Trials and Tribulations of an Entrepreneur
By Bridging Loan Directory
The Bridging Loan Directory is delighted to unveil new signing, serial entrepreneur and chairman of West One Loans, Duncan Kreeger.
Industry expert, Duncan Kreeger, will be providing his thoughts and opinion in the “Trials and Tribulations of an Entrepreneur”.
You can read DK’s first post below:
The combination of sport and business seems to get a bad rep. People are all too ready to complain about the amount of networking that happens on the golf course (not enough in my opinion – networking is key…). But I think there’s a lot to be said about combining sport and business. How someone plays golf or football tells you a lot about how they’ll perform at work.
Red Auerbach, coach to an all-conquering Boston Celtics basketball team in the 1950s and ’60s, knew the difference between life’s successes and failures. ‘Show me a good loser,’ he used to say, ‘and I’ll show you a loser.’
That attitude might not find favour with some of today’s kinder, gentler management theorists, but it does with me.
This is cut-the-crap time for bridging lenders. There no room for vulnerability and weakness at the head of a bridger today. As the marketplace becomes crowded with people jumping on the bridging bandwagon, the going is going to get tough for lenders. It is time for the tough to get going.
Some will find that easier than others. The skills you need to succeed on the football pitch or on the golf course are the same as those you need to grow your business in the face of competition. You need self-belief, resilience, focus, drive, resolve, and nerves of steel. And you need to thrive under pressure.
You need to be mentally tough. People who perform are able to raise their game when the occasion demands it, no matter what has happened. And if you are going to achieve anything worthwhile, there is bound to be pressure.
Much as I loathe Manchester United, Sir Alex Ferguson creates football teams in his own image. When Manchester United are playing well, they are hard-bitten, fearless and never beaten. I remember when United were one-nil down in the last seconds of the European Cup Final in Barcelona in 1999. The team refused to panic or throw in the towel. Moments later – when some of their fair-weather fans had given up – they were two-one up and crowned as champions of Europe. Few relish competition as much as Ferguson. His players certainly know all about his appetite for a fight – as confirmed by the ‘hairdryer’ moments when he lets rip. United’s leader had the stomach for a fight, and the team followed his example.
At West One Loans, we pride ourselves on the speed at which we do deals. We commit a lot of resources to it; we have one experienced administrator for every person signing off a loan which is double the industry average. But if someone falls behind and starts slowing down a broker’s deal for no good reason, they know I’ll be all over them like a tonne of bricks.
DK
Duncan Kreeger is chairman of West One Loans
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