my packaged holidays. I drew up a proposal which they accepted and I have been doing that for 8 years. I recommended that we start a walking festival. They agreed and I have just put together the sixth walking and cycling festival which takes place late April, early May each year.

If you like walking or cycling and want to de-stress, give me a call on 01271 883131, http://www.westcountrywalks.co.uk. http://www.cyclingnorthdevon.co.uk and http://www.walkcyclenorthdevon.co.uk

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#2/New Year 06: Veronique Lazerat
The Saffron Fields of St Blaise

Photo - Girl with Saffron Basket In 1999, a young mother with 4 children, decided to quit life in the big city and head for La France profonde, to join her parents who had already retired there and to find a simpler, more harmonious lifestyle for herself and her family.

The acquisition of a house (next to her parents), some land, a few domestic animals including a Vietnamese pot-bellied pig as well as a horse, proved relatively easy. (Rural land prices in France have not degenerated into silly UK values, so someone with even the most modest means can always make a start. Ed.) Yet just as her marriage began to founder, the prospect of a good, long-term lifestyle business not just for herself but also for her children, seemed very far away.

Nor does La France profonde lend itself to intensive “modern” farming, whatever Mr Blair might care to suggest; no more so than many other European agricultural traditions which haven’t yet suffered - and don't wish to suffer - the illegal destruction of their animal stocks and livelihoods to service a corrupt political relationship with the profit margins of just two or three supermarket chains.

Paysans work long, hard, difficult hours and it is only by entire communities sharing their workloads that livings can be made - as EU subsidies rarely find those who need them most! Consequently, this was a hard place to be for a mother and four children about to fend for themselves.

Or was it? Meet our young mother, Veronique Lazerat. Although a qualified and accredited landscape gardener, the countryside is yet again, one of the last places a good landscape gardener is likely to find any work! Having just a couple of hectares of land as she had, wasn’t going to be enough to pay the bills.

On the other hand, what Veronique did have, was an extensive academic and practical knowledge of plants and their cultivation; a professional approach to research; a very basic computer and an internet connection! (Non-broadband.) Her studies had also impressed upon her the need to be able to try and find a “niche” and then to be able to market the idea.

While slowly coming to grips with her domestic life, Veronique began her research into a suitable home-business. Yet it was two years later before she came up with ‘saffron’ - of the crocus sativus variety. Not just as a casual idea: but fully assessed with everything sourced from suppliers to consumers; by-products to outlets; web-site to brochures; media-interest to tourist-value. And she was ready to roll. (Yet another couple of guidelines for the business start-up. Patience and Perseverance.)

Firstly, though, let’s have a look at the attractions of growing saffron.

Otherwise known as “red gold”, it costs around £25 a gramme, or up to £25,000 a kilo. It is the most expensive food luxury one can find; much more so than either caviar or the very best truffles.

Its uses range from that of a colourant to flavouring, its intense natural concentration allowing just one/1 part of saffron to tint up to 100,000 parts of water.

Why so expensive? Because for one kilo of saffron, you need to cultivate and prepare between 100,000 and 150,000 individual plants. By hand. (One person will typically, ‘peel’ 125 grammes of saffron stigma per hour. Or, 8 hours for a kilo . . . but that’s just the harvesting.)

Just a culinary delight? Not at all. Saffron’s qualities have been renown for over 5000 years - although it wasn’t introduced to Europe until the Middle Ages. Nonetheless, it is universally considered to be:

A stimulant
An aphrodisiac
An aid to digestion
A soporific
A treatment for high blood pressure and liver problems, sea-sickness and fever.
The list goes on.

But whatever the additional benefits of saffron might be, Veronique’s mere handful of telephone calls to larger or well -known restaurants in France suggested that she would be able to sell all and any of her production to the catering trade alone. At least, that was the message!

Under most circumstances, such a potential racing certainty would have been enough. Yet, Veronique was anything but a battle - hardened, serial - entrepreneur and she was unsure if everything could be so easy.

Veronique’s intuition, on the other hand, suggested a mix of potential opportunities, feeling her way forward with several possibilities rather than an over-reliance on one, single effort. Above all, she wanted her new business to be something she could hand down to her children and one which would allow them enough scope and variety to continue after their own fashion.

The saffron crocus has a relatively short planting to harvesting period which means that if you are ready to go, then you go; or you wait another 8/9 months. If ALL of Veronique’s plans were to go ahead successfully, then she had to achieve ALL of her targets within a 6 - 8 week time scale. So, this is what Veronique did.

In June 2005, she began preparing the ground, largely by hand. Her plantation had never been used to grow anything before so there was much work to do.

In July, it was time to plant the bulbs. It was a family thing and she depended on a lot of help from Valentin, her eldest son.

By mid - September, it would be time to harvest the flowers; the stigma extracted one-by-one, followed by a drying period during which time 80% of the weight of the freshly-picked saffron would be lost. Lastly, the saffron would need to be stored for one month before being ready for consumption.

It would then be bottled before being sent on to customers all around France. However, Veronique also wanted to keep some back for a regular mail order business which she wanted to supply via the internet: quantities more suited to individual consumption, ranging from just 0.5 of a gramme (20 euros) to 10 grammes (300 euros.)

At the beginning of September, as the harvest approached, Veronique also sent off two dozen letters to her local media to attract publicity for her new venture. The development of her enterprise had been accompanied by a lot of detailed digital photography.
Consequently, her letters to the press, etc, included an interesting selection of high-quality photos. Within a week she and a selection of her photos had appeared in several local and regional newspapers and she had been invited to talk on her regional radio, as well.

Naturally, the local tourist offices pricked up their ears and realised they had another new and interesting venue on their hands. The very first guided tour was quickly organised.

Nor had Veronique been napping! As if . . . She had already anticipated guided tours and a 30 -page handbook about saffron, its history, properties and qualities, various recipes and the start and development of her business, was produced painfully slowly on her desktop inkjet and 20 copies were ready for sale. At a mere 5 euros a copy it would at least encourage visitors to buy a small jar of saffron, she hoped. Came the day, 27 people turned up for their guided tour. The tourist office had only anticipated a dozen or so. Veronique ran out of handbooks . . . but sold almost all her remaining saffron.

In due course, Veronique turned up for her stint on the radio. After the broadcast that very same day, she was contacted by a TV producer who was making a period drama and wanted to film a chase through her saffron fields and her neighbouring woodland.
(It’s all done with pictures and spoken words, you see. Yet how many of you can put your hands on some good quality pics showing you and your business for presentation to the media? Or have some text, all ready to go, to support a chat on your local radio or even TV? Ed.)

Veronique’s publicity campaign was a runaway success. So much so that her father, Jacques, confided to me that she had organised “too much propaganda for her own good; she doesn’t have enough land to meet demand and people will only end up being disappointed”.

A week later Veronique had bought some more land adjacent to St Blaise; next year she will be the second-biggest saffron producer in France.

Yet, Veronique still has another trick up her sleeve. A couple of small oak woods where a lot of felling and clearing has been going on.
But that’s another story . . .

N.B. Veronique didn’t receive a single euro in grants nor will she be eligible for anything because she isn’t leaving her fields fallow or growing maize where there isn’t any water . . . Instead, she’s actually doing something viable. Ed.

http://www.safrandelafontsaintblaiseenlimousin.fr (flash/php and online ordering)

http://www.SaFrandeFrance.fr (html)

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#3/February 06: A New Format for Your Holiday
by Philip Nash, GO/CTE Holidays

GO/CTE are pioneers of a new approach to holidays. Activity holidays are becoming more and more popular. Whatever your interest you should be able to find something to suit you from ballroom dancing to bee-keeping, from any chosen extreme sport to walking. But what you probably will not find is a programme which mixes up many of these things at the same venue. That’s what we do.
This winning format is based on demographic, geographic and economic trends. Demographic trends indicate that many of us in first world countries will be lucky enough to live longer.

Elsewhere in the world people are not so lucky. Life remains as Thomas Hobbes described it “Nasty, brutish and short”. We are the first generation in human history with the chance to live longer than our ancestors and to live better. We live in a time when lifelong learning has true meaning for the first time. This demographic trend has allowed us to think about real quality in the final years of our lives. One of our clients commenting just on Italy created a small equation: “People, pasta, painting perfection”. Put these together in a residential setting and you have the right location and ingredients for “The Good Life”. So we live longer. What can we do with this extra time?

Geography plays a big part in our format. Most of our participants live in northern Europe where it’s cold in winter. Most of them think it would be great to escape at least some of our miserable winter months. As I write this the pundits reckon that the forecast cold winter will kill at least 1000 extra old people each week more than we would normally expect. Geography is on side. We get a bit more of the equation escape and education for fun. This leads to the questions:

Where can we go to escape and how can we create a setting where light-hearted education can be fun? How can we make it affordable for as many people as possible?

We have arrived at the economic part of our equation. Over the past fifty years, the warmer countries in Europe have developed their tourist facilities so that now there are millions of bedrooms on the Spanish costas, in Greece, Turkey, and Italy even in the countries of North Africa. But if you are concerned with what we call quality destinations then places that are merely beach resorts are not good enough. The destinations we find all possess quality defined in part as proximity to a reasonable number of interesting places: not simply towns and cities or countryside but a mix of all of them.

There is an ultimate segment to our equation: people. To find fine places is not enough. We have to find friendly people in situ and interesting people who can hold the attention of a group. Adult education is about creating enthusiasm if possible and at the very least interest. Investigating one’s interests is the core of our approach to holidays.

So our work involves finding suitable venues for our programmes, interesting people to help us run them, negotiating prices that our participants can accept, and finding people who are willing to co-operate with enthusiasm and commitment.

Our largest programme is in Spain where the elements we described above are all present. The programme in Spain provides for twenty or so different activities at the same venue, a four star hotel near Cadiz. The location has been carefully chosen because it has access to a good beach, to local shops and services and there is a 36 hole golf course nearby. Great places large and small are accessible: Cadiz, Seville, Jerez, Marbella, Arcos, Vejer, Ronda and Gibraltar. Many well known resorts in Spain are populated with high rise buildings; just take a look at Benidorm or Torremolinos. Our location (the Costa de la Luz) came late to the scene and strict planning regulations have restricted the height of the buildings to three floors only. This allows the dominant local flora the ubiquitous umbrella pine to rule supreme. So although we are in an urban area and we enjoy all that this implies we can simultaneously feel that we are in a semi rural setting. We get the best of both worlds.

We create for mature people a kind of collegiate atmosphere through educational activity of all kinds without exams or any of the stresses and strains usually associated with any kind of academia. You can play golf or bridge or even crazy kurling with stones on roller skates over marbled tile floors a lot of noise and a lot of fun as well as good exercise for older people; lots of bending an stretching. You can learn how to use a computer or the language of the country you are in be it Spain or Italy. We cannot manage Greek but then everyone in Athens seems to speak English!

Art and music have to play a large role in our holidays. In Spain we have groups learning to paint with two staff members offering radically different approaches to painting and drawing and whole “Art Weekends” within the basic structure. You’ll be able to choose between these different offerings. We have both practical music and music appreciation: in the first you can take an active part; in the second you can sit and listen and expand your knowledge and so enhance your enjoyment of music.

I am a lifelong Italophile but in Italy things are more difficult. Northern Italy is probably the richest destination in the world for our educational purposes but the winter there is severe. Sometimes Venice is colder than Edinburgh and that is saying something. This means we operate in Italy in the spring and only Sicily enjoys a mild climate although even there January can be grim. Italy is a country with frenetic traffic and the strange seaside holidays where you are allocated chair 79, row 117 on a beach in Bibione or Rimini and on most Italian shores. So currently in Southern Italy our programme has located itself on the island of Lipari, no chairs, very little traffic but Italian ambience and in October and average daily temperature of 25°!

My name is Karen Rowling, I am 35 years old and I live in Mirfield, West Yorkshire. I'm a busy mum to Jemma 8 and Megan 2 and stepmum to Lois 16 and Lauren 14. I became an Independent Usborne Organiser in July 2004 and I have never looked back. After a fantastic first Christmas season where I sold more books than I could have imagined and earned enough money to more or less pay for Christmas (no easy task with 4 children to buy for!) I attended my first Usborne event, open to all Organisers. I found out there was a world out there I could never have dreamed of! Hundreds of women (and a few very welcome men!) all selling Usborne Books and making varying degrees of money, from part time incomes up to salaries that match our Prime Minister’s, with one major thing in common – they all loved their jobs!

That was all I needed to inspire me to make Usborne my vision for the future. I promoted to Team Leader in May 2005 and won a boat trip down the River Avon with strawberries and Bucks Fizz in the company of Peter Usborne. I am now building my team very quickly and enjoying every minute!

One of the main people behind my success is my fabulous Group Executive Libby Syddall, who has provided me with help, inspiration and the most fantastic support any Usborne Organiser could wish for! She is always there when I need her, always gives brilliant advice and always finds time to help me with any problems.

Subsequently this is how I manage my own team. I will be always be on hand to help you get started, I will answer any questions you might have and I will give you many fantastic ideas for selling to a public that adores Usborne Books and I will promise you one more thing, I WILL NEVER BE PUSHY AND I WILL NEVER PRESSURE YOU TO SELL OR DO ANYTHING YOU DO NOT WANT TO DO.

The beauty of becoming an Independent Usborne Organiser is that you are starting your own business - you are the boss and you have the freedom to work completely at your own pace.

At the end of the day, when Jemma settles down with the latest Princess Ellie Mystery and Megan curls up on my knee to hear about Poppy and Sam at Apple Tree Farm whilst enjoying finding the little duck on every page, I have the satisfaction of knowing that I am selling a first class product that I completely believe in!

Tony Spiers MBCS, technical director of Four Four Time Limited, is an experienced IT Trainer and Developer. After he took voluntary redundancy in 2004, Tony and his wife Jill, formed a business partnership, and his first assignment was to develop a Project Timer for D C White & Partners Ltd, Consultants in Applied Mechanics, who needed a simple foolproof way for their designers to record time for billing and planning - the type of time tracking needed by anyone who charges by the hour, and no doubt of interest to readers of “The Boss”.

With the success of the Project Timer, the Spiers formed a company to present it to the wider market, and since then have also had great demand from Mac users - and the Mac version will be released in the Spring of 2006, followed by a PDA version later in the year.

The stand alone software will run alongside any computer program and will simply time work at the click of the on/off button. It will produce reports by client, by day, or by chosen date range, and despite its simplicity there are some sophisticated additional features - the most popular being the ability to switch between projects and return to the paused project. There are also the following features- Auto start, Always on top option, Space to add notes, Manual adjustment of time, Auto stop option, Reminder alarm.

The on screen presentation is clear and uncomplicated and non technical clients love the simplicity of operation. Full details of the benefits and features are shown on the website, together with an on line demonstration, case studies and testimonials. The software can be purchased on line. With nothing to learn, automatic opening and simple operation, this software is proving popular at only £49.50 + VAT per licence.

Following the success of the Project Timer, D C White & Partners called upon Tony Spiers’ talents again, when they were working on a large project in 2005.

A leading chemical company in the north had a problem - a large 500 ton pressure vessel which vibrated dangerously on its mountings during its operation. D C White & Partners, designed the new generation vessel and accommodated the vibrations using innovative techniques.

As a part of the process control, details of this movement need to be monitored. Doug White and Tony Spiers worked together to develop a computerised monitoring system running in real time, with 16 sensors around the container giving information shown by group, or by individual sensor, resulting in 154 different displays showing current vibration or trends over the previous year.

Companies are invited to consult Tony Spiers with their own ideas and needs for bespoke software.

Tony Spiers first love is training and he also an acclaimed Trainer and Presenter with many years' experience. His background has been mainly in the airline industry, providing courses all over the world where his love of teaching, diplomacy, respect for differing cultures, and ready sense of humour gained him great popularity.

He can provide courses at all levels of expertise from novice to experienced systems programmer on main frame and real time systems However, at present his bespoke small module courses are proving very popular, for current IT users who want to brush up on systems they use and discover some easy functions and short cuts.

Tony Spiers is a Member of the British Computer Society. More details on the training partnership website.

Photo - Don’t buy another car (private or business) until you have read this!

I have been a member of HBA since 1996 and have found its advice and friendly accessibility invaluable. When I first joined, I was a part-time English teacher and librarian at an independent girls' school in Malvern.

While still teaching, I started writing for business people who wanted their ideas expressed in more effective English. I can spot a missing apostrophe a mile off! Several members of HBA have used my expertise over the past 11 years.

In 1998, the chronic illness of my daughter forced my early retirement. In 1999, I faced a bleak dilemma: the possible loss of all my savings - or the end of my daughter's private hospital treatment. I knew I had the requisite skills, so I started writing. Six weeks and 200 letters later, I had raised over £11,000! I realised that I could help others from my experience, thorough research and ideas, so I wrote FindingFunding for those who find themselves in the position of fundraising for individuals or other good causes. Although primarily designed for medical funding, FindingFunding has many ideas for raising money for education or training; conservation, wildlife or the environment; children or the elderly; cultural orreligious activities, etc. This manual, updated for Internet use, is still available (see Intertrading).

I have had several articles published in national and local magazines and newspapers. I wrote an English grammar course for a London correspondence school for journalists; and a manual for entrepreneurs with information on money-making, copy-writing, mail order, sales letters, news releases, etc.
My hope on retirement had been to be a writer, but this has not yet been realised in the way I had always envisaged as I toiled at the chalkface. However, as long as I can tap my computer keys for some time each day, I am happy. A year or two ago, I did succeed in completing a handbook for study and reference on the English language, English for Elephants. I trust that eventually this fresh, pragmatic and often humorous approach to grammar, spelling, punctuation and style will find its niche on the shelves. Heaven knows, it's needed! Contact me if you can give me advice on this or are interested in looking at it.

If you prefer to present your documents without any annoying 'give-yourself-away' errors, I can help.

" Hire me to check the grammatical content of your website for its accuracy and effectiveness. Is your website noticed for its meticulous professionalism, or for its sloppy slips?
" Hire me to be your mentor when you need to write something important.
" Hire me to ghost-write any document.
" Hire me to proofread or edit any document from an email to an autobiography.

#7/June 06: Audrey Simpson-Campbell
Avon Sales Leadership
Or as Dr McCoy might say to Captain James T Kirk :
"It's network marketing Jim - but not as we know it!"

When was the last time you saw and Avon brochure? 80% of the people I speak to say, "I used to get one ages ago, then the lady just stopped coming. I miss it! I used to order all the time."

My name is Audrey Simpson-Campbell, and as an Avon Sales Leader I seek out new Avon Representatives far and wide! Everyone knows Avon - it's a household name, in fact there isn't a single person I know who doesn't know someone else who is keen to buy Avon products but doesn't see a book any more - so I find these people and ask them if they'd like to show a book around and get their own products at 25% discount as a reward. Simple as that. I worked as an Area Manager for a short time and was astonished to find that there is a constant shortage of Avon Representatives. I've been an Avon Lady for years and it bewilders me why more people don't try it - it is one of the simplest ways of making extra money there is. Nobody really sells Avon at all - it sells itself! It's like magic - give someone a brochure and before long they are asking for a pen because: "That's a really good offer" or "Oh I love Skin So Soft. I haven't had it for ages." or "I'll stock up on sun cream while it's half price" or "Aw look at that cute little baby snuggle suit - my niece will look so gorgeous in that!"

It is such a pleasure to give other men and women the same opportunity to make a tidy income - I earn my living by making new friends!

As a representative I have my own customer base, whose orders earn me 25% commission. As a Sales Leader I manage a team of men and women who are representatives and as my reward for finding them and showing them what I do, I earn a up to 12% of each of their orders - and if they start to find representatives - I also earn a small percentage of their orders, and if those find new representatives, I earn a small percentage of theirs - three layers of opportunity!

Yes it is network marketing but different somehow. Better! My experience of network marketing was never this pleasant. In the past I have had pretty disappointing experiences - see if this sounds familiar - Someone you know has encouraged you to come and listen to someone they know describe "the most amazing business opportunity" - as the enthusiastic person drivels on you can't help but think "Who is this company? What do they sell? Why would they sell that? I have to buy what? Every month? Am I supposed to sell that? Who to? I don't know anybody who would want to buy that? It costs what?!" Then they continue on to describe dazzling earnings figures and show you some video footage of people in the Bahamas trumpeting on about how much they earn - people who have achieved Gold, Platinum, Ruby, Sapphire or Diamond ranking - Ah how you wish you could live on a beach like they do and have money rain into your bank account like that! Before you know it your signature is magically appearing on a contract from the end of the pen you are holding - and you are leaving, floating on a little pink cloud - which pops abruptly when you get home and tell your spouse/housemate/mother "I've just become a {fill in the blank} distributor!" and they say "You distribute what for who now? Why would you want to sign up for that?" If you recognise yourself in here then trust me, take a good look at this. You will find Sales Leadership a refreshing change - there is no doubt that network marketing works beautifully when it works and with Avon you get all the benefits and none of the pitfalls!

With Avon Sales Leadership you won't have to start off by explaining yourself - there is no "Who?", there's no "What?" and there's no "Why?" - just opportunity and rewards.

Sales Leadership works for me because I decide when I work. I spend half of my time enjoying the company of my two smart little daughters Celeste (age 6) and Natasha (age 5) doing stuff we enjoy. All three of us are pretty entrepreneurial - Celeste said that she wondered if we could open up our own hotel and charge £1 a night for people to stay. I asked "Don't you think that might be a little bit too cheap? You have to give them breakfast and clean their room remember." "Ah - your right!" she said "We'll charge £2" Natasha decided that the hotel should have a coin slot beside the door and that when they drop their money in, it would roll all the way along a track to the poor people around the world - aw! If only it were that simple. I'd tried so many jobs that consumed my every waking hour (and most of the sleeping ones too) and decided - life is too short to miss out on my children growing up, doing the things I enjoy and sitting out in the sunshine (when it appears!) and now I have it all!

For more information or to sign up feel free to call me anytime on 0845 4582691 (if you get my answering machine leave me your name and number and I'll call you back for a chat.)

As a writer, I was a late starter. At the age of two my spelling was dreadful. My father, all-seeing, ever-wise, suggested I lay off for a while, things would improve, probably. I laid off for forty years.

And in between? Age ten we were bombed in Liverpool. The canary next door was killed by a piece of Bakelite from their exploding mantel clock. Laugh if you must, but the back-yard interment was a solemn event for everyone but the cat.

Sixteen. Left the Liverpool Institute (Paul McCartney's alma mater - don't you just love dropping names?) All seeing, ever-wise father suggested I embark on a career with the National Provincial Bank - pension at 65 (65!), and a fair chance of a semi in Bootle before death. I succumbed. One did in those days.

Two years in a Wallasey office slightly smaller than a phone kiosk, two years in the army, defending the British Empire in Northern Ireland with a rifle and no bullets, then two years back in the kiosk. I'd had enough. The wide world beckoned. I transferred to the Bank of Nova Scotia, went to Canada, spent a year in a teller's cage infinitely smaller than a phone kiosk, then called it a day.

In the next four years I did umpteen different jobs - sold sewing machines, collected debts and…and…developed an interest in acting. THE SYDNEY S. BROWN SCHOOL OF RADIO DRAMA provided lessons at ten dollars a throw, with a chance to broadcast live on Sunday over CKFH Toronto. More important to my future, though I didn't appreciate it at the time, I was taught to read commercials.

Okay - fast forward five years. I have left Canada and am now seeking fame and rent money in what used to be Southern Rhodesia. Why? Because it was there.

Wonderful country. Uncharacteristically, I am trying umpteen different jobs - shop work, tobacco farming, and stage acting.

Won an award. Best Actor of the Year. And was sponsored to return to London to try my luck at the big time.

1960. Not the best possible time to return. The British film industry was in the doldrums. TV was only really getting started. But…

BUT…TV commercials were being made…and experienced Voice Over artistes were required. And who had learned to read commercials at the Sydney S. Brown School of You Know What?

Lucky break. I recorded over five hundred commercials - Shell, Esso, Kodak, Whiskas, British Army…

With due modesty, it was I who gave James Bond his big break. Playing the casino concierge in Dr NO, it was I who delivered the
MI6 chappy's card to 007, which started the action, which propelled Bond into a lifetime of glamour, fast cars, faster women, etcetera. Fair's fair. If I'd told MI6 to get lost, I was on my tea break, Bond would still be there, playing Snap with Eunice Gayson, and ordering his Complan, stirred, not shaken. And the Bond series wouldn't have happened. Probably.

Started writing while waiting for my theatrical agent to ring. What to write? How about my own frustration at being unable to find the right job, an appropriate direction in life?

Since first appearing in 1969 as The Sewing Machine Man, Russ has enjoyed world-wide adventures in eighteen further novels, which have sold over ten million copies. His latest - TOBIN GOES CUCKOO - is out now, available from http://www.twentyfirstcenturypublishers.com

In semi-retirement, I joined HBA looking for another direction, something new to work at from home, and have to thank Len and the team, at very least, for saving me from a plague of envelope-stuffing scams, and at most for providing me with enough business ideas to last Russ Tobin until he's as old as 007.

But then, not long ago, something quite miraculous happened. A friend told me: 'You have a website'. I said, 'No, I haven't'. He insisted: 'You have. Go look'.

I looked. I have a website. Well, it's really a 'fansite'. A work of remarkable dedication devised and authored by a die-hard Tobin fan ROB FLEAY.

Through the MESSAGEBOARD on the site, and by direct email, I received a gratifying number of requests from fans for 'one more Tobin' - hence Tobin Goes Cuckoo was written and published. Quite a thing - almost forty years after Russ first appeared in The Sewing Machine Man.

Special mention: My dear wife and most ardent fan Linda, without whom it would have been much more difficult, and not half the fun.
And four great kids.

For several years, I had a hobby of 'Sundials' - (you know, those vandal-prone garden ornaments that never quite seem to tell the right time) - and in 1983 a local public park was looking for something to commemorate their 1884-1984 centenary. I had previously designed (but never built) a large ground-level sundial, which would use a PERSON'S OWN SHADOW to indicate the CORRECT time, including an automatic change-over from GMT to British Summer Time.

Anyway, the local council thought that it should be perfect for the park - theft and vandal-proof, cheap to install, public involvement, etc. At that time, I had no business thoughts at all - until unemployment struck 2 years later.

During those 2 years, the level of interest which had been generated locally in what I called a ‘SUNCLOCK’ (children found it fascinating), had led me to think that maybe other people may want to have one as a garden feature - and so having lots of 'time on my hands' (no pun intended!), I then sat down and developed a computer program which would calculate and print sets of Plans & Instructions for setting out my ‘Sunclock’, based on the geographic latitude and longitude of each location.

Being very naive, I had a vision of placing small adverts in the Daily Mail, Christmas Gifts classified section, then collecting loads of orders. It didn't quite work like that, and I only just covered the cost of the advert.

The next Spring (1987), I took out some ads in the 'Gardening' magazines, and very slowly the orders started to come in.
In 1988, I managed to get my Sunclock into the National Garden Festival at Glasgow (a long story), but with over 4 million visitors, my business really started to grow - becoming a nice little 'paying hobby', plus by this time I was also in employment as a Quality Manager after a brief time as a Computer Training Officer.

In April 1989, ‘Gardening from WHICH’ magazine favourably reviewed this concept, (I still get enquiries from that article!) - plus the following year something happened which really made the business 'take-off'.

Unknown to me, the new Schools "National Curriculum" contained a requirement for children to have an understanding of 'Sundials' (don't ask me why) - and suddenly I began to get loads of enquiries from Teachers, who wanted to have the ‘Sunclock’ painted on their playground - both as an educational project, plus a vandal-proof interactive feature.

These became so popular that it is often featured in magazines for Teachers, educational supply catalogues, and is now illustrated within some School text-books, (both in the UK plus USA).

There are several well-known 'Human Sundial' layouts in Britain - such as at Chatsworth House, Longleat, Lincoln Castle, etc.
As well as the novelty appeal of people being part of their own accurate sundial, it is essentially 'theft-proof', plus with the selling-point that every one is totally UNIQUE.

Our website ( http://www.sunclocks.com ) gives you more information, including many photographs of some layouts from Australia to Alaska, and Tasmania to Tibet! A ‘Space-Shuttle Memorial Sunclock’ is due to be completed, fairly soon - at Racine in the USA, made in granite. This is in memory of Laurel Clark, who was one of the astronauts killed in the "Columbia" re-entry accident (2003).

By mid-1991, dealing with all the enquiries or orders (some from as far away as New Zealand) was starting to seriously interfere with my full-time job as Quality Manager - so I took the plunge and went ‘self-employed’, in what I believe is the only business of its kind anywhere in the world, by supplying personalised set of Plans & Instructions for these unusual 'Human Sundials'.

During the winter (when my orders got a bit thin!), I also did some quality consultancy work for companies wanting to achieve the sought-after ISO9000.

When I found an Australian distributor (where our summer is their winter and vice-versa), then I didn't need to worry any longer about 'seasonal variations' - since there is now always a non-stop influx of orders, throughout the entire year. Earlier this year, I also appointed a new distributor to cover South Africa.

So, in twenty years, it has gone from a hobby to a full-time, international business. There are also a few ‘business opportunities’ available, based on my 'Human Sundial' concept: for example, you could re-sell the Layout Plans at your own price, plus make and/or install component-part 'kits' for these. The personalised Plans can just be forwarded via E-mail, from your computer. We supply to you (at a discount) - and you 're-sell', to your own customers. That is the simplest way to be involved, and it requires no 'physical' work.

To give you an idea of the potential profit - you can make concrete kits for roughly 30 Pounds of 'raw materials', which would sell for about 500 Pounds. A wooden kit (from, say, old railway sleepers) could make 300 Pounds profit. Even if you just paint these on school playgrounds, you can make 200 Pounds. (The 'professional' playground-marking firms would charge about 600 Pounds).

Remember that every Sunclock automatically becomes its own advertisement and so generates an ever-expanding chain reaction of further orders for you. For example, my website is visited about 4 times per hour, every single day! (This is visits - page hits is considerably higher than that). I also advise people (for free!) on how to improve their own website rankings.

If you are interested in becoming involved with the 'Human Sundial' concept, (even if you are not sure exactly what options might be best for you) - then please telephone me - Douglas Hunt - for a chat, on 01294-552250, at any time. There is absolutely NO COST to be involved, plus you keep all the profit you make - and so you can think of this as being a free ‘franchise opportunity’. Further details are outlined on our website, at http://www.sunclocks.com/profit.htm

If I had to condense my experiences, into advice for anyone looking to begin their own business, it would be to BELIEVE in the product (or service) - and to PERSEVERE with a mixture of both DETERMINATION and CONVICTION in your own success. I could very easily have let the low response from my initial advert make me forget this whole thing. I'm glad that I didn't, but instead went on to run a unique international mail-order business - which is ‘Banking on Sunshine’!

MODERN SUNCLOCKS - 'Human Sundials', using YOUR OWN SHADOW to tell time.
For further details and photographs, see our website at: http://www.sunclocks.com
Mail Address: 1 Love Street, Kilwinning, Ayrshire, Scotland, KA13 7LQ, UK.
Tel & Fax (UK): 01294 552250. International Tel & Fax: + 44 1294 552250. (Any time.)
E-mail to: modern.sunclocks@fastmessage.co.uk OR sunclocks@ukgateway.net

A ONE-STOP online problem-solving business advice service has been set up for small and medium sized companies in Scotland by a former director of the Edinburgh Chamber of Commerce.

Robin Carlyle believes that his value-for-money team of recommended consultants in a dozen fields ranging from tax and banking through to insurance and health & safety can save firms “time, money and stress”.

The service is available at http://www.fightyourcorner.com - and all the accredited advisers offer an initial one-hour consultation without charge.

The initiative has been welcomed by the Federation of Small Business, whose East of Scotland regional chairman Tim Steward said: “Small businesses often have neither the time nor the expertise to get the best deal for themselves and any help from experts is always welcome, particularly when all other avenues have been exhausted.”

The enterprise is supported by Business Gateway and Edinburgh Chamber of Commerce, with the Chamber’s director Alasdair Kerr adding: “This is a quality business that will add value to the Scottish business community.”

Among the official recommended consultants at http://www.fightyourcorner.com are:

Glasgow’s and Edinburgh’s Law At Work – for employment law and health & safety;

Invocas Business Recovery and Insolvency, of Aberdeen – for corporate recovery.

The man behind http://www.fightyourcorner.com was inspired to set up the service after a friend was about to be charged a £1,300 arrangement fee by a bank for a property transaction. “I got it down to £500 – and then I realised that this was the kind of challenge that smaller businesses frequently face,” said Robin Carlyle, who is based in North Berwick. “With so many more companies using the internet for sourcing suppliers, I believed they could benefit from an easy-to-access and affordable advice service.

“From advice and help with everyday business issues such as book-keeping to high level specialist help with employee dispute tribunals, the right specialist can save businesses time, money and stress.”

The service is initially restricted to Scotland, but aims to expand elsewhere in Britain once it becomes established north of the border.

The web site is free for use by businesses. Additional potential consultants – who are given exclusivity in their field of expertise and location - can also get in touch with Robin Carlyle via the web site or call him on 01620 894331 or 07957 862813.

For further information, please contact: Robin Carlyle on 01620 894331 or 07957 862813, or email robincarlyle@fightyourcorner.com

For the last ten years our preferred holiday mode has been cycle tourism. Apart from the Australian tours we have done such as Tasmania's East Coast, The Great Ocean Road in Victoria and The South Coast of NSW, our most enjoyable holidays have been our three last tours in France.

THE START OF AN IDEA

On one of these cycling holidays in the Dordogne area we kept bumping into organised rides with hordes of cyclists .... in the hotel for dinner, eating lunch ‘en plein air’ in the museum precinct, exploring the Neolithic caves at Les Eyzies.

Little would I have believed that Elizabeth’s fantasy of starting our own cyclo-touring business would actually become a reality, as she jokingly commented, “With all the experience we’d gained . . .” as cyclists researching bikes, maintaining them, selecting bike-bags for our touring holidays and organizing routes and selecting hotels for our own nights, “Surely it would be possible to share this expertise and find a clientele to share these wonderful and healthy holidays” - such as we had enjoyed so often!!

So began our business - bikeit-likeit.com

Bikeit-Likeit.com finally brought us here to Auzances in the Limousin, one of the most tranquil and beautiful regions of France.

Our search ended in a depart-ement called La Creuse where we cre-ated our small enterprise to enable us to live, work and cycle in France in an area where we had experienced among the best of our cycling holidays.

Our rides were so dreamlike with wonderful, early morning mist lifting off the lakes, the sound of swallows, the crane or buzzards overhead and the silent, limpid gaze of those huge Limousin cattle as we passed by green pastures and hedgerows alive with birds and fauna. Interesting vistas at every turn in the road: the joy of capturing a feeling of history preserved in the solid farm buildings constructed by the same master stonemasons who built much of Paris, as we pedalled silently through remote villages.

This place has to be the most cycling - friendly land of quiet, almost deserted country lanes imaginable, with its amiable, unhurried locals, great food and scenery.

With our business name Bikeit You'll Likeit registered we set off to explore the fascinating area of the Creuse and adjacent Allier departments. What fun it has been seeking out interesting rides, locating historic buildings, meeting artisans such as the weavers of Aubusson and Felletin like those that produced tapestries for the kings of France for hundreds of years.

Of course no opportunity for sampling the restaurants and auberges, champignon festivals and dinners, was missed - some of these would feature in our tours. We photographed the places we came to in all seasons, to include on the website and finally came up with our first tour taking in the best of our new knowledge.

The result is our newly designed website offering tours from April 2007. We recommend the joys of eco-cycling, healthy holidaying while exploring the cultural and historic aspects of the French countryside, developing strength and fitness, at a pace to suit individual needs without anxiety or stress.

David was the Dean of Visual and Performing Arts at the University of Western Sydney and remains a well-known artist. He and Elizabeth, a teacher and librarian, had been regular visitors to France for many years. Prior to moving to Australia in 1972 the two lived in Vancouver, Canada and before that, the UK. (David is a ‘Geordie’.) At 62 years of age a new beginning has regenerated the batteries and life still remains vital and interesting.

Having your home or office unorganised and straining under a large amount of clutter is very stressful and will prevent you from achieving all you want.

Purely Peppermint is a company committed to creating an environment for your success. We can help you organise any space that is not being used to its greatest potential. Whether it is your spare room which has turned into a junk room, a dining room which you can’t get into, let alone eat a meal at the table or your home office which is overrun with files, folders and months of unopened mail.

Purely Peppermint specialises in offices, they could be in the middle of town or in the middle of your house. We work with individuals and businesses creating the ideal set up of the office space, establish practical and simply filing systems and have a good clear out of all the clutter. Once the physical space is organised we also look at what makes working from home a success by setting boundaries, improving time management, finding work/life balance and better habits.

Everything we do is designed specifically to your need, the space you have, your family situation and the type of job you do.
Have a look at www.purelypeppermint.com for further information and sign up for the ‘Working from Home’ newsletter.

Being organised is a learnt skill and I certainly learnt that several years ago. Working in a cluttered, unorganised mess while at college studying fashion designing, caused me an unbelievable amount of stress. Steps needed to be taken, my space was de-cluttered, re-organised and I finished college with flying colours. Now I needed to spread the word about the benefits of becoming more organised and Purely Peppermint was born.

I am Canadian born but have been living in the London for nearly half my life and enjoy what the city has to offer, like taking in a play, or visiting a museum.

The two at the top of the list of what I enjoy the most, are sports and being creative. When there is a bit of spare time I take the chance to draw, design, cut and sew something original. Sport ha