What's it like being a director of Qryztal? - a personal viewpoint

Andrew, one of our directors, tells us about his experiences of being a director.

I'd like to start by tackling a popular misconception of the life of a company director. If you think it's at all glamorous or easy, think again. It's a huge responsibility and it's one of the hardest things I've ever done.

The very first thing you learn is how many people are after your money. You soon get wise to sales tactics and realise that you can't spend what you haven't got coming in. The word 'no' and its synonyms soon become your most frequently used words when speaking on the phone.

Statutory obligations, filing dates and taxes are another bugbear. It might be tempting not to do things by the book, but if you want the business to prosper in the long term I'd strongly recommend keeping on the right side of the law. Yes, it's a lot of record-keeping, but I don't think there's any other way of running a company if you want to be able to sleep at night.

Speaking about sleep - it's easy to stay up too late thinking about and discussing company strategy as well as day-to-day matters. Give your body and mind a chance to recover by getting a reasonable amount of sleep.

Aside from business considerations, there's the interpersonal aspect too. If, as is the case for me, your fellow-director is already a friend, being in business together moves things up a notch or two. In some respects the mutual long-term commitment to the company makes things easier, but in other ways it's harder. For me there's the personal angle of not wanting to let my friend and colleague down, and giving him support and encouragement, whilst at the same time allowing him sufficient space to be himself and to get on with the things that he needs to do. This is where shared interests (cars, in our case), a goodly amount of give and take, and an abundant sense of humour come to the fore. Innuendo and intentional double meaning are always lurking around somewhere.

Yes, it's tough, but I can honestly say that I'm enjoying it. And I consider myself truly fortunate to be doing this alongside Arthur.