Following the death of her husband, Margaret Wood founded high-tech windscreens company ICW UK at the age of 46, as a means of supporting her three teenage sons

Following the death of her husband, Margaret Wood founded high-tech windscreens company ICW UK at the age of 46, as a means of supporting her three teenage sons

Over the years, as I’ve had to make the transition from housewife to businesswoman, I’ve realised that preparation is key. Although, I suppose that’s inevitably something you learn along the way as even if I had known it in the beginning, it wouldn’t have made a blind bit of difference. I didn’t have the time to think about what was involved in starting a business. It was just an instant decision that I had to make. My choice was either that or remarry.

Question everything
I stayed with the same bank since I started, but when I needed its support two years ago, it wasn’t there for me. We just wanted a short-term increase in our overdraft, but despite our good track record, it refused.

There’s no such thing as loyalty in business. You must have the confidence to ask the right questions.

In the early days I wasn’t hard enough with staff. It’s important that you shouldn’t get too close to the people you work with. You need to be objective and make sure the person is doing their job. I just trusted that they knew what they were doing. It turned out some of the financial information I was being told was incorrect. We now check our financial information on a monthly basis.

Study the dotted line
I should have also done more to understand the legalities of running a business. At the beginning we had someone who underwrote the company. Back then, I was just really grateful to get credit. He was given a share in the business as security, but we didn’t put together a proper document regarding the money I owed. Years later when I bought him out, it cost the company a lot of money – about £20,000 more than it should’ve done had we put a legal document in place. This was because the valuation of his share and what he had contributed to the business had become unclear with time.

Create dialogues
When staff don’t know the plan for the business, it can cause problems. I had a plan in my head of where we were going, but I should’ve had the confidence to sit down and lay out a clear map of the future of the company with my staff. I didn’t communicate well enough.

In one instance, my staff went on strike. We nearly lost one of our best customers and it created a lot of mistrust within the company. Going back, I would’ve negotiated with them and made sure the situation never escalated to that level. I could’ve been more direct and reached a compromise.

Believe in yourself
When I started out I didn’t have much business confidence; that’s grown with time. I think women don’t always ask, particularly when it comes to finance. A woman would probably go to the bank and ask for £1,000, whereas a man would ask for £2,000. I definitely think there were points when I should’ve asked for more money, which I would’ve used to buy more property. It can be easy to just go for what’s needed, but that’s not good enough if you are going to raise your ambition. There was a £145,000 property in Leeds which I nearly bought for the company. It had two acres of land and was in a prime spot. I regret not buying it, because it must now be worth millions.

You really need to have the confidence to just listen to yourself.