Why computers and sheep share the same qualities
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by Philip Bristow
I'm always amused to see people's reactions when they ask
me about my business, and I tell them that I run a computer company
- and farm sheep as well.
When they ask how on earth I reconcile the two ventures, I say
it's quite simple: Computers and sheep share the same essential
qualities. They're logical and practical, although some sheep
farmers might disagree!
I've always wanted to be a farmer since I was a kid. I even went
to agricultural college, but it's true what they say, there are
three ways to go into farming - patrimony (inherit the family
farm), matrimony (marry into a farming family) or parsimony
(savings, and I didn't have any of those).
So instead I joined the Milk Marketing Board in the late 1970s,
and went on the road as a rep, selling the organisation's advisory
services to farmers. It was a great way to learn sales skills,
which I subsequently developed working for two big agricultural
feed firms, Dalgety and then Bartholomew's, where I grew my sales
patch from £50,000 to £600,000 a year.
Then came a complete career change. In 1988, a friend asked me
to give him a hand at weekends with his business which supplied the
cradles that window cleaners and maintenance staff use to work on
the outside of tall buildings.
A change of industry was a real eye-opener, and we set up our
own company. Over the next four years we won contracts to supply
cradles in London, Paris, Scotland and at the European Court of
Human Rights in Strasbourg. We were turning over £1.2 million a
year and employing 14 people.
But I wasn't happy, because I was often away from my wife Jackie
and our children Jeremy and Jennifer. I particularly regret not
being there in their early years.
I also wanted to learn some different business skills, so I took
a four-year Open University MBA course. But I needed to pay the
bills, so it was back to the agricultural business.
I joined ADAS, the Agricultural Development Advisory Service, as
a business manager to develop a department dealing with milk quota
- helping dairy farmers across the UK trade with each other, with
detailed information about milk,what type was in demand and
where.
It was a huge, national project, but all the data was on bits of
paper. So I persuaded ADAS to buy a couple of computers, and to
send me on a course to learn how to write software. The
computerisation of the project, which helped match milk buyers with
sellers, was a big success, and within 18 months the turnover of my
business unit grew from £450,000 per annum to £14 million.
By now, I was fascinated by computers. I bought an old Elonex,
took it apart, and then built my own computer. It was also a time
when PCs were becoming the "must have" for any business or
home.
But with computers come problems, and more and more friends
began to ask me to sort out their technical glitches. In 1995 I
founded my own computer business, and placed a couple of small ads
in the local paper. Within six weeks I had more work than I knew
how to handle.
Today, I have a client base of businesses, charities and private
individuals across the Weald, and employ a part-time engineer. I
have a lot of repeat business so I don't do too much marketing,
although I attend the Wealden Business Group's weekly networking
breakfasts in Tenterden.
But I still had this hankering to realise my childhood dream of
becoming a farmer. We have chickens at home, and I'd grown a few
spuds, but when the chance cropped up to buy 30 sheep grazing on a
farm at Hawkhurst, I jumped at it.
The outdoor environment is a complete contrast to fixing
computers. Jackie and I spend the weekends looking after the sheep
and maintaining the farm. We work pretty flat out at lambing time
in March and April. We now have 80 sheep, whose lambs we fatten up
and sell at Ashford market.
PBCS, my computer company, and the sheep farming give us a
financially healthy living, although sheep sales make up a very
small part. But I just love being on the farm, and we've even
bought half-a-dozen pigs to add to our farming interests.
My business philosophy is to work hard enough to earn a
comfortable living, and to leave sufficient time to enjoy family
life. I think that's absolutely the right balance for us.
- Philip Bristow Computer Services. Tel: 01580 882007. Website:
www.pbcs.uk.com
Monday, April 11 2011
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