Very early in my career, when I was 18 or 19, a large, well-known company invited me to work for them as a territory manager to look after some of the biggest supermarket giants in the country; but, despite their size and reputation, I didn’t agree with their methods of sale, so I wasn’t very popular! This taught me one thing: If you believe in yourself, you need to believe in what you are doing.

Not long after that, back in 1980, videos were the “latest thing”. I’d always maintained an interest in film, having worked as a cinema projectionist and manager as my first job, and realized this was the next “big” idea in film. So I decided to sell the video films – but with the slight problem of a lack of any premises! That was Friday morning. By Friday afternoon I had shop premises, and started the new business soon after. It was the first video shop in Britain. If I hadn’t acted immediately, the idea probably would have stayed just that – like so many others.

Shortly after opening, I had people coming from Manchester, Liverpool and mid-Wales to my shop. I was selling films for a hefty price, and began to realize that the novelty of spending that sort of money on a film (which might only be watched once or twice) would soon wear off. Thinking it through, I realized the next step would be to rent the films. And the business grew. I opened another shop and helped people establish their own shops in the area. The shops are still open to this day, 27 years later. I sold the original store in 2001 to my brothers and they are still running it today. And it is without any doubt the first video shop in the UK. It was also the first to offer free membership, which is something I am quite proud of.

I loved my business, loved the film industry and still do. But the hours were long - opening at 9 in the morning, closing at 9 at night, 7 days a week – and I wanted to do something different … preferably working from home, so I could have a life! I began to consider ways in which work could work for me. I tried several network marketing companies in the mid-80s, but few were successes.

Then I heard from Tom, who had gained great business experience in Australia, and talked about concepts that excited me. We had some discussions and decided that together we could develop a cohesive partnership.

That was the start. Using my organizational skills and Tom’s creativity, we embarked on an exciting road to the establishment of Virtual World Direct.

We launched VWD in April 2002, and its success virtually speaks for itself. But, to make it work, Tom and I needed to develop a way of working that played to our individual strengths. He is a real ideas man, but looks to me to cover the details. As I see it today, Tom comes up with the sparks of inspiration that keep VWD moving forward and I help make it work.

It’s often easy to have a selective memory when it comes to promises. When Tom and I devised this business, we wrote the framework up on a flip chart. And I have kept it to this day. It is like a promise to ourselves. It’s a great habit to have because it helps you to focus on your promises and that means you don’t let anybody down – the core of success in whatever business you’re in.

The principle of my work is to do everything today, nothing tomorrow. That’s especially the case in network marketing. You have to act now. Another thing networking has taught me is that listening to a few key people will usually produce far better insights than an exhaustive but impersonal market study will.

So when we took the idea of uVme to the people who will lead the markets and influence them, they said it will be colossal. Much bigger than even we anticipated.

We can give people the tools and we can give them the opportunity, and believe me, with our new project it is a massive opportunity. If you can wake up and say there is no limit to what you can achieve, and believe it, then VWD can help you make it happen. This is it … it’s all here for you now.