About Mat…

Rosie, the cat

It’s really quite difficult writing objectively about yourself and as I sit here I’m a bit stuck as to where to start! I’m currently, just 40 years old so my thirty-something years are now gone…

I live in the Vale of Belvoir in Leicestershire with my Daughter, Wife and cat Rosie. Ever since I first had chance to earn money, I knew I wanted to work for myself – mainly because I’m not very good at being told what to do by people who aren’t sure why they’re telling you what they’re telling you! It all started back when I was 16 years old and had chance to sell some books on a Sunday market with my Dad and a mate of his.

I offered to go and help and from the get-go I realised I enjoyed trying to work out how to engage someone I didn’t know, with a view to selling them as much as I could.

This led to working on market stalls around the Midlands and ultimately became our first business – and our first major failure. Our current family business is Stray’s Limited and has been trading successfully for several years. It’s a great business and is growing steadily and has been since we started. It’s the culmination of what we got wrong after having to close the doors on two businesses and start again from scratch.

Here are a few things I’ve worked out on this journey called life…

I believe that it’s people that make businesses work. Yes, we have widgets and gizmos but even from the age of 16, I realised that people make businesses work or fail…

I also realise that people’s attitudes to failure can cause major problems in business and let’s face it, life. But that’s a much bigger subject that I’ll write about at some point very soon. I love to share with people – and have had the opportunity to share my experiences with New Business Startups when I worked with Business Link, presenting courses to help people get started successfully.  I met different sorts of people from different walks of life, all with a view to taking control of their lives and setting up in business for themselves.

Another thing I’ve learned is that, whilst I’m a self-confessed control freak, I’ve also realised that you can’t do everything yourself.

That’s one of the reasons why my family business is working so well. We’re a team of four, with different skill sets that we bring to the table – the culmination being a very strong team of mavericks who are prepared to work any problem into a solution! we have surrounded ourselves with good people in our team at Stray’s and the results surprise us, to this day.

Personal Stuff…

First ride on my Marin...

I love mountain biking and one of my long-term goals is to have enough time and money to spend time in unusual locations, riding my bike up and down hills very fast! Not that I’m sad or anything but my bike was one of my rewards for a goal I set. The bike was expensive and the goal was quite big.

I’m big on setting goals and then pursuing them as if my life depended on it…

I’m also very keen to deliver the news, regardless of whether the recipient likes the answer. I’ve had the benefit of having Jeannette Tokeley as a friend and she recognised my ‘D’ personality trait and fortunately for me, Jeannette recommended a book to help me soften my delivery – ‘Winning without Intimidation – by Bob Berg’. That said – I remember what a mentor of mine told me several years ago at an Amway conference back in the days when that seemed like a good business idea – he said:

I have the solution to your problem – either take the solution or keep your problem…

I have held that ethos dear ever since and it has served me well – keeping me open minded and prepared to change my approach to a situation if required. Thanks Fred!

I have a daughter who is currently six going-on-twenty and am very happily married to Diane and we’ve been together since 1999. The two girls in my life make my days bright – even when it rains. The other girls in my life are my sisters Liz  & Becca and mother Jane. My biggest influence comes from my Dad Brian who has an unusual take on life – I’m learning more from him now than I ever have – I see him less but the things he taught when I was too young to understand or appreciate, are starting to influence the way I work in a positive light today and every day.

He taught me some really important yet simple stuff:

• never wait for anyone – if you wait, you’ll wait forever because it’ll never be as important to them as it is to you
• there’s nothing you can’t sort out if you’re prepared to work harder than the person creating the challenge
• don’t take ‘no’ for an answer – if you get a ‘no’, ask someone else…

You can see, he is quite a character – but he has a lot of friends too – he’s earned them.

I believe failure is an important part of success – that doesn’t mean I aim to fail for the fun of it, but I know that sometimes getting it wrong is part of teaching us what we need to change in order to win. And failure tests how badly you want to win. As my friend Simon toasted at a meal we had recently ‘ nothing is ever lost, wasted or forgotten’…

I also believe passionately about fairness. As another mentor of mine said – “Mat, you need to be a man of velvet and steel. Love people, even when it means hurting them – it’s called tough love and as far as I’m concerned, there’s not enough of it in business or life these days…