I had been working as a senior OT for a Local Authority for a number of years which I enjoyed however due to the lack of career progression within my role, I wanted a new challenge.

Many of us know what it is to be older, or to have a disability, because it has happened to us or to someone we love.

This week I attended a photo shoot for the OT Show, which is a conference for Occupational Therapists.

I was working as an OT manager for Health and Social care; I loved my job and the team around me but found that I really missed the hands on clinical aspects of doing my job.

I’m glad I took the leap, but I wish I’d had the courage to jump a bit earlier in my career. I certainly wish I’d planned it a bit better at the start, so that the point I’m at now might have been a smoother journey.

Deciding to work for yourself in any profession is often an exciting but daunting prospect. Most OTs seem to say they started independent work confident in the professional services they could offer, but had little business acumen to support themselves on their journey.

I am passionate about OT and its underlying philosophy. I really enjoyed the majority of my work within statutory services; however I became increasingly frustrated and felt stagnant in my roles.

For a long time I'd been curious as to whether working independently as an Occupational Therapist could work for me. I was self employed for some time before I trained as an OT so had already had some experience of the book keeping side of things.

As part of an ongoing search for the most promising and inspiring small businesses in the country, the winners have been announced for the Best of the Best Business Awards 2013.

Independent OTs Tips Guide Proving Popular

To earn more money, and as my career took me into acute inpatient work, I wanted to keep my community, rehab, adaptation type work up to date.

Many of us know what it is to be older, or to have a disability, because it has happened to us or to someone we love. We take most activities of daily living for granted - such as having a shower, preparing a meal, or getting dressed. But being unable, or finding it difficult, to do these things, can have a huge impact on our quality of life.

Inclusion.Me Ltd are delighted to announce that following our recent success in the Best of the Best Business Awards we have also received further recognition for our customer service team whom have also now won a Global Business Awards to add to our growing awards cabinet!!!

The British Association Of Occupational Therapists states that Occupational Therapists work with people of all ages, helping them to carry out the activities that they need or want to do in order to lead healthy and fulfilling lives.

To celebrate our 2 new Best Of The Best Awards and the launch of stage 2 of our new website, including the addition of our new OT video wall (more details coming soon - stick with us it's early days and it will hopefully become more exciting than it is at the moment....promise!) as well as making the site responsive for easier use by visitors on tablets and mobile devices

Inclusion.Me Ltd are delighted to announce that we have won 2 more awards to start 2014 with a bang! Best of the Best Business Awards for both the Best Customer Service alongisde the Outstanding Entrepreneur categories.

Many of us know what it is to be older, or to have a disability, because it has happened to us or to someone we love. We take most activities of daily living for granted - such as having a shower, preparing a meal, or getting dressed. But being unable, or finding it difficult, to do these things, can have a huge impact on our quality of life.

We are very excited and proud to of been nominated for 2 awards in the upcoming Global Excellence Business Awards.