The winner of a competition at last year’s Advantage conference to claim £10,000 worth of business consultancy said the prize had enabled her to take her business to the next level.
Sharon Fleming of Thompson Travel International said winning the competition had boosted her confidence and made her realise her business was worth fighting for.
She told the conference she’d applied because she just couldn’t find the time to move her business forward.
In a session moderated by Travel Weekly head of news Lee Hayhurst, she said: “I was constantly working in my business and never on my business.
“I wrote out my application and it was the first step in the transformation because it made me realise how much needed to change.”
Fleming’s role as a leader was one of the most fundamental changes that allowed her business to then grow.
“Everybody saw me as a leader, but only because I was the owner of the business. I didn’t delegate, I didn’t give my team a chance to shine, I led by example but I never directed them,” she admitted.
“I had a fear of losing staff and losing customers, so when a customer came in and saw me, I would deal with them when I should have been passing them on to trusted colleagues to allow me to think about where we were going.”
Since taking the business advice, she said her team was much happier.
“They are very loyal and were coming to work each day and just doing their jobs, but now they have all been given new roles and responsibilities and they are much happier.
She told the conference that she now had a three-year plan in place, had clear objectives, had split her tour operation from her retail operation and given one a new brand, and had overcome regulatory issues.
“Hope is no longer my strategy. I am working on, rather than in my business and I am bringing my team along with me,” she said.
Advantage is repeating the competition again this year, with another £10,000 worth of business consultancy available from Advantage headquarters, Ellman Wall Accountants, Reality Training, and Travelology.