Currently...

I run a children's events company with Charlie Astor called http://www.sharkyandgeorge.com/" rel="nofollow">Sharky and George. We organise birthday parties and events for children from 4-16 years old.

We have just launched a children's clothing company called Sharky and George Clothing, and are in the process of signing a book deal.

Before I escaped...

I worked at Armstrong International, an executive search firm based in the city. I was there for almost two years and focussed mainly on Private Banking.

Having run children's parties while at University and over the weekends while working in the city, Charlie and I knew that there was a market for doing it 'our way' and thought the time had come to do it properly and give up the serious jobs to focus fully on Sharky and George.

My moment of truth...

It was more of a gradual thing for us, as we had gradually built the business over four years as a bit of a hobby, and then it got to a stage when we were having to turn down lots of work as we had our other jobs to be doing.

I suppose the major moment of truth came when I resigned!

Planning for it...

Spoke to as many people who knew about setting up businesses as physically possible.  Most business owners are very happy to meet up and talk you through the pit falls.

We drew up a pretty thorough business plan with some figures, but probably not quite as many as one is meant to include, and tried it out lots before taking the plunge.

We didn't go in for any funding; we started with a small hi-fi and some sweets, and when we could afford to buy more kit we did. After 3 years of trading as a limited company we have taken on our first overhead in the form of an office.

The worst and best bits...

Best: Running your own thing is excellent; you make the decisions, and most importantly if you want something to happen, it can happen immediately rather than having to go through lots of other people first.

Worst: If you do run your own business the whole thing is your entire responsibility, so you do end up working much harder and longer hours than if you're on contracted hours.  This should not be a bad thing, as like us, you should really enjoy putting the hours in.

Best advice...

Don't hurry - if you can grow slowly and under control you have a much better chance of success, rather than rushing to get huge as soon as you can. In other words, don't be greedy!

Useful resources and information...

Get in touch with any friend who is a lawyer who is willing to help you out. Legal fees are extremely expensive, and you can do lots of things yourself. For example, if you incorporate your company via a city law firm it will cost you at least £1000; you can do it yourself for about £20 or you can get a regional accountant to do if for about £200. If you have a lawyer friend, they'll tell you all this.