I'm a finalist :)

As most of you will know I rarely talk about my work on here or when I'm out and about...I rarely get time to switch off from it so when I'm out with mates it's usually welcome non-work time. For those who don't know what I do as a day job, I run an IT Support company supporting businesses all over the area, and worked my way up from a junior techie straight out of uni (in 2002) to owner/MD which I became in 2010.

Anyway, I've been selected as a finalist in the Institute of Directors "South West Director of the Year" awards in the Young Director category :D I don't usually like blowing my own trumpet but I'm pretty proud of this - the first time I've ever had real recognition of the business stuff I do and these are very prestigious awards. There's a posh awards evening in June when the winner is announced - the south west region covers Wilts, Somerset, Bristol, Dorset, Devon & Cornwall so to be a finalist is a huge deal but means some very strong competition so I'm not expecting to win, but being a finalist is awesome.

It has been a VERY tough 4 years rescuing what was a failing company and turning it around pretty much single handedly (with support from family, friends and my awesome staff members), so I'm really happy about being a finalist :)

Thought I'd share... :)

Congrats mate, thats a real achievement making it to the final, in it to win it :)

Congratulations on a stunning achievement. Good luck in the final

Well done James.. that's great news..
Hope you go on to win it and your company flourishes in the future.:)

Go team James. Good luck.

Nice one Dabz, well done that man !!! :cool:

Well done, and good luck!

Well done Boss :) Good luck !

Recognition for a lot of hard work - well done James.

Congratulations and very good luck ;)

Congratulations. Good luck in the finals!

Well done James and fingers crossed for you, I'm proud to count you as a friend :cool:

Well done mate, good luck in the future

Congratulations, even being a finalist is a major achievement!

If your anything like me you manage to clear a room pretty quickly when talking about working in IT!

Good luck in the awards and let us know how you get on :)

Well done James, fingers crossed for you

Kev & Pat

Nice one James, good luck.

Many congrats James and best of luck with the final.
With such a prestigious award, just getting to the finals will be good for business I'm sure.

Another machinery dealer I know in South London won a similar (but much smaller) award a few years ago, he only got a little certificate - so he had made a big silver trophy to put in his reception which looks the dogs danglies and mega impressive. I think he should have got an extra award for having the nouce to do that lol

Pleased for you...

Congratulations. Recognition usually is the result of hard work and making sacrifices in other areas of life. So enjoy the reward for all that you have put in and I hope you do well in the final

Congrats on getting to where you are, good luck for the next stage. Running your own business is tough with not a huge number of people lining up to thank you for the effort so good to get some recognition

echo what everyone else is saying..well done to you and good luck,you obviously earned and deserve it..

Well done, James! May I wish you every success in the future rounds. I know you will do well. :cool: Richard

Fantastic Dabz well done you deserve it :-)

I see Dabz was pictured in last weeks Bath Chronicle as shortlisted, it didn't say when the results were due though :confused:

The awards ceremony was the evening before we went on holiday so sorry for the lack of update :) Apparently the judges found it hard going to choose between me and the other girl in my category, so ended up giving me "highly commended" and she was the eventual winner - nice to be recognised as usually it's a case of winner or nothing. Got a nice certificate and was urged to enter again next year :)

Bit disappointed not to have won, but to be highly commended (so a very close 2nd) for the whole of the South West of the UK is pretty good :) Also found out while I was away that my business won its category in the Bath & Bristol Apprenticeship Awards - we were recognised for 7 years of commitment to offering apprenticeship placements in partnership with Bath College :) Again, a nice certificate and trophy :) :

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Well done mate, well deserved :)

Boo fix! You should have won! Well done Dabz ! :cool:

Many congratulations James, sounded very close !
Congrats on the Apprenticeship Awards too, well done.

Although " Apparently the judges found it hard going to choose between me and the other girl" - is there something you need to tell us James !!!
:-)