English Recordings

- Well, I play the piano and, as a child, I had a good teacher who wrote her own music, and I always wanted to be a composer too. However, my parents persuaded me that what I needed to do was go to college and study how to make musical instruments, rather than play them, because they saw more of a future in that. And now, I make the organs which are played in churches and concert halls all around the world. The one thing that I never intended to do was become a businessman, which is what I am now really, as well as being an instrument maker.

- About five years ago. I started from a room in my house, but now I have my own workshop.

- Well, an organ sells at £9500, which means around £3500 profit for me I suppose.

- It might take me three months to complete one, and when I say three months, I mean three months of working seventy hours a week. Although that sounds a lot, I have to say I don't mind because I love the work and I get to meet lots of interesting people. Most of my commissions are from overseas clients and they're nearly all the result of personal contacts . I rarely use advertising these days.

- Not really. The most profitable part of my business is actually mending organs, generally old large ones so they can be used for concerts and re cording sessions. Th at can earn me up to £300 each time. Which is just as well, because I do need to have money available to buy the raw materials for the larger organs. There 's a lot of investment to make before I can start to build. I get the wood from Britain, but most of the other components come from France or Germany.

- Yes. I've decided to take the opportunity to move my workshop to a former schoolroom that has become available in Lincolnshire, about a hundred miles away.

- Yes. We're moving there in three months' time.

- It is a lovely old building attached to the Town Hall in a small market town. In return for using the workshop, I've agreed to spend forty days a year working as a museum attendant. There's a small museum in the town that has visiting exhibitions, but is only open on certain days in the year.

- Not really, but it means that I save around £4000 a year because apart from paying the heating bill the workshop is rent free. That's the great thing about the place. It's also very close to our new house, so I'll have the luxury of walking to work each morning , which is nice.

- No it isn't. It's very easy for the instruments to get damaged so the environment must be dry. None of the buildings I've worked in so far have been dry enough. The new workshop is perfect in that respect.

It's sometimes hard to deal with a difficult situation on your own. Having the support of someone else can make all the difference and we should recognise that getting the aid of a friend or relative is a strength and not a weakness. So often we are led to believe that sharing our challenges is a sign of failure. This simply isn't true. The most successful people are those who know how and when to ask for help so don't battle on with things on your own if you don't need to. Here are a few tips on how to achieve what has been already said.