Author Archives: mark_mcallister

From Small Acorns… Mighty Oaks Will Grow!

Leave a reply

The last 48 hours has been very busy but enjoyable time as I’ve been slightly distracted (in a good way) in my search for a new career. Though I am still actively seeking a senior director role in an established business, I’m now consulting on a number of start up businesses and think I may have found what my passion in business will be for the future. As I blogged about a little while ago I’ve now narrowed down the projects I’ve been approached about down to a now manageable amount of 5. For obvious confidentiality reasons I won’t be able to go into detail about them all but I can at least give you an insight into the people I’ve met who are inspiring to say the least, once these projects go live then hopefully I can give you more information on who is involved and what they actually do – after all these businesses need customers and we’d love to provide you with these products and services (once you know what they are of course!)

The first business is two guys who first met online (great example of a changing digital world) and between them provide an excellent online service, primarily through Twitter and Facebook and completely on a voluntary basis. They are now jointly at the point of wanting to know how it can be turned into a viable business. My role is to work with them to establish a clear business plan and strategy of how we can “get it to market”. It will involve firstly helping them firm up and establish the brand and then promote what they do to increase their already substantial online following. The next stage is turning what they do very well with crowd sourced information into a useful product that has a determinable value to a variety of customers. We had our first meeting yesterday with an old contact of mine who is MD of both a potential partner and customer. The meeting was very successful and it gave us some fantastic ideas and a great insight into the industry they will soon be entering. I’m looking forward to what options it might present that will determine how we could take the business forward including how it will be structured – watch this space!

The second opportunity is with a fantastically talented artist who has a great product with huge appeal. I met with her this morning and was very impressed with a young lady who has a very clear ability and desire to drive her business forward. My role will be providing the framework to put the business on the map, again with a large amount of promotion through online media. We established her brand name during the meeting and talked through how it can potentially grow to provide her a realistic income for the future. This afternoon we’ve established her web presence so thanks again to the guys at WESH UK for the usual excellent and reliable service. She is now busy beavering away at creating a website that I have no doubt will be beautiful and inspiring, the kind of shop window she will be proud of and her customers will love. I will of course blog again with details of this and the volunteers business above once they are at a point where I can divulge that information.

As far as the three other projects, these are businesses I have identified as possible full time “work” for myself after suggestions or coming across a way that a certain a product or service can be done better. I’m hoping to launch the first one online in early September, full details will be on my website again as soon as I am able to.

So what does the future hold for me? I’m not sure until I am offered the kind of full time position I’m looking for but in the meantime, I’m really enjoying working with these start-ups. If I can help create viable businesses out of them then who knows it could become my full time job! If I was lucky enough to do this full time that would be absolutely fantastic as I have thoroughly enjoyed my time working on these projects in the last couple of days in particular. Thanks to all of those who are working exceptionally hard on these projects, lets see how big these trees get in the coming months and years – YOU CAN DO IT!

Why am I stuck in traffic in Surrey tonight?

2 Replies

I’ve just been stuck in traffic in a taxi on the way to Woking station as a result of the following serious incident on the M25 Daily Mail News Article

On the drive there I was listening to several radio reports on Eagle Radio, traffic was a nightmare across the whole area, with bumper to bumper jams reported in Woking, Guildford and on the M25, M3 and A3 to name but a few.

So why was it so serious and closed for so long? Well looking at the images of the incident it looks like a nose to tail collision involving a fuel tanker and a queue of stationary or more slowly moving vehicles. Apparently there were several trapped inside their vehicles with serious injuries.

I’ve supervised plenty of scenes like this in a previous life so for those trapped in the traffic this is why “it takes so long”.

Firstly there is the immediate response from the emergency services, which includes our fantastic roads policing unit (worth a follow on twitter @surreyroadcops) along with their equally great colleagues from South East Coast Ambulance service and of course Surrey Fire and Rescue.

On arrival at this scene they would spring into a standard procedure of dealing with the injured, securing the scene and starting to work out what has happened. In this instance the Surrey & Kent air ambulance also attended which normally requires a full closure of both carriageways whilst it lands.

The teams will then prioritise the casualties and make decisions on what level of trauma care they may require, this may be at a specialist centre like St George’s, Royal London or Kings College (as seen on 24 Hours in A&E) the days of just being ferried to the nearest hospital are long gone.

Once this first phase is well underway its our Roads Police who have to work out what has happened, ultimately deciding if someone needs to be prosecuted. This is what can take the time as a specialist team called the Collision Investigation Unit piece together the evidence. They do this using the latest technology and you will see what looks like surveying yellow tripods in the pictures – that’s how they “plot” a scene to record where everything has ended up to then determine the cause of the collision. What could be the critical piece of evidence, a skid mark or a piece of glass needs be preserved no different to a murder scene.

So why don’t they just push everything to the side and get the road reopened? Well they are is a congestion / economic argument for that and it happens in the vast majority of collisions you hardly notice. The reason is quite simple, the police have a duty to both the victims and their families as well as who has caused the collision to collect all the evidence in an accurate manner. Failure to do so could result in a failed prosecution or a miscarriage of justice and you have to remember those involved could be you or a member of your family and it is important justice prevails.

This process can take hours but if its the difference between justice or not it has to take as long as it takes to ensure its handled correctly. Our road cops do a great job as quickly as they can, I know because I’ve worked countless scenes with them over the years.

Once that process is completed its then handed over to a vehicle recovery company who will use the latest equipment and training to lift the vehicles and preserve the evidence of the vehicles condition post collision. They provide specialist forensic bays then store the vehicles sometimea for years, all free of charge and eventually get paid by an insurance company on fixed fee per vehicle regardless how long it takes.

Lastly, there is another point to consider when you are stuck in a jam you are not IN traffic, you ARE traffic. I tweeted about this collision at about 13:30 and I saw tweets from people saying “what’s going on the M25” 5 hours later. If I can offer one bit of advice to motorists, keep plugged in to the various traffic related twitter accounts and plan your journey to avoid jams like this in the future. There is a list on my twitter feed you may find useful for this Traffic News

Lastly my thoughts are with those involved in this collision and their families, remember it can happen to any of us so I’d rather be stuck in a bit of traffic than be the one sadly caught up in this serious incident.

MM

Creating Opportunities

3 Replies

After a lot of turmoil in the last few weeks and months everything is beginning to settle and the future is starting to come into focus. Firstly, I’ve decided to have a bit of a break from my previous industry which though I thoroughly enjoyed my time within – I owe it to myself and my family to fully explore this big wide world and all the possibilities within, I’m a great believer that life is not a dress rehearsal. This is also the first time since I was 16 that I haven’t worked (probably since 8 when you count all the weekends learning the trade from my dad before health and safety really meant anything) and I fully intend to take the time to stop and re-assess what the future could hold for me. Not working has been a very weird experience, the calls and emails are slowly reducing and I’ve had some fantastic quality time with the family which is invaluable before my eldest (Ryan) starts school in September. Its an ideal opportunity to reflect on my career to date as part of a very well known and respected family business and the nearly 40 years of heritage that have delivered me to this point.

One of my fondest memories of early “work” was learning to drive down the back of our industrial estate in Aldershot, piloting a left hand drive Toyota Landcruiser with spec lift (recovery equipment). After a few weekends I was getting pretty good at it, gear changes and everything, but as you would expect of a young lad I did get a little bit over zealous and ended up putting it into a ditch nearly on its side. Wandering back up the lane to see my Dad of course led to me being given the obligatory thick ear & telling off. He then told me to get one of the trucks and go and winch it out, after all it was my mess and it was time for me to go and sort it out. I was probably 13 at the time. What it taught me was that regardless of what situation you find yourself in, its down to you to find the solution and that’s where I am in my career right now.

So what now? Well I’ve decided to see what director roles in existing businesses may be available for someone of my age and experience, basically I’m going to try and get a job for the first time in my working life. I’ve only ever worked for someone else as a part time role on weekends between 2002 and 2005 and I have to say I thoroughly enjoyed my time working for someone I now consider a good friend, Gio.  That said I believe that you are never truly “your own boss” when you own a company, you simply swap a boss for customers, financiers, staff and suppliers all who have competing needs and priorities. It is somewhat an interesting prospect because though I have interviewed several hundred people over the years (including some great youngsters for a careers event at George Abbot a few months back) I’ve never had to apply for a job or worked full time for somebody else so surely it makes sense to see if I can do it?

I’ve started with some fantastic advice from colleagues who have been through the process recently and started by fully updating my CV for the first time since I left university. I’ve registered with a number of job sites and recruitment agencies and the feedback so far has been very positive. There are some amazing director level jobs available in some very interesting industries, all of which I strongly believe I can bring some great strengths and experience to. I’ve started by hand picking some roles to apply to and I am genuinely looking forward to the prospect of an interview in some very dynamic sounding companies heading in equally interesting directions. The prospect of working for some of the people I have read about online really excites me as I hope to continue learning from them and others in my quest for improvement of my ability and skills in the next stage of my career if I am successful.

I’m also looking at a number of new business opportunities in a variety of industries (including my old industry) all of which have great merit and are really exciting projects in their own right. So to all who have approached me, firstly its flattering that you feel I can assist you in your quest to success and secondly, if I had the time and the money I would probably get involved in them all! Its great to know that there are still plenty of people out there that see the world as a place full of wonder and opportunity – something that you can lose sight of when things are tough and you are fighting for survival rather than developing and following a clear strategy. I’ve narrowed them down to a couple of the more feasible and exciting projects and I wont rule it out that I might go back into business for myself but like I said earlier, I’m going to take stock of all options before I crack on with something new – whatever it may be.

If you have read this far and think you may have something short or long term that I can assist you with then please do drop me an email to mark@markmcallister.co.uk – I look forward to hearing from you.

MM

WordPress Virgin

Leave a reply

So I’ve spent the last few hours tinkering with my new website using WordPress. I have to say I’m very pleasantly surprised, one that the grey matter hasn’t let me down and two how much technology has moved on since I last setup a website from scratch.

I registered the domain names via a friend of mine who runs a domain hosting company WESH UK so thanks to Richard for his usual great service.

I then setup the new service online with WESH before logging into a cpanel for the first time in a while. To my surprise (bear with me tech experts) I was able to install WordPress with a couple of clicks.

I’ve then spent a few hours configuring the site, adding the jet pack plugin and connecting it to my social media pages. Et voila a new web presence for next to no outlay and a bit of head scratching.

Now to get back to that career thing, lets see what tomorrow brings!

My New Website

Leave a reply

So a lot has happened in the last month, much of which I will no doubt write about in due course. One of the first parts of the next phase of my career was to establish a new website for the likely new career path (check) and tidy the man cave of an office that has been well overdue with all the tasks associated with the closure of the recovery business (check).

So here it is, my new simple website www.markmcallister.co.uk which will hopefully serve as a spring board for what’s coming next, the future and all the excitement it will contain!