Beechgrove: An Update

Up the Ports.

When I started, I had a few ideas of where I wanted to take the business.

I’ll be honest, sponsoring Northern Ireland’s premier third division side¹ wasn’t one of them. And yet.

Yes, I have a moustache now. Sue me.

It was the first time I’ve seen the logo out in the wild, and it’s pretty cool to see something that started from a blank sheet of paper a couple of years ago becoming a living breathing thing.

This kind of stuff is nice to have, but on Saturday we also passed another (much more important) benchmark - 25 five star reviews on Google.

Beechgrove was the name of the street my grandparents lived on, cheesy I know but you have to call it something.

And when I started out, all I wanted to create was something they would have been proud of. The kind of business that I would happily refer my friends and family into.

With this purpose in mind, reviews from real-life satisfied customers mean infinitely more to me than turnover or assets under management or any other metric you could care to mention.

We don’t get everything right, can’t get everything right and I still learn something new every day.

At the start of last year, I wanted to double the size of the business by 31st December and we got there and then some.

But I knocked my pan in in doing so. I also want it to be fun to work here and I probably lost a bit of that last year. I am determined to get that back.

It is also very important to me, that the business is fun to interact with.

I am increasingly convinced that good financial decisions are made when we are relaxed and in a calm, happy frame of mind. And I don’t think that’s really possible in an oak panelled office, being berated by someone wearing a suit that is more expensive than a car. As long as we take our role seriously, informality isn’t something to be afraid of.

I have this theory, that I almost certainly read somewhere once and am nicking, that our happiness depends on three elements - three legs to the stool. Purpose/career progress, health and the quality of our relationships.

All three are never in perfect equilibrium, we always need to adjust on the fly. But if you have those three things relatively in balance it is a pretty good start.

Right now, over here, the business leg is standing up pretty good. And that is something to be very thankful for.

Have a great weekend.

1. Portstewart FC, Champions League in five years I would have thought. Watch this space.