A strange one yesterday - I was asked to give a lunchtime talk to Pro-Sheffield - a gathering of the senior people invloved in the 'professions.' So I was faced with a room full of lawyers, accountants, bankers and financial advisors.

As an entrepreneur this was like facing my worst nightmare! For years I have collectively called this bunch the 'forces of evil' - the people that have the ability to crush the spirit of aspiring entrepreneurs - the people who have the ability to make entrepreneurs tremble and weep in the face of complex explanations and incomprehensible documents.

And they they were. All totally aware that i refer to them as the forces of evil - and they were loving it!

The reality is of course that in the room i recognised people who over the twenty years I have been in business have supported, advised and in their own quiet way encouraged me. I almost felt part of the establishment (almost - but not quite - don't panic)!

They were asking me for my ideas on how to promote their businesses - they were genuinely interested about what they could do to appeal more to entrepreneurs.

I can only imagine that they asked me because they knew they would get tough but caring answers. (and they did!)

And why did I go?

Because I was asked to do it by a bloke called Tony Goldburn. 

Many years ago - when I had been in buisness just a few years - I had an idea that the bit of the Government that dealt with unemployment should do something radically different. The people who were unemployed wanted jobs - not endless training courses. The only person who listened was Tony. He was brave enough to let me get on and do the radical thing. It was a first in the UK. We eventually got told off by some senior bods in Government - but in the meantime we transformed the lives of thousands of people. (Nowadays our radical model is the norm...)

Tony is still being brave - putting me in front of the forces of evil - and letting me lose!

I like brave people. I like catching up with all the brave people I have met over the years. Thanks to everyone who is brave and to all the people who still are.