2009 flashed by in the blink of an eye for me.  I don’t think I’ve ever had a year go by so quickly.  This was the year I took part in the fellowship programme.

In spring 2008, I received an e-mail from Talent Scotland telling me about this fantastic new programme developed by The Saltire Foundation and before I knew it, I had passed the intensive 2 day assessment programme, I had rented out my house and I was leaving a well paid job to head off to Boston for 16 weeks; then to St Louis in Missouri for 3 months before coming back home to Scotland to work with a company in Skye for 3 months.  You see, even saying it like….its a quick year!

What it doesn’t indicate is what I learnt in that year.  I learnt so many new business skills and developed some that I already had under my belt; how to segment and target a market, how to read financial documents to understand what is going on in a company, how to raise investment and how to sell myself/a product/or a service much more effectively….amongst many other things.  I also learnt a lot about myself and how I lead/manage others.  I enjoy people; I empathise with them (maybe more than I should at times).  I learnt that this can really help me as a leader as the team you have around you is so vital, the dynamics and breadth of talent must be developed and nurtured. “A business that makes nothing but money is a poor business” (Henry Ford).

These newly honed skills have given me the confidence to start my own business; Touchstone Solutions was started in Jan 2010 and is going strong.  We develop and implement quality systems where none previously existed to provide structure and help organisations increase growth and profitability. 

The network of contacts I built up over the past year has been invaluable in growing my business.  For example, this week I was involved in writing and presenting a workshop on quality systems and their benefits to Royal Society of Edinburgh Enterprise Fellows at The Hunter Centre for Entrepreneurship at Strathclyde University because the director there met with me to chat about my experiences at The Saltire Foundation and it developed into a contract for work.

I also joined the board of a local Social Enterprise Trust to allow me the opportunity to not only give back to the community but to learn so much from an experienced board working in a very challenging environment with tight budgets and constraints.  Here you need to be innovative in your thinking and entrepreneurial in your approach.  I feel very privileged to be involved.

It may sound a bit cheesy but it has to be said that having the experience of the Saltire Foundation fellowship programme has given me the impetus to aim high.  I would have built a ‘lifestyle’ business pre 2009, which is a challenge in itself and if successful, would be fantastic; now, I want to develop a company of scale, I want to have an international organisation and be recognised as a ‘top drawer’ business………………only I stand in my way of achieving this. 

My favourite quote by Henry Ford says it all for me……….”whether you think you can, or whether you think you can’t, you’re probably right”.

Lx