My lifestyle is so much better. I enjoy great variety in my working day as I meet clients and suppliers, all of whom have different needs. I also work with a large number of my fellow franchised consultants on different projects. Julia Goodfellow and I jointly visit new prospective clients and share some of the project.

10 years on I have not looked back. In this time ERA has grown to be the world's largest and best-known cost management consultancy group. ERA has given me the opportunity to indulge in one of my greatest passions which is travel and the benefits of ERA mean that whilst I don't get paid for holidays I can always use my fellow ERA colleagues to manage my clients while I am away.

The ERA franchise has enabled me to turnover an average of £100,000 per year for the last 10 years - meaning that I have billed over £1.1 million. I have just renewed my franchise agreement for a further 10 years and in my work role I simply couldn't be happier. I often remember a song that was around when I was made redundant in 1993, which was called 'Things can only get better'. Well, in joining ERA things have become even better than I could ever have imagined. I am already looking forward to another 10 years. I cannot wait.