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Karen, what have you achieved in your working life?I have been in business since I was 18 and have owned and operated 10 different businesses. The challenge of operating my businesses and making them successful, giving my customers what they want and helping my staff to have more fulfilling lives has been very exciting and rewarding to me. I have always started up new businesses or bought ones that are not achieving or about to close down as I love the challenge of doing it myself. I am driven on the challenge of what is needed to make a business successful, that ability to think outside the square to deliver what your customer wants. In business you have to develop many different personal qualities to deal with your customers and staff, the various authorities and all the other business challenges. The experience you gain is vast. You truly have to believe in yourself before you go into business and that self-belief is one of the keys to success. If something goes wrong you have to be strong enough to find the answer and ride the problem through. I am so lucky I have loved my entire working life, I have never thought of it as work. I have got up with excitement and looked forward to what I was going to achieve that day. The only times I would look back with disappointment was when I had underachieved. I love juggling 101 things. I can’t imagine living any other way. My mind is always on overload and if my mind does have any spare time it will be planning some new exciting thing to do. What do you do to keep your energy levels up?I have learn’t how important exercise is. By keeping fit and active you stay more alert, energised and healthier. I go swimming several times a week, exercise on gym gear in my garage, lift weights go walking and enjoy our beautiful world.  I recently bought a bike deciding that would be good for me. In my usual ‘I can do anything’ I woke up one morning, after having just purchased the bike and thought ‘okay, this morning I am going to get up and bike a cycling event circuit in the area that I live.’ I had no training and hadn’t been on a bike for years. It was 110 kilometres over some very steep hills. My legs kept cramping and sitting on that small bike seat was very unpleasant. I had to keep standing up on the pedals to try and stretch the cramps out.I finished several hours later with a very sore bottom and legs that cramped for hours but I felt great and I was on such a high. If I had stopped and thought about how I was going to do it I would have talked myself out of it and missed out on that wonderful feeling of achievement. What are your favourite past times other than work?I love cooking and baking and it puts me in a happy mood and I sing along to myself as I work. I like doing creative things – making ornaments, decorations and I love sewing. I have made wedding dresses, men’s suits, clothes for myself and my children and clothes to sell. I loved decorating and doing up my businesses the way I had designed them. I would like to learn to paint and draw and that is on my to do list.  I love the sea and the mountains and enjoy walking and looking at the beautiful surroundings and what nature has to offer us.I love reading books and I read every night. I love people and sharing in their lives and helping and giving where I can. What gave you your fighting spirit?When I was 18 months old I received my vaccination for polio. Instead of giving me protection from polio it actually gave me the virus. I was left unable to walk. My father believed that if I wasn’t encouraged to use my muscles, I would never walk again. He bought a doll’s pram and stood me behind it and walked me around and around for months, until I walked on my own. That story has always stuck with me. I know I am responsible for keeping myself moving. I spent a lot of my early life in plaster and callipers. Doctors seemed to like to outline what I would never be able to do and predict that I would end up in a wheelchair. I always remember that when they were talking I would be saying in my head that won’t be me – I will do it. I think having polio has helped shape me into the person I am and has given me the edge in strength, determination, positive outlook and self-belief as well as compassion for others. Because I have battled with the effects from polio, I know without a doubt that I can do whatever I want to. I can see the beginning and the end result and I know I just have to put all the steps in place along the way to get to the result I want. What is important to you now?
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