Hi

A week from now, on June 1, Guilford Accounting will be 21 years old and I will celebrate the day all those years ago when I gifted my self a life of freedom to do what I want, with whom I want and when I want.

Are you living your dream? Here’s a little story that might help you decide.

A management consultant was on holiday and was walking on the beach one morning when he saw a local fisherman come up to the shore and at the bottom of his boat was a 6ft yellow fin tuna.  

He started to talk to the fisherman and asked him about his life and what he did.

The fisherman explained that he got up early each morning, went out fishing, caught a fish, came back, took the fish and sold it in the market and spent the rest of the day with his family. 

In the evening as a family, they would go out to a bar or restaurant and mix with his friends and colleagues.

Then the following morning he would do the same again. 

The management consultant said to him, “I think I could help you make a lot more money.”

The fisherman was interested and asked him how.

He said, “What we'll do is, we'll get a group of your colleagues together, all the other fishermen, and we'll form a collective. Rather than selling the fish to the market, we'll sell it to a canning factory.

Then over time, instead of selling to the canning factory, we'll start our own cannery to the point where we build up this big, canned fish business.

The fisherman was fascinated. “That’s fantastic” he said, “How long is that going to take?”

“Well,” said the management consultant “In all, it's probably going to take 10 years to make that happen.”  

And how much money will we make?” said the fisherman.

Well, if we do an IPO and launch the business on the market, we'll probably make about £50 million, of which you'll get a good chunk by being the person who started this.

The fisherman was fascinated by this and said, “That’s brilliant. What happens next?

The management consultant said “That's the best bit. Then you retire, to a little fishing village. And in the morning, you get up and go fishing....

Noel Guilford

PS I have one of the coaching slots I opened up recently remaining. If you are still thinking about growing your business with my help - without any obligation to join - please book a call with me here.