Cornwall Beckons, Another Business Opportunities

As I sit here in my office reminiscing on my life, it’s hard to believe now that so much has been packed in over such a short space of time. When you are a child, time appears to drag. Certainly as we get older, time becomes so much more precious and the realisation of making the most of every day, every week, and every year. A little over twenty years ago a decision had to be made, either stay where I was working, doing very long hours for someone else or moving to the next level. It was time to move and with Cornwall beckoning another business opportunity was around the corner.

The Red House in Yeovil was a challenge but one I showed up for and learnt a lot about business and people in a short space of time. During that 12 months, news would occasionally trickle from Cornwall on what was happening, with the next opportunity appearing on the horizon. It came in the form of a pregnant lady!

Three years previously, I had trained under John and Kay Cook at the Eliot Arms, Tregadillett. Kay had fallen pregnant and was due to give birth, this would mean that Kay would not play such an active role.

You may think to yourself, how was this an opportunity? Well it was as it gave me the time to be on the ground as to new businesses coming on the market in Devon and Cornwall. Sometimes opportunities may not be obvious, but it is understanding that in time something that may seem quite innocuous can provide the vehicle to change your life right around, here it was.
During that time of working back at the Eliot Arms, John and I agreed to enter a business partnership with John for another pub. We didn’t have to wait too long either, after a couple of months the Borough Arms at Bodmin appeared on the horizon. From here on my career changed dramatically.

That is one thing about opportunities, listen to what your heart is saying, your head has an important role to play in this but don’t always thing the quick buck will provide the long term solution.

To find out more about what I do today and how I can help you build your own business visit, meetsimonhall.com.

A Different Challenge

It was a wrench to move away from Cornwall but one that was felt at the time to be the right one and one which offered further development within the licensed trade.

After a short stint for training at the Catherine’ Inn, Bleadon near Weston Super Mare, next stop was to be The Red House Yeovil. For someone who lived most of their life within a 30 mile radius of Bodmin Cornwall, Yeovil felt like a foreign land, a new frontier.

The Red House offered a new challenge; it consisted of a large carvery restaurant, extended bar area, skittle alley and a large outside picnic/play area. Add into this a staff of at least 30; the Daniell Arms was a baby brother. Needless to say it was exciting and a real adrenaline rush..... and hard work.

Apart from all of the above a proportion of the local customers resented the change in management, which was the greatest challenge winning them over. Like many things in life, you buy from the person, not the product so it was about appealing to them and building a relationship that evening though a change had been made at the top, business continued as normal. This as you can guess did not happen overnight but over months and gradually one by one the customers were won over. It is fair to say that not all did stay some went onto pastures new.

From this experience and many since I quickly realised that you cannot please all the people all the time, but significantly, the customer actually buys you first and then what you are offering second.

If you would like to know more about what I do and how I help others to realise their opportunities in life, visit meetsimonhall.com.