Athena Collections - A Debt Recovery Agency Is Born
My story began back in November 2000 working for a debt recovery agency, Connaught Collections UK Ltd. Since then it has been a roller coaster of emotions. A fantastic 17 years in the industry so far and hopefully at least another 17 more to come. I've made many contacts, professional relationships have been built and many friendships to last a lifetime. Fast forward to July 2017 and Athena Collections Ltd was born. It was always my ambition to start my own debt recovery agency after holding down virtually every role possible within a business and gaining that valuable experience.
Over the last few months I have been tirelessly working in the background trying to get Athena Collections up and running. Since July 2017 I have experienced all the emotions that I experienced during my 17 years in the industry. To say it has been overwhelming is an understatement. From ecstatic to afraid, serenity to panic, pride to frustration, confident to confused, enthusiastic to disappointed, all in such a short space of time. Having never run my own debt recovery agency before, I get the feeling this is only the beginning. I'm not naive and I fully expect that the future holds a lot of hard work, stress, perseverance, learning from mistakes to name just a few. I've never been one to walk away from a challenge and I am well prepared to give it my all to make it a success with my motivation behind it being my family.
Before I start my journey I would like to thank everyone that has contributed throughout my career thus far and moulded me into the person I am today. I'm not going to mention names as they know who they are but I would like to thank my early mentors, various CEO's along the way, HR Directors, the people I managed, in particular my managers, the people that managed me, suppliers, my peers. Everyone has played a key role in contributing and for that I am ever so grateful.
A lot of valuable lessons have been learnt along the way both good and bad but that's what it is all about. Those who know me, know that I am not one to whinge and that I get on with the task in hand. I say it as I see it and I don't beat around the bush. What you see is what you get with me. Maybe that hasn't done me great favours in the past but it shows that integrity and honesty are high up on my moral values.
I'm not going to lie but so far it has been hard to get the business up and running. A lot of obstacles have presented themselves during the early phase however quitting is never an option as far as I am concerned. I have probably learnt a lot more in these last few months than I have in the last 17 years and one thing is for sure, if you cant go through the obstacle there is always another way to either go over, around or under it, I mean this in the most legitimate way possible, my point here being is there is always an alternative method regardless if initially it feels like it is all falling apart.
I am now excitedly looking forward to the next phase and 'opening the doors' of my debt recovery agency, Athena Collections. I look forward to this new chapter in my life and also look forward to creating new colleagues, clients, suppliers and maybe one day I can be a great mentor to someone starting out in our industry.
I look forward to being able to provide debt collection services to my new clients. I cant guarantee a 100% collection rate but what I can guarantee is 100% client satisfaction.
Thank you to all that have got me this far and I wish you all the very best and success for the future.
Andrew Athineos - Managing Director
Athena Collections Ltd
