Spurring On More Family Firms
Lawyer turned accidental entrepreneur hopes tales of success will spur family businesses.
A woman who has successfully built a national business with her husband has said family firms need to inspire a new generation showing what is possible despite the difficulties of bringing up young families.
Maxine Park, who along with her husband Garry, formed DictateNow, a transcription and business services outsourcing business, almost 20 years ago, believes more families need to see the opportunities.
Maxine was a working solicitor when her and software designer husband, Garry started the business in 2002, now the firm work with hundreds of legal, healthcare, financial as well as other businesses, and have regional offices, which covers the whole of the UK.
“I could be considered an accidental entrepreneur and I firmly believe the family unit is possibly the best conditions for entrepreneurship to thrive,” she said.
“A couple committed to a life path together with dreams for their family is a powerful incubator for entrepreneurship and I think I’m perfect evidence of this,” she added.
At the start of the 2000s Maxine was asked by her law firm to investigate typing services for the legal team as they were having to do their own after the firm made cutbacks with support staff. Unable to find viable options, her and husband Garry a software programmer and designer, built software for her then employers, Stock Fraser Cukier who became their first client.
The word spread to other firms and now as well as having their headquarters on the edge of the M25, DictateNow have offices in the North of England, in Manchester, Northern Ireland’s capital, Belfast and also in Scotland’s biggest city, Glasgow.
“If someone had told me two decades ago that I’d be doing this now, I’d have thought it very far-fetched,” added Maxine who at the time had two young boys (Daniel and Elliott) in early school years.
“We had to call in favours from friends, do a lot of juggling and still do all we could for our boys, which meant countless sleepless nights, worrying about the business and the family,” she said.
“The family unit was the fertile soil that meant we were able to make this vision come true and there are the seeds of many good family businesses in homes all over the UK,” she added.
DictateNow has a huge team of over 200 transcription specialists who work from home, many working mothers.
“I think all of us can underestimate our potential and this is especially so for mums. However, mums have the greatest time management skills and are amazing at building a strong social network. These are some of the most important skills needed for business.”
“I believe entrepreneurs are made from circumstances and the family is the prefect support unit. I hope our tale and all the other great stories about family businesses can help inspire a new generation of family entrepreneurs,” she said.
Click here to read this on Family Business United website.
Maxine Park, Solicitor and Co-Founder of transcription and office support services provider, DictateNow
