Most of my clients are business managers who work in the corporate environment. Some though, generally after experiencing difficulties in the corporate world, have gone on to set up their own businesses. So let me tell you about Joe*.

He has minimal educational qualifications and, when he first came to see me he was working in a garden sundries warehouse. As a first step out of that I guided him towards a job selling garden equipment. He then moved on to work for a company providing floral displays for town centres and shopping malls.

One Friday evening, after a particularly busy, tiring but successful few days at a trade exhibition, he arrived back at his firm's HQ expecting to be asked how things had gone. Instead, his boss started to bitch at him over something that had happened several weeks earlier.

During the weekend Joe mulled over a conversation he'd had with me some time before about the possibility of setting up his own business. On the Monday he gave his notice to his employer and is now, indeed, running his own business making specialised accessories for motorbikes, which he exports to America and Japan. He also lives in a beautiful part of the country in a house he has renovated, has a lovely family - and is very proud of his Porsche, albeit a second hand one.

He has told me that, after his wife, I have been the most important influence in his life. That is very flattering - and he may change his mind as his children grow up!

* To preserve confidentiality I have changed Joe's name though his story is a real one.