“To be a successful entrepreneur, you have to have a certain amount of bravado and self-confidence. But there's no point in having that unless you can back it up with a solid proposition.”
In the latest episode of Daring To, I discuss taking risks with Patrick Tatham, founder of the world’s only ultra-compact travelling garment bag company, PLIQO. In the episode, Patrick shares his drastic career change and how his past career as a financial banker gave him the idea to develop his own business. As well as discussing starting from scratch and going on Dragons’ Den, Patrick shares his top tips for new CEO’s and start-ups.
“The main learning point from the Dragons’ Den negotiations and, indeed, from any negotiation - is if you are confident that you have a solid business proposition, then you should not be afraid of walking away.”
In his Daring To statement Patrick shares how starting over and delving into a career path he had always dreamt of, helped him become the CEO he is today:
“I dared to break out of my comfort zone, which was very much rooted in finance and management. Giving that up to do something that I'd always hankered to do, which was to create a physical product that actually did something, albeit in a fairly modest way, to improve people's lives in some way.
“Just to do something that was better, and more innovative, more functional than something that had been done before, and all the risks that go with doing that, as well as all the new skills that I had to learn quite late in life, in my mid-40s.
“Going back to night school to learn bag making is just one of them. But, obviously, if you are running your own business you’ve got to be able to manage every aspect of that; and at the same time must keep the creative side of it going. So, I think daring to go back and follow my dreams is a bit too strong, but to do actually do something that nagged me for so long.” – Patrick Tatham
If you want to listen to Patrick's full business journey to becoming a daring CEO, listen to Episode 4, Series 3 of Daring To here.