Who is Roger Masterson?
An Irishman now living in the North of England, Roger is a serial entrepreneur and has set up many successful companies. He is best known as ‘the castle man’, through a unique company called Celtic Castles, which is an award winning online castle-booking company, based in the heart of Yorkshire. The company specialises in the provision of overnight castle accommodation, private functions and parties, family gatherings, weddings and corporate events, with the common theme of a fantastic castle experience.
Celtic Castles is a truly unique business, which was founded a
decade ago by Roger, who saw the website as an opportunity to share
one of his great passions - castles! The company now features over
90 unique and diverse castle properties within its extensive portfolio
across the UK, Ireland and France.
New castles are continually being identified, assessed and added
to the growing list of properties featured. You will see some of
these in the chill out zone; they are some of the great places that
Roger enjoys reading the books that he features on www.rogersreadinglist.com.
Roger continually looks for inspiration; he is a great business leader who has helped many companies with creative ideas, new business models and a focus on how to achieve great results. He has learnt this through doing it, measuring it, pure hard work and a dedication to success and putting what he reads into practice to see if it works.
Roger is a regular speaker, is featured in many newspapers and magazines and has appeared on television. He is passionate about customer service, business process and building confidence in the teams that he works with.
Something very close to Roger’s heart is Project Challenge in Halifax, which identifies young people in need. This charity focuses on people between the ages of 16 –24 and delivers an intensive training programme combining classroom learning with tough physical challenges. It aims to deliver an effective youth programme to meet the needs of disaffected young people by way of a 6-month basic skills training programme. They then have to survive for 2 weeks in the wilderness. When they return, the change in these young people is quite astonishing and what they go on to achieve is one of the driving forces that is the success of this charity.
Working with this group is not always easy, but Project Challenge never gives up as it is often literally the last chance of survival from the descent into self-destruction.
Project Challenge aims to 'unlock young people's potential' by developing their confidence, enabling them to achieve qualifications and a more positive self-image. The design of the training programme is unique in that it targets behavioural and anti social problems. If you want to read a bit more about this amazing charity - www.projectchallenge.org.uk
The idea for www.rogersreadinglist.com came
when Roger was asked to a speak about the entrepreneurial spirit
companies require during an economic downturn. Roger would argue
this is the heart of any company all of the time, and not just during
difficult times.
To demonstrate this he decided to show the audience
how quickly an idea can become a business reality. In less than
10 days from the original idea, this website was completed with a
content management system, feedback facility and referral option
for users to spread the word, and finally a facility to sell the
books recommended. There was no budget for the build apart from buying
the domain name and hosting and the time it took his entrepreneurial
team to create the pages.
Roger reads at least 2 business books per month and, with his wealth of hands on knowledge, he is able to offer a platform and share this learning. This is a free service, so tell others!
Title: It's Not How Good You Are, It's How Good You Want To Be
Author: by by Paul Arden
Preview Paragraph:
"A fabulous little book. In the first few pages, Paul Arden encourages you to set your goals high and aim beyond what you believe you are capable of. Then there are "The Fundamentals" such as "Do not seek praise. Seek criticism", "Give away everything you know, and more will come back to you", "
