Wednesday, 20 April 2011
A day in the life of......David Gibson, Director
10:27 | 
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madaboutfurniture
A day in the life of.....David Gibson, Director
When we first opened Mad about Furniture almost 10 years ago the coast was a very different place and that means a very different working environment.
We started with just two staff, us the owners and quickly expanded. While we used to have our own clients and own specialties we soon naturally fell into different and sometimes alien roles such as Financial control where I spend most of my days now.
I say alien as maths was never my initial forte as I have always worked in marketing and indeed have a degree in the subject.
So it seems strange that my business life has progressed this way but, any business is about having a handle on the whole entity and it’s crucial that one person has responsibility for sales and marketing and another financial while communicating with each other at all times to form a team.
Once accepted, this more alien world for a marketer becomes quite structured and unseasonal, unlike the more volatile and (exciting?) world of sales.
The beginning and the end of the months are my busiest. Working closely with a good accountant is vital and again, preparing the company's financial situation is heavily centred around the month and quarter ends.
As well as preparing and understanding documentation from basic invoices to paying bills and forecasting and budgeting which is vital in any business worldwide we have also gained unusual and, we think, valuable experience of running the business in a foreign country and, largely, in a foreign language. These skills can be transferred to a whole host of businesses and again can be a valuable skill base for anyone wanting to start a new business as an expat in Spain.
To illustrate this, my quieter mid month period is spent working with a sister company, Passion 4 Property. Despite being a totally different business, the skills used behind the scenes at Mad about Furniture are directly transferrable.
Working outside of the front line in any small business often means getting at least a basic understanding of legal and personnel systems which in turn requires an understanding how staff contracts should be handled according to the current legislation and at the same time matching the employees and the businesses needs, especially, for example, if the enterprise is seasonal. While most businesses in the world see seasonality in sales, life in Spain can be affected by seasonality more than most as our key clients, second home owners, tend to give us business at the same time at key points of the year.
Despite the structured month I do work inside our main store which in itself produces variation and being retail, clients arriving all day so although most of my work could be done from home, working in a furniture store allows me to see the bigger picture.
As well as having a good relationship with a good accountant it's important to have a close relationship with your bank, again, like in any business in any country we also work hard to forge relationships with trusted and professional services with anything from shipping agents to sofa manufacturers in China.
Over 10 years we have seen a lot of day to day changes on how we fill our day but it remains that we all work as a close team so as owners we feel confident that we are driving the business forward during, sometimes difficult times including a worldwide recession. This type of business day isn't too much different to any other enterprise, anywhere in the world.
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