What a wedding taught me about business: Real-life lessons from a day with strangers

We’re All Facing The Same Challenges, Just Wearing Different Hats

Back at my desk this morning, after a 3-day break to attend a friend's wedding at the (amazing) Wasing Estate in Berkshire.

The event itself started at 12:30 on Wednesday and continued for the whole day, the weather was very kind to us and so most of our time was al fresco.

Sunshine, music, food and drink - and an opportunity to meet such a variety of people and ask about their backgrounds:

• The busy para-planner for a mortgage broker;

• A policeman starting a new business to connect drivers looking for tyres with tyre-replacement centres (first person I've ever met who wanted to meet tyre-kickers! 😉);

• A couple who are former winners of "Love Island";

• A family of farmers who also included show-jumpers;

• A time-management coach for overwhelmed business-women;

• A body-piercer building a thriving business adding jewellery to a fascinating range of body-parts;

• An actor who has recently played Hernan Cortes in a documentary about the invasion of Central America but keeps getting typecast as Jesus Christ;

• A pediatric nurse and a physiotherapist, both bemoaning the state of the NHS;

• A professional gardener.

and many more - as always at these events, I applied the 80/20 rule - 80% asking questions about them and 20% answering questions about myself. It makes for a good day.

Perhaps most interesting was the stories they told me about the challenges of

• Recruiting decent staff;

• Attracting the right customers;

• Paying the bills;

• Managing burn out and balance;

• How quickly the first 6 months of this year seem to have happened;

• Raising a family in a mad, mad world.

Wednesday reminded me that I spend most of my time listening to dental folk - and that I perhaps need to get out more.

Also, that we are all ultimately dealing with the same stuff.