A day in the life: Managing director of Ningbo Furniture Chris Stockton

There isn’t really any such thing as an average day to be honest! There are three parts to the business, so I’m usually checking in on various projects we have ongoing. We’re extremely busy at the moment, having recently set up a palletised delivery service called Ningbo Distribution. This works alongside our existing business, Ningbo Furniture, which supplies office and banqueting furniture for events and businesses across the UK and Europe.

Our clients range from famous names like Tottenham Hotspur Football Club, Westminster Abbey, the Prince’s Palace of Monaco and the Subway fast food chain, to smaller one-off orders for items such as banqueting tables and chairs, café furniture or plastic tables.

I normally start around 8am in the morning, checking on the deliveries that have been made overnight, and then deal with anything else that needs to be done in the morning. This includes looking at the finances, any new business or products we’ve brought in, our sales and all of our marketing. Somewhere in the day I’ll try and find some time for lunch as well! Then at the end of the day we start planning for the next set of deliveries, which begin overnight and into the following day. I’m also responsible for managing all of our staff - we have 25 staff at the moment, but hope to grow even more over the coming year.

The routine changes if it’s a race weekend though. I also run BTC Racing, which has a car in the British Touring Car championship. We meet on ten weekends of the year. My general manager Bert Taylor and the rest of the team travel to the track to set up ahead of each race, while I run the business from home and meet up with them for the weekend. I’m lucky to have such a great team that help strike a balance between work and racing.

A day in the life: Managing director of Ningbo Furniture Chris Stockton

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Dress: I wear normal smart clothes for work, and the rest of the team have Ningbo branded clothing. When I’m racing though, I have the full race suit and helmet, all with our sponsor’s branding featured on it.

What is the favourite part of your job? I think the financial side of the business is the most pleasurable, making sure the numbers add up and we remain profitable.

What is the least favourite part of your job? Definitely the early starts. We’re a 24-hour business, and I was up at 4.45am this morning, and won’t leave until about 10pm.

What would be your dream job if you weren’t doing what you do now? It would have to be racing full time, it would be great to dedicate myself to it.

How do you relax when you are not working? I’ve got two young children and a fantastic wife, Polly, who is a British national event rider. My ideal weekend would be going to an event and spending time with my family.

What is your favourite film, book and song? I’m not that into films and am not a great reader, but I really like a wide range of music. It would be too hard to pick one band or artist out though.

If a film was made of your life, who would you like to play you? Kevin Costner – he’s good in everything he’s in, and always picks great roles.

Have you had your 15 minutes of fame yet? I’m not sure if it was my 15 minutes of fame, but I was the lead driver with the TVR in the 2004 Le Mans 24 hour race. It was an amazing experience, racing for ten-and-a-half of the 24 hours of the race, reaching up to 280kph.

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