From the age of seven the majority of my free time was spent learning Karate and by the time I was fourteen I had become the British Champion (under 75kg) and I successfully defended this title for six years in a row. When I was eighteen I entered the European Championship (under 90kg) and went on to win the title for the next two years. I didn’t see a long term future in Martial Arts so I decided to gain some skills by studying IT and Sports Science at Rochdale College. After finishing college I began looking for work mainly to pay the bills while I figured out what I wanted to do with my life.

I answered an advert in the Manchester Evening News and went for my first interview at one of The Tuscan Organisations offices in Manchester. I was immediately struck by how friendly everyone was and I was excited about the prospect of gaining some work experience and starting to earn some money.

After a short period of time I had completed the Sales Programme and was offered the chance to move on to the Business Development Programme. It was during this period that I really started to understand the opportunities which were available to me. I hadn’t paid much attention to these prospects at the start due to the fact that I was looking at it as a short term position. Once I fully understood what was on offer I decided to make this my career and I haven’t looked back since.

" What impressed me the most about the Organisation was that even though I was young, had very few academic qualifications and virtually no work experience I was still included in the company’s expansion plans. "

The reason being that I was prepared to work hard and make the effort to learn so that I could progress in the company. I had been used to training nine times a week with Karate so what was being asked of me in terms of effort seemed very little in comparison.

I was very excited that my progression was based solely on my own efforts and therefore my future was firmly in my own hands. Keeping this in mind and being fully aware of how ambitious I am I realised there were no boundaries to my potential success.

After only two years I had reached a position where I was ready to open my own marketing company and I did so in my home town of Manchester. The support I received from the organisation has been instrumental in my success. It has taught me all of the skills needed to run a business profitably and confidently.

I have had more success than I could have ever dreamed of in any another career and I have picked up some great awards, prizes and bonuses. Since 2004 I have been taken to

Australia to visit marketing companies there so that I could gain more experience, won an Owner of the Region award for the North of England, travelled extensively throughout Europe and even won a brand new BMW 320i.

In the last few years I have successfully coached six other people to be able to open their own marketing companies and my goal is to continue expanding my business both here in the UK and Continental Europe.