Marie Eichler
As the branch manager for International Secretaries [part of the Senior Secretaries Group], I hired Nicole. She was fresh out of university and as soon as she walked in for her interview, I knew I wanted her on my team. She was the best consultant in the group for ages.Business went downhill when the recession started to bite [in 1991] and it was Nicole who said, 'why don't we do it ourselves'. As the world was crumbling around us we started up-we just thought, let's give it a go, although it did take all of Nicole's powers of persuasion.
There's 20 years between us, but we never think about age. We both started the business with £3,000 each and didn't take a salary for six months. We had one room in [London] Piccadilly and two phones. People thought we were lunatics but we saw a gap in the market and made a business. Then in 1992, foreign languages became more important [when the EU was formed].
We had confidence in ourselves. We'd done this type of recruitment before. I drive the operational side, and Nicole does the sales side. We have a lot in common-we basically think the same way about the business-and grab ideas out of the universe. We're one big think-tank.
I like to find out what each person's strengths are in my team, and then play to those. We're not all doing and thinking the same thing. Nicole and I are equal shareholders, and we have three other directors.
I'd describe Nicole as mercurial, dynamic and persuasive. I'm a bit more analytical and reflective. She's very tenacious, a real go-getter. She's a terrific team player, and nothing seems to irritate her, although occasionally I'll follow her out of the door to make sure she's taken our conversation in. If we have a disagreement, we take it off site and talk about it. But that's rare.
No two days are ever the same, which is what I like. Every day has its challenges and I like problem solving. People are our product-they're interesting and change a lot but they can frustrate you-they're not like a car, with specifics. It's an ever-movable feast.
English is the corporate language of the world, but I do think that foreign language skills need to be pushed. We have 20 people here, and every one speaks a second language. This is how the world is. Learning someone else's language can take you a long way.
Nicole Debson
My reason for starting up my own business was daft. I was the top sales person at International Secretaries and wanted a small pay rise-just £500. They wouldn't give me one. I was extremely skint and wanted to earn a bit more money.It took a year to convince Marie to do it with me. The truth is, she was 48 at the time. It was the height of the recession, the industry was receding and there was no anti-ageism legislation in those days. We thought, 'we've got nothing to lose. What's the worse that can happen?'
Finding finance was difficult-banks everywhere turned us down. Finding premises was also a challenge because you need a trading history. I learnt from that: do as you would like to be done by, have generosity and belief. We're very supportive of other women starting up in business.
Marie and I are both loyal and honest. She's one of the only people that I totally and utterly trust. From a moral perspective, she demonstrates great integrity.
We're both daughters of immigrants so we share a similar drive. You want to prove yourself, to carve a niche. We think along the same lines-we're generous spirited and slightly eccentric. I think I'm in more of a hurry than her-she's more methodical and takes longer to make up her mind.
We maximise our own strengths. There's little point in developing a muscle with a weakness. I still get a massive high from sales and winning new business. Marie's a former top-flight PA-her admin skills are second to none. You need that combination-without Marie we'd never invoice anyone; without me we'd never make any sales. It's a good balance.
Marie's a very kind person. And she's shrewd. I really like her-apart from the fact that she sometimes continues a conversation into the road with me.
I can count on one hand the number of disagreements we've had in 20 years. At those times we do get very upset; there's such emotional investment in working together for a long time. But we have it out and settle it together.
I still love recruitment-to be in this business this long, you really have to love it.
