Inspirational stories

When you launch your career, the world can seem a daunting place! Gain inspiration from these stories of people who have achieved success by tapping into their talents and passions.

If you have any other inspirational stories that we could post to help other users, send them to us at webmaster@bejant.com and we'll look to see if we can incorporate them.

My first million — Adam Balon of Innocent

Adam Balon set up Innocent with his two Cambridge university friends, Richard Reed and John Wright.

"After we left university, we all made our mothers proud and got good jobs with big blue-chip companies", explains Balon. "One drifted into advertising, and the other two into management consultancy. But we were still always talking about running our own business."

However their hectic lifestyles in the City meant that they were always eating junk food. They decided that they should be eating better and figured that other people probably felt the same way so they came up with the idea for a healthy 'smoothie'.

They tested their idea at a Jazz Festival in the summer of 1998 where they bought £500 of fruit which they used to sell smoothies at £1.80 each. They wanted to make the kind of smoothies you would make at home and Innocent are still the only company to offer 100 per cent fresh fruit in a bottle.

Then they put up a large sign saying 'Do you think we should give up our jobs to make these smoothies?', and asked people to put their empty bottles in bins marked 'yes' and 'no'. "The following Monday, with the yes box almost overflowing, We said, 'right guys, we're doing this now!', and all promptly resigned — the next day!".

Six months later tired of living off credit cards, not going out, eating cornflakes and soup and being turned down by several banks they emailed everyone everybody they knew asking, "Do you know anyone rich?" and a contact introduced them to a private investor.

Seven years later, Innocent Smoothies has a 63% share of the market which turns over £75 million.

Get noticed — Fiona Harrold

Fiona Harrold's Father was a Dale Carnegie devotee (just like all good door—to—door salesmen were) and encouraged Fiona from an early age, planting the belief that she could achieve anything.

At the age of 11 when growing up in Northern Ireland during the height of The Troubles she immersed herself in the world of self improvement and the dream of a better life elsewhere.

Since leaving Northern Ireland in the early eighties, Fiona has become Britain's most successful life coach and was recently named by The Times as one of the 'new gurus who have got inside our minds'.

Fiona's special passion is to make the world a better place to live in by helping people discover and develop their own unique qualities and talents. Fiona was the Green Party Parliamentary candidate for Hammersmith & Fulham in the 2005 General Election. Fiona works with many high profile figures from the worlds of politics, entertainment and the media.

Fiona makes frequent TV appearances and features regularly in the UK media. Watch Fiona talk about how to make a great impression and visit her website www.fionaharrold.com to find out more about life coaching.

The power of speech — Caroline Goyder

A graduate from Oxford University, a trained actress with a Masters from Central School of Speech and Drama where she currently coaches on both BA and MA courses. Caroline is an expert voice coach.

She is an excellent voice coach. She helps individuals to increase their personal impact through communication by training people to apply acting and voice skills to communicate presence, dynamism and confidence in real life. She has worked with television presenters, members of the House of Lords, city traders, MI5, Big Issue vendors and monarchs.

Caroline's skills have been featured in the National Press where she recently was asked to comment on Gordon Brown's new softer vocal tones. Her verdict — Caroline believes that his voice had undergone a "profound transformation" as a result of voice coaching.

Caroline also has considerable experience training senior executives in global companies such as Credit Suisse, Legal and General, Aviva, News International and the BBC. In business the ability to communicate is vital and Caroline understands the needs to project a positive image at job interviews and comments "The paradox is that while the written word is crucial to allow students to meet the academic standards demanded, their communication skills are the area which is likely to be the influencer in job interviews."

If you would like to get some top tips on how you can leave a lasting impression with potential employers please click here.

Adventure, travel writing & conservation - Mark Shand

Founding Trustee, Elephant Family

Mark's passion for Asian elephants started when he fell in love with his elephant Tara, whom he still owns and visits regularly at her home in Kipling Camp in Madhya Pradesh. The stories of Mark's adventures with Tara are recounted in his best-selling book Travels on my Elephant, which earned him the British Book Awards Travel Writer of the Year Award in 1992. Both English hardback and paperback editions became number one bestsellers in the UK.

Mark has ridden through the Andes on horseback, completed the London-Sydney motor race, been shipwrecked in the western Pacific while attempting to sail around the world, and made countless expeditions to remote areas in South East Asia. One such expedition led to the publication of his first book, Skulduggery, the story of a search for the headhunting tribes in Irian Jaya, Indonesia.

He is a Life Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society and a Member of the Explorers Club and for many years, alongside Sir David Attenborough and David Bellamy, a Vice-President of Flora & Fauna International, the oldest conservation society in the world.

Through his books, lectures and documentary films, Mark has raised significant funds and awareness worldwide for the survival of the Asian Elephant. In 2003, he founded elephant family; the only charitable organization dedicated to all Asian Elephants.  Picture: Bruce Weber

Please visit the Elephant Family website for more details.