'My personal assistant is a real dog!'

Choosing the right partners is an important decision in growing any business. I am privileged to have great people working with me to grow LIFT. While they come from a variety of industries and cover the spectrum of age, gender, cultural, social and economic backgrounds, they all share one ingredient in common. And despite their qualifications, reputations or expertise it was this one element that made me pursue them until they said yes. Passion. They are passionate about LIFT and its potential. I've learnt that there are many character traits people can claim to have but the one that is very hard to sustain (particularly if you don't have it) is passion for what you do. 

Passion is what has driven me to build this business and overcome many hurdles. Passion for what I do drives my dreams, my goals and my persistence. It has got me back up time and time again when faced with rejection and provided resilience in the face of the doubters and critics. I fundamentally love what I do. I love the thought of working towards its unlimited potential and the positive effects it can have on people. It's this truthful, open, fearless characteristic that I nurture within myself and look for in others. 

So when I set about looking for a personal assistant to help me guide the business I needed them to have a skill set that was much more about mirroring my enthusiasm than managing my meetings. 

I needed someone who was prepared to listen patiently and endlessly as I talked about next steps. They would need to be prepared to walk with me at all hours of the day or night as I think best when I am up and about. They would be nonjudgmental, loyal, happy and wouldn't mind fetching things for me every now and again. And best of all? They would take plenty of time to dream and imagine.

The good news was I didn't have to look too far to find my new PA. In fact he was lying at my feet. 

So it's with great pleasure I introduce a small business owners best friend and personal assistant. A labrador retriever named Jet. 

And Jet has his own good news. He will be sharing his tips on good living as only a dog can do. 

Look out for some of his favourite bites in the regular column called 'Dog with a Blog'