My career path has allowed me to develop the skills and understanding to see my clients back to a sound financial footing and a stable operating state, and it has given me empathy earned the hard way, through the painful experience of being part of a business in a downward spiral – all character building stuff (I am told).
I started at the bottom, after a less than glorious set of A level results and worked my way up through newspapers, 3rd sector and eventually distribution. It was while I was in distribution that I was given the job of reorganising the marketing department which was losing money. After two years that department was contributing to the bottom line of the business and I realised that creating profitable systems and teams was something I could do well. My employer also recognised this as a strength, and sponsored me to undertake an MBA. This was achieved studying alongside my day job. It was a tough two years not just on me but on my young family too, but it soon opened doors for me. I was sent to India where we were experiencing phenomenal business growth but did not have adequate systems to support that growth. With a small team, I spent the next two years working with and training their senior management team to implement those systems, But disaster was about to strike our business – a decision was imposed on us to switch to new software right in the middle of our most profitable trading period, the software failed and for 6 weeks we could not get a parcel out of our distribution centre. The business failed. It was an extremely unpleasant experience for us all. I then spent 2 ½ years with a rescued section of the business – I don’t like to give up, but eventually even I had to admit I would never be allowed to operate as I wanted to, and I resigned.
The moment I left I was approached by a small charity who were struggling financially. I decided to take 6 months out and work with this charity part-time. 14 months later they were in the black and Mark Hurley Consulting was launched.
As soon as I opened my doors, colleagues and previous connections started to come to ask for my help and it was across a whole range of sectors which I love – small 3rd sector organisations, right through to big publishing houses. My experience shows that problems are consistent even though the sectors are diverse.
It gives me great job satisfaction to work with businesses to create systems, create connections, and create the framework which will put them back on track. I love working in teams, I loved rowing in a crew, and my aim is to get organizations working together, pulling together like a great rowing crew.
To learn more about Mark Hurley Consulting, please email Mark Hurley.