Meet Colin Gathercole
What’s your name and role at Complete Commercial Finance?
Colin Gathercole, consultant
How long have you worked in commercial finance?
I’ve worked in banking for 42 years after a careers adviser at school suggested the job to me and another lad. I joined at 16 and so did he, but I stayed in the sector while he left! I worked for NatWest and back in the 70s the branch was huge with 120 people, but when I left in 2021 it was just a small team of three, as technology has transformed the way banks work. During my career, I covered most roles and for 20 of these years worked in commercial finance with SME clients with a turnover of up to £2m across north Essex and Suffolk.
What do you love most about the job?
Helping clients to find the right type of finance to grow their businesses! Working with Complete Commercial Finance means I am able to spend more time focusing on clients, getting to know their businesses and understanding what they need to make their plans a reality. There is more opportunity to identify and work with the right type of lender that suits their requirements and delivers a solution. Nothing beats meeting a new customer and then being recommended by them to someone else!
What’s your ambition?
I’m 59 and although approaching retirement age I’m not at the end of my working life, so I want to do more of the stuff I like, such as meeting and getting to know clients, and helping them to grow. I also wanted to enjoy a better work/life balance and be able to travel and play a bit more golf! Michael and Karl at Complete Commercial Finance share the same ethics and customer-first outlook as myself, so it was the perfect business to join and work with.
What’s a surprising fact about yourself?
I am a keen sportsman and golfer and play for Colchester.
If you had one piece of advice for business owners, what would it be?
Be honest at the outset when looking for commercial finance as it makes it much easier to apply and find a suitable lender when all the facts are on the table.
Also, take professional advice. It’s easy to get caught up in the same cycle of doing the same thing when running a business and often the business runs them rather than the other way round. There’s definitely an argument for working with a business coach to look at how you use your time and paying someone else when it’s appropriate, rather than going back on the tools to help out when things get busy. It’ll move your business forwards.
