My business partner and I purchased a long established fireplace shop whose owners had let slip into a decline, so I saw this as an exciting opportunity to revive an old business. I worked 7 days a week for 4 years and transformed a dowdy tired shop into a more friendly and inviting customer environment. Within 2 months, I had managed to bring the business back into profit and employed 2 workers to help me. I formed connections with national suppliers and local installation engineers and liaised with customers to ensure they got the best customer service right from when they entered the shop to organising the delivery and fitting of the fireplace in their homes.

The company specialised in textile materials used for clothing, work wear and curtain manufacturing with main customers including Marks and Spencers, Thomas Burberry, Osborne and Little other large UK retailers and manufacturers.Whilst I was Director of Sales the business expanded and acquired a competitor called Meldex. I was part of the team which insured a smooth transition of the takeover. In doing so, I amalgamated the sales force, developed new sales strategies and project managed the move to larger premises.As the company grew it became apparent that in order to meet customer demands we needed to reduce our costs so we moved our warehouses offshore and opened up in Morocco, Malaysia & Sri Lanka. I travelled every few months to these locations whilst still managing the business in Manchester.