If you’re old enough, you’re good enough…
It’s a phrase that could quite comfortably have been coined especially for Laura Riley.
While most of her friends are nursing hangovers at university, the 20-year-old is very much on the other side of the fence.
Not one for the trauma of revision or exams, the only books of interest to this ambitious young businesswoman are the financial accounts for her fledgling pub.
Laura, who runs The Pear Tree in the picturesque village of Hook Norton in Oxfordshire, had good ideas, plenty of enthusiasm and bundles of iron-willed determination.
Like many of the people who feature in our client and consumer publications, her verve and energy are utterly infectious.
She’s proving a success behind the bar and is keen to spell out the highs as well as the lows of running your own business at such a tender age.
Her story in our Freehouse magazine – a title for free houses and independent licensees – aims to change behaviour and inspire others by spotlighting best practice.
Our approach is straightforward: make it an interesting story with people at the core and you can entertain, educate and inform almost by osmosis.
We find the ‘like us’ information, the kind of stuff that makes people want to read on further, and before they know it, they’re hooked. Or we haven’t done it right.
So are you still reading? Yes? There’s your proof that we can deliver.
Oh, and Laura’s recipe for success? A good locally sourced menu, a tight ship, common sense, but above all patience and energy.