This story is part of our 1,000 stories campaign. What’s your story?
Name: Julie Watling
Business: Communications Solutions UK Limited, provider of communications and technology products and services to companies
Industry: Technology & Telecommunications
Location: Reading, England
Reason for starting: I was employed by a global electronics company when I became a mother. Once I had a baby it appeared that I was no longer taken seriously. Being ambitious and good at what I did, I was not satisfied with this attitude and decided to “go it alone.”
Related: Read about another mompreneur here.
How do you define success? Success for me is running a growing and profitable business where we have a happy staff and make a positive difference to our customers.
Biggest Success: Having traded for 25 years now, 10 as a sole trader and 15 as a Limited company, this is a difficult question. There are a number of contracts that I am proud of, including a number with international organizations where we beat off fierce competition to deliver the best solution for them. How we make a difference is that we bring our core values into play to deliver the best service and solutions. As a company, we pride ourselves on being ethical, professional and responsive to our clients needs, whilst always maintaining our values of integrity and honesty.
What is your top challenge and how have you addressed it? Recruiting competent staff with a “can do” attitude is my top and on-going challenge. I have tried a number of approaches including staff referrals, job boards and agencies. There appears to be no one answer.
Related: Taking on the Challenges
Who is your most important role model? At the time when I first started working for myself in 1990, I wasn’t aware of any real commercial female role models. Mrs Thatcher, the prime minister, was one of the few women in a position commanding authority. At that stage it seemed to me, if she could defy all the odds, the rest of us ought to be able to do it too!
[box_light]Website www.com-solutions.co.uk[/box_light]
Tell us your story!
Read about another entrepreneur here.
Edited by The Story Exchange