Why should anyone in a secure and well-paid job want to take the risk of starting their own business?
The reasons are many and varied.
For me, after working for someone else for three years where staff, and even clients, were treated with indifference and never once in that time being shown appreciation with a ‘thank you John’; I just wanted to get out!
So, at the age of 45, I decided to abandon a secure position by establishing my own business.
Yes, I hoped still to command a good income, but equally important, was my intention to adopt a culture very different to that which I had experienced. When, eventually, my business attracted other people to work alongside me, I was determined that the business would become respected because of what may be called the best personal and business values being applied.
Interestingly, the scale of the business arose almost by default, for the original intention was only to be a self-employed person working from home.
What happened, however, was that within months so much work was received it then seemed sensible to invite another person to join me. The person who came was a man whom I’d met several years earlier who shared so much of my outlook on life. He was a good choice and was instrumental in the rapid development of what had, by now, become my dream – a national business.
Indeed, within only a few years, nationwide outlets became established with as many as 120 people being engaged at one time.
From the beginning, recruitment policy was to find not only competent people, but also individuals of quality who would work unselfishly. It was, from the outset, my ambition that everyone who ultimately contributed to my success, should also be successful for themselves. Indeed, one of the greatest satisfactions for an employer is to see people blossoming and realising their potential.
Our business is called a ‘Partnership’. In the not too distant future, it is my ambition to become more like the John Lewis Partnership. Nothing would give me more pleasure than to hand over the business to my colleagues, in the knowledge that the John M Hayes Partnership culture will be perpetuated.
This is the finest legacy one could hope for, well, at least, that’s my opinion.
John M Hayes
Chairman
The John M Hayes Partnership Ltd