Roy Taylor's Four Ingredients To 100% Success!

Roy Taylor, 1970s race cycling champion, uses his four ingredients to success to help businesses.
By: Writing Works
 
March 22, 2011 - PRLog -- In the summer of 1969 15-year-old Roy Taylor was living in Harrogate. One event that year proved to be a defining moment in his life.

He was amongst the crowd that watched the Tour of Britain finish in the town and it fired in him the desire to be a racing cyclist.

Roy’s vision of being a champion rider was only further inspired when he saw, in the window of a cycle shop in Harrogate, a second-hand Carlton 10 speed ‘racer’. At £20 it was not cheap but Roy knew, the moment he saw the bike, that he had to have it.

He was working as a butcher’s delivery boy at the time and this as well as other odd-jobs enabled Roy to work every hour God sent and save every penny.

Finally, Roy had enough money to buy his dream machine and as he wheeled it out of the shop one sunny morning, he knew that he had discovered his vocation.  From then on, every spare minute was spent cycling the hills and dales of his beloved North Yorkshire.

Roy’s dedication and commitment resulted in his becoming one of the country’s top amateur racers. It also sowed the seeds of a philosophy that has shaped his life.
After a successful career in industry, Roy Taylor is now Director of 100% Success Limited.

Roy is an expert in the implementation of international standards ISO 9001 (Quality); BS OHSAS 18001 (Health & Safety); ISO 14001 (Environment). Only the top 3% of UK businesses have gained accreditation for all three of these standards.

This is what Roy specialises in, helping clients achieve exactly this and so join the exclusive Top 3% Club.

During his racing career, Roy was guided by possibly the finest cycling coach Great Britain has ever produced: Eddie Soens.

Roy says, “Eddie was able to motivate and inspire people like no-one else. I adopted his four ingredients to success and apply these in helping businesses realise their goals.

“The first ingredient is: Determine what you want. At the age of 15 I told the Harrogate Advertiser that my ambition was to ride the Tour of Britain as part of the UK A team. I knew that many sacrifices would be needed if I was to achieve my ambition but I did exactly that eight years later, in 1977.

“When a business client tells me that they want to go for an international standard my first piece of advice is to make that announcement public. This commitment makes the ambition a goal.

“The second ingredient for success is: Determine what you are willing to reschedule or sacrifice so as to achieve what you want. Becoming a race winning cyclist taught me this.
“When my peers were in the pubs I was out cycling. It took total dedication. I even raced the school bus from Ripon, which was where we now lived, to Harrogate - and often won!”

The third ingredient to success is: Associate with people who will help you attain your goals. During his cycling career Roy was supported by the best in their professions.

These included Harrogate based International cycle wholesaler Ron Kitching, a fine road racer himself and supplier of world class bikes; coach Eddie Soens and also Arthur Metcalfe. The Hartlepool based champion rider became something of a father figure to Roy.

Further support was offered by a Newcastle based cycle clothing company, Been Bag. This family owned business, with Molly and Geoff Lowe at the helm, was well known in the sport.

“It’s the same in the business world,” Roy explains. “Associate with the right people, the best people; bring in the experts who will get the job done and help you achieve your goals.”

The fourth ingredient to success is: Have a plan that works and work the plan. “Eddie Soens had an exceptional ability to set goals and then implement an action plan,” Roy explains.

“That’s exactly what he did for me: 20 hours a week on the bike and a demanding regime of short distance sprints and long distance marathons; hill climbing and road racing; testing my stamina and spirit to the limit – and beyond. Every Sunday Eddie and I reviewed the week’s progress before planning the week ahead.

“Once again, I have taken what Eddie taught me into the business world. I design a plan for my clients that will get them to where they want to be. Then we work that plan and we stick to it.

“Achieving international standards demands a lot of commitment and effort and I always explain this to my clients, that it is important they understand this. It will test their mettle as well as help their business develop and grow and become excellent.

“A racing cyclist – all athletes - want to win at the Olympics and show how good they are. Similarly, businesses want to be accredited with internationally recognised standards, to serve as a validation of their reliability, in consistently producing quality goods and of their commitment to continuous improvement.

“A by-product of this, but one which is vitally important, is that the process itself is beneficial. My training as a cyclist resulted in my getting very fit. At the peak of my career I was in great condition, physically, emotionally and mentally.

“This is what I do for my clients. The process we go through to achieve ISO or BS OHSAS improves the health and fitness of a business.

“As a cyclist, I also learnt from my mistakes. If I lost a race, Eddie and I studied the reasons for this so that we could put it right in time for the next event. As a business consultant, I say to my clients, ‘Don’t be afraid of making mistakes. What is important is how you respond to them. You might fall off the bike and hey that happens, but it is important that you react quickly and get back onto the saddle.’

“And be prepared to have your nerve tested.”

A spectacular example of this happened to Roy when he was a participant in the Peace Race of 1975. Taking in Berlin, Prague and Warsaw, 108 competitors covered a gruelling 1,915 km route. Held during May every year, the race was designed to unite the countries of Eastern Europe in sport. A few westerners were also invited to take part.

“We sped through a village in East Germany at nearly 30mph. It had been raining heavily and the cobbled streets were like a skating rink. I was in the middle of the pack, head down and legs pounding. You become totally absorbed in a race. The only sound I was aware of was that of bike tyres hissing on the wet road.

“And then – bang! The front riders went down and the next instant the rest of us were piling into them. There were bikes crashing and cyclists flying all over the place. I hurtled into this with teeth clenched and hands gripping the handlebars. I rode right over the fallen bikes and riders and onto open road – I was leading the pack!

“It’s the same in the business world: Sometimes it will be a white knuckle ride and you have to stay focused and stay in the race.”

Roy, who now lives in Gosforth, Tyne and Wear, returned home from the Peace Race as one of the UK’s top amateur cyclists and was selected for the British Olympics team set for Montreal.

“I’m proud of the fact that I fulfilled an ambition of representing my country in racing,” he says. “Cycling taught me many invaluable lessons that have served me in well in life.
“The most important of these is that if you have a burning desire for something then you can achieve it, 100%, every time.

“I use that philosophy to help other businesses.”
End
Source:Writing Works
Email:***@100percent-success.co.uk Email Verified
Tags:International Standards, Iso, Business, Consultancy
Industry:Business, Environment, Health
Location:Newcastle upon Tyne - Tyne and Wear - England
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Page Updated Last on: Mar 23, 2011
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