Please find below a link to the Planning and Implementing a Successful Exit from Your Business guide from our very own Charlie Reading.

Please find below a link to the PMX guide where our very own Tom Senogles article 'How to grow your business during lockdown'

In July 2020, our Director, Charlie Reading, was once again asked to appear on the Clive Bull show on LBC Radio. Listen to the full broadcast here.

Around the end of 2015, having not long completed the 142-mile bike ride through the Welsh mountains known as The Dragon Ride, I was looking for inspiration for my next challenge. Do I cycle longer, higher, or something else? I started to read Rich Roll’s ‘Finding Ultra’ an inspiring story of a mid-life crisis suffering 40 year old that is an overweight, unfit alcoholic, that ends up becoming a vegan and then an Ironman.

Could I do a triathlon in 2016? I hadn’t run or swam since school, and was pretty rubbish at both then, but having gained my confidence with cycling, why couldn’t I master them too. I dared to dream big, and I set myself the challenge of completing a ½ Ironman by the end of the following year, and so it was. I also set myself the 3-year goal of an Ironman, although that was something that I really wasn’t sure would ever be possible. It seemed so unattainable; I nearly didn’t bother writing it down. After all, running a marathon after 112 miles on the bike and a 2.4-mile swim. That is no mean feat!

As Caryl and I flew out early on the morning of Thursday 19th September from Heathrow to Bologna, Italy, there was a realisation, that this was happening, and soon. The 10 months of training 10 hours plus a week had come to a head; as Giles said on my final training swim, it is now time to trust the process.

Two times age group world champ, Roger Canham, had been helping get my training on track, and my race plan in order, and a final lunch meeting the Monday before had proved crucial in filling in some vital gaps. Who’d have thought that popping salt tablets before and during the race, elastic bands around caps and taking sponges into the portaloo would be a thing, but you would not believe how key little tips like that were to successfully finishing. I am a big believer that if you want to succeed at something, you need to find the best people you can and learn as much as you can from their experience.

At the airport I started to see other people pushing bike boxes too. The tribe was coming together. I felt like I looked the part, as Roger had lent me his bike box which was covered in stickers from world championship race after another. The flight was on time, which was a relief because only a few days before did I realise that the race briefing, where you find out some of the specifics of the race, was going to take place less and an hour after I was due to arrive, a day before I was expecting it. My ongoing hatred of car hire companies was then to be enhanced when, on arrival, they didn’t have a car for our booking. The 2-hour delay cost me the race briefing, but fortunately Mum and Dad had landed a day earlier, so they hot footed it down to the race village to record the briefing. I can only imagine the looks they got from my fellow competitors trying to work out which one was racing!

Registration was my first experience of the Ironman phenomenon. Into the village I went, collecting my race pack, my long-awaited Ironman rucksack, the envy of those that haven’t got one, and then into the Ironman store. Devoted fans queued to hand over their hard-earned cash in exchange for anything with the famous IM logo, many of which had already had this tattooed onto their calf muscles following previous events. I will know that Efficient Portfolio has made it when people are getting our logo tattooed onto their skin! I couldn’t bring myself to buy anything yet though, I didn’t want to jinx my race prematurely.

There were so many things going through my head. Will I be able to reconstruct my bike, will it be intact, what have I forgotten, and what are the unknown unknowns? The day before was about getting everything into the right race bags; 5 in all. One for before and after, one for the bike leg, one for the run leg, and 2 ‘special needs’ bags that would be placed on the course should I need additional supplies. I took the bike out for a half hour ride to check everything was in working order, including my legs! I tried for the first time to put my cycle shoes on whilst in motion on the bike, to save time in transition as with a 1km line of bikes to get through, I didn’t want to be doing that on tiptoes in my cycling shoes if I could help it. I failed tragically at that and resigned myself to having to put them on after crossing the bike mount line. Turns out that was the wrong call.

Next stop was back to Ironman village to rack my bike and hang up my bags ready for the early start the following day. Walking the 1km through transition, seeing some of the most impressive bikes I have ever seen, the nerves were jangling. I noticed some people had attached small elastic bands to the back of their shoes on the bikes so that they could easily pop their feet into them after already jumping aboard. That is where I had been going wrong. Too late now.

Leaving transition without bike or bags was both a relief and a worry. Nothing I could do now… except spend money on Ironman branded attire. The queue was longer than the before, and things were starting to run out. Forget jinxing the run, I needed Ironman branded stuff and now!

Dinner was tricky; I needed large amounts of pasta, which shouldn’t be difficult in Italy, but almost nowhere was serving food until 7. I didn’t want to wait, and we finally tracked down a local establishment that could deliver the huge helping of seafood pasta my final preparations required. Prego, I was ready to race!

After an early start, my usual breakfast with added beetroot juice and salt tablets, we jumped in the car at 6am. By 6.30 I was in transition getting my final bike checks done, applying body glide to avoid sores; no not where you are thinking, around my neck; and then donning my wetsuit.

I arrived at the beach to see a calm Adriatic Sea in front of me. Brilliant news, as only 2 days before the waves had been crashing in under a red flag. If they cancel the swim, they usually add more running, which is awful news; both because of the extra running, but because you can’t truly say you’ve completed an Ironman without getting into the water! The swim was on, and wetsuits were allowed. That was a relief, as I was already wearing mine! I was welcomed to the start line by the music from Gladiator… let the battle commence.

Once the pros were in, the rolling start of the age groupers (me and 3000 other people from around the world) commenced, with 6 athletes entering the water every 5 seconds. Quite a sight to see. It worked flawlessly. With Seven Nation Army by The White Stripes blaring away in the background, my time came at around 8am. I was in the water.

The swim went well. No major surprises. The high salt level of the water led to a numb tongue after just 15 minutes, a first for me, but I’d read about that happening to someone the year before, so it didn’t worry me. I didn’t want to push myself too hard. A 2.4-mile swim is no mean feat anyway, but as far as the day goes, this is the thin end of the wedge. I’d targeted 1 hour 15 minutes for the swim, so as I exited the water and saw 1 hour 5 minutes on my Garmin, I was delighted. And I felt good.