Name: Mark Pearson
Age: 30
Company: MarkCo Media (MyVoucherCodes.co.uk)
Company turnover: £10m
First job: I worked for my parents’ fruit and veg and flower shop. My mum was a florist, so essentially I ran that shop. I made it more profitable. I turned it around!
Dream job: When I was young, I either wanted to be a chef or afireman. I actually trained as a chef before launching MyVoucherCodes. It was really interesting [Pearson trained at Gordon Ramsay’s Claridges], and is a life-skill that I’ve still got. I still enjoy it, but I enjoy doing it for friends and family rather than hundreds of people in a restaurant.
Car: Range Rover and Audi R8.
Economy, business or first class: It depends where I’m going. I’m very practical and frugal when it’s a practical journey. But if I’m going on a holiday, long-haul, I like first class.
Most extravagant purchase: Clothes. I don’t go shopping for myself very often, so when I do, I do it well. Whenever I go to Selfridges, I just buy the whole shop, but then it’ll do me for the year.
Most-played song on your iPod: Probably something by Lady Gaga.
Best business book: I don’t really read business books, but I read lots online. I also get a lot out of following key entrepreneurs and up-and-coming business people on Twitter they give a lot of information away.
Worst business moment: Sometimes I can get down with work when things don’t work out. This can be a regular occurrence for me, but I’ll wake up the next day and be ready to take the bull by the horns, so to speak. If things aren’t going right, or we’ve had a particular person who hasn’t given us the best feedback, it can niggle me a bit. But then I’ll always analyse it. It takes a little time, I’ll sleep on it and then the next day, I’ll come back firing and ready for more. So yes, I’d just say that those regular occurrences are my worst business moments it sounds terrible but it’s not.
Proudest business moment: One of the exciting things I’ve done more recently is the mobile launch. Really physically putting our business into the mobile space, and saying here we are, we’ve launched. That’s one of the biggest ones. Probably opening up the office and taking it to the next level was the second one.
Your business mentor: I’m not really close with any business people. If I need advice, I’ll usually just go to my board.
Next big thing: Mobile is where it’s at. Mobile has set the bar. Not just mobile coupons, but mobile everything. That’s where it’s at.
