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Lorraine Pearce
Lorraine shares her story .........
Over the years I have worked for some big names such as BMW and John Laing Construction but it was when I joined the Chamber of Commerce that I began to understand the problems that small companies face. I became fascinated by what the big companies did right and how this could be applied to the smaller companies right down to one-man-bands. After a spell working for a water cooler manufacturer I decided to start my own water cooler company. Of course I was told that I would never make it. The industry, even today is almost solely male dominated but I soon found out that there are successful women in nearly every field of business and with their help I started my company with four coolers, a small van and a dozen bottles of water. I joined every networking group I could, becoming the Chairperson at a branch of BNI for a while, and through this, good advertising and bloody hard work I built the business up step by step. It was through this that I met and became friends with other women running successful businesses from translation agencies to accountants, from graphic designers to life coaches. I even arranged an informal networking group which we affectionately referred to as PMS! It was less about doing business and more about discussing the problems, issues and frustrations that face professional women day to day . These meeting were conducted over a meal and a few drinks in a local restaurant. Who says you can't mix business with pleasure!
It was around this time that the Bedfordshire Business Women awards were mentioned to me and a number of my friends encouraged me to enter. I can't remember what the prize was now but as it was sponsored by Nat West I am sure free business banking was involved. Anyway, entries were for a variety of categories with the overall winner being picked from them. I knew several other entrants and thought I had no chance but I if you don't try...
The awards were given out at a lunch and I was completely shocked when I won my category(owner business) so you can imagine how I felt when I was awarded the overall prize of Bedfordshire Business Woman of the Year for 2001. Over the Moon doesn't come close.
It was another two years before I decided to sell my company ( for a profit ) to a well known National water cooler company and move here to Spain, a long cherished dream of mine. But success rarely guarantees more success and since coming here I have experienced failures as well but that is part of the growing process and it taught me one thing: Business tends to make the same mistakes over and over again. Not through lack of commitment, drive or passion but through lack of knowledge and having the right people to ask for advice. My vision in setting up Touchstone is to provide that service and help others make their business thrive. I want to make business work.
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