How I...

Aug 8 2008 By The Journal

Is a new fortnightly column in conjunction with the Entrepreneurs’ Forum, that looks at the gems of advice shared by our top entrepreneurs on dealing with issues in their daily lives. Each column will get three different takes on an issue and we look forward to their advice on everything from How I....raised finance, How I...market my business, How I...dealt with disaster and many more.

In the second column, we caught up with three high profile entrepreneurs at the Entrepreneurs’ Forum Conference and asked them to share a tip with nebusiness.co.uk readers....

Elle MacPherson, supermodel and underwear/beauty entrepreneur

How I.......balance work and family life

It’s the same balance as how do you balance business life and spiritual life, how do you balance work and play, how do you balance waking hours and sleeping hours.

It’s sort of like the lifelong question that everybody has to deal with.

It’s a constant challenge but a welcome challenge.

My children are in school and when they’re in school I manage to get some work done but most of my work is done in my quiet time and my quiet time is between 9 in the evening and 1 in the morning. Then I sleep a little bit and then I get up and I do it again.

Harvey Goldsmith, music promoter, entrepreneur and co-Live Aid/8 organiser

How I……maintain motivation after many years in business

Every day the phone rings, an email or a text comes in or I bump into somebody, and a new life starts; everything I do is exciting to me.

And my measure of success now would be to try and leave a legacy for emerging talent - for them to look at what I’ve done, and hopefully better it.

Angus Thirlwell, Co-founder and CEO of Hotel Chocolat

How I……maintain a tight control on quality as the brand grows

At several levels – from a product perspective I run the product development side of the company so I taste every new chocolate and it has to pass me before it can be launched. From a brand perspective we have a group of people called the ‘Brand Guardians’ and we meet up once a month and look at all the opportunities that are on the table, things we want to do with the brand, and make sure that we’re growing it properly.

We also have to make sure that we’re protecting the brand, and we would never do anything that would jeopardise its future prospects. We know that the brand is, if you like, our ‘crown jewels’, so we do everything we can to protect and nurture it.

For more How I....tips go to www.ifwecanyoucan.co.uk which is inspired by the Entrepreneurs' Forum