Please Let It Stop (25 page)

No matter what company I am in, the question I get asked the most is the reason for my success. There are many factors, but here I pick out my top five:

1. Be an opportunist
. How many people come across opportunities in their everyday lives, are momentarily
excited by the thought but let it pass them by for fear of the unfamiliar, or failure. I wanted success badly, so I knew I couldn’t be one of them.

2. Listen
. When I started Ann Summers I had no business experience and no formal training. I was forced to rely on feedback from my customers and staff. That wasn’t the drawback I initially thought, but something that has formed part of the ethos of our business today.

3. Focus.
I am incredibly focused, and I focus my people on being the best. I don’t allow myself to be distracted from what I want to achieve.

4. Self-belief.
I set my sights high based on my belief in myself and the business, and not on the expectations or opinions of others.

5. Perseverance.
The person who gets ahead is the one who does more than is necessary and keeps on doing it. There is no substitute for perseverance.

Above all of these is my personal favourite,
Courage
. The real test of courage comes when you are in the minority, a place I have been many times but self-belief and passion for my business made me resolute in pursuing what I believed in. Courage is not the absence of fear but the conquest of it. As my father used to tell me, ‘There is nothing to fear but fear itself’ and of course, he was right. Nonetheless, it takes
immense courage to step outside your comfort zone and pursue your dreams. When you do, I guarantee, the reward is huge and your new-found confidence will give you the courage to discover and achieve even more. Challenge yourself and great things will happen.

This ebook is copyright material and must not be copied, reproduced, transferred, distributed, leased, licensed or publicly performed or used in any way except as specifically permitted in writing by the publishers, as allowed under the terms and conditions under which it was purchased or as strictly permitted by applicable copyright law. Any unauthorised distribution or use of this text may be a direct infringement of the author's and publisher's rights and those responsible may be liable in law accordingly.

Version 1.0

Epub ISBN 9781446406809

www.randomhouse.co.uk

1 3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2

Published as
A Woman’s Courage
in 2007 by Ebury Press, an imprint of Ebury Publishing

A Random House Group Company

This edition published 2008

Copyright © Jacqueline Gold 2007

Jacqueline Gold has asserted her right to be identified as the author of this Work in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of the copyright owner

The Random House Group Limited Reg. No. 954009

Addresses for companies within the Random House Group can be found at
www.randomhouse.co.uk

A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

ISBN 9780091925277