By Business & Finance 
Carol Brick, managing director, CWM Wealth Management
CWM Wealth Management chief Carol Brick takes the Business & Finance 60 second challenge.
Q. What was your first job?
My aunt had a hairdressers in Ballyheighue, Co. Kerry. At the age of 14, I worked there for £5 a day and cycled five miles there and back.
However, it all ended very abruptly when I soaked a lady whilst washing her hair and she subsequently claimed to have gotten pneumonia!
Q. What would you regard as your greatest achievement to date?
Setting up CWM Wealth Management in conjunction with the directors of Contracting PLUS.
We provide a financial lifestyle advisory service and tailor-made financial solutions to self-employed professional individuals and contractors all over Ireland.
It was in the course of my work with CWM that I identified huge gaps in the financial plans of self-employed professional females in Ireland, which has led me to start up a new dedicated division of CWM called HerMoney.
Q. If you could step into the shoes of one business person for the day, who would it be and why?
It has to be Richard Branson. I met him a few years ago and found him to be such a true gentleman.
He was really down to earth and so humble considering his enormous success in so many different fields. It would be good to experience life in his shoes for a day.
Q. What’s the best piece of advice you’ve ever been given?
Always prepare for rainy day events. Everyone should have four times your net salary in an account where you can access it immediately for unexpected events.
Q. In three words or less, how do you define success?
Fulfilment of potential.
Q. How do you motivate yourself and your staff?
We make sure to celebrate every success, be it excellence in exams, winning an award or reaching our sales targets. Praising my staff and celebrating these successes even with a simple lunch helps motivate my team and I.
Q. How do you relax?
Having had a little boy 15 months ago, I have forgotten the meaning of this ‘R’ word but I do try and get out for a walk with the buggy and my dog as often as I possibly can.
Q. What’s your motto?
As George Bernard Shaw once said, “Life isn’t about finding yourself. Life is about creating yourself.”
Q. What are your aspirations for the future of your business?
To make CWM Wealth Management and HerMoney the number one financial advisory service for self-employed professionals in Ireland and to support Irish people in becoming more financially savvy.
Everyone should have four times your net salary in an account where you access to it immediately for unexpected events
BRICK BY BRICK
Carol Brick is managing director of CWM Wealth Management and is a qualified financial advisor, specialising in the area of asset and wealth management.
CWM Wealth Management provides tailor-made financial solutions to self-employed individuals and contractors all over Ireland.
Their professional impartial financial advice covers a wide range of financial products mainly centred on retirement planning, including the review of existing pension provisions, life cover, income protection and investments.
With offices in both Cork and Dublin, CWM is about to launch a new dedicated division HerMoney to cater for the financial planning needs of professional and self-employed women nationwide.
