Firmer Figures: Fess up or Mess Up - How to spot the signs your small business is failing so you can fix it before anyone finds out (Paperback) (ISBN-13: 9780992901509)

Georgette is Director of the Financial Gym, and Precision Services Out-sourced Bookkeeping. She is creator of the Firmer Figures Programme for entrepreneurs. An author and a speaker. Georgette began her working life in catering management and then decided to enter the cutthroat world of IT and Finance in Central London at a time when it was not the easiest place for females to belong, let alone one from an ethnic minority. However she thrived there and became manager of a bespoke IT outsourcing company in the City with banks her main specialty. She was head hunted by a rival company because they wanted to get into the Bank of England and Inland Revenue (as they were called then) and both had made it clear they dealt with her or not at all. She later went into business with a friend in an industry she knew nothing about. It turned into a nightmare which almost ruined her financially. She also went from physically fit to extremely overweight. When she read a statistic that one in three businesses do not make it past 3 years old, she knew that for so many this could be avoided with the right information at their fingertips. She had personally been through it. She also realised that so much of what made her successful in big business had no place in small businesses, there was a different, tougher set of rules and few safety nets. She discovered so many business owners who came from the employment world and despite being in business for some time were still making the same mistakes with very little support The similarities between the lessons, experiences and strategies she had to use to get out of financial trouble and get back her fitness levels are the inspiration behind the Financial Gym which is more a labour of love. It exists as her platform to help business people become smarter at spotting and avoiding financial danger signs in their business before it is too late. Georgette wants to take the fear out of finances and believes that until people put as much energy into understanding the money, as they do into designing a logo or website; she has her work cut out.