Day in the life: Alan Tullis
My journey into Silvery Tweed is forty-five minutes over the Scottish borders. I find this time allows me to get myself mentally ready for the day ahead. In the evening, this journey allows me time to unwind before getting home.
The first thing I do when I get into the office in the morning is to make myself a ‘proper’ cafetiere coffee; much to my colleague's amusement, who think that instant coffee is acceptable. My first port of call is to review my emails or to attend to any work carried over from the previous day. I have a fifteen-minute or so catch-up with the Managing Director, Bob Gladstone, to ensure we are both up to date on anything in the business from the previous day and moving forward.
My day is perhaps a bit more diverse than that of your average finance director, but this is part and parcel of working in a family business. Not only do I deal with the everyday accounts of the business, but I also get involved with strategy, purchasing, and negotiating contracts with customers. I have thirty years in the food industry, eleven of which have been at Silvery Tweed and for all of those years, wherever I have worked, it seems to be the remit of the accountant also to be the IT person, so I manage that too.
The office has an open-door policy, so I will have a few people stick their heads in and ask a question of me throughout the day. Being involved in so many parts of the business means I am lucky to be privy to lots of knowledge, some of it is of course confidential. I tell the other members of the team; they can ask me what they wish and I may or may not answer!
The rest of my day is dictated by what is happening in the business, whether it be the time of year for contract renewals or setting up the new hardware for the warehouse staff to operate hand-held computers. Some more predictable jobs need to be done regularly such as invoicing, wages and reporting. The business has meetings every day so that everyone knows what is happening and any problems can be solved quickly.
I do not take work home with me and often stay in the office a little later to ensure things are all tied up. It is then a glorious trip over the Scottish borders, which helps me unwind from the day and sets me up for a relaxing evening.