Free Please Let It Stop by Jacqueline Gold Page B

through a transition phase while the testosterone was working and eventually his body found what I suppose was its natural level. But even when things cooled down and we weren’t having sex six times a day, it was still pretty frequent and it was wonderful.
    Like Tony, Ben was ambitious. He’d mentioned a few times that he didn’t want to be an electrician all his life. So when I casually suggested that he’d make a great salesman, he jumped at the idea and almost immediately began to look for a sales position. Initially, the recruitment agencies weren’t interested in him because of his lack of experience, but then one came back with a job offer which would be based in the City. Ben was really excited and applied. We were about to go to Tenerife for a week’s holiday so the agency made an interview appointment for his return. He was absolutely overflowing with confidence and was sure the job was his. When we got back from holiday things had changed, and the position had been taken while he was away. Poor Ben! He had bought a new suit especially and had mentally prepared himself. I didn’t know what to say. On the day of the interview he suddenly went and put his suit on, saying he was going to go to it anyway, and would pretend he was unaware the job had now been taken. He duly went off and was seen. They asked him loads of questions, gave him the usual psychometric tests and he got the job. That was typical of Ben’s attitude and it was hard not to admire him,particularly as he had a mortgage and he was taking a risk stepping outside his comfort zone.
    I really respect people who take calculated risks, whether it’s personally or in business. How many people are out there now thinking they want to change their jobs, move to the country or go back to study but haven’t got the courage and determination to do it? It’s very easy to talk about an idea – anyone can do that – but just having it does not make you clever. The people who have the guts to act on their ideas win my admiration. You generally won’t find them saying things like, ‘I’ll do it in a couple of years, I haven’t got the money now or it’s not the right time.’ The truth is that there is hardly ever a ‘right time’ – it’s up to you to decide that the time is right for you. If you find yourself in a situation where you’re worrying what will happen if you do take a particular course of action, why not ask yourself instead, ‘What will happen if I don’t?’ The alternative is to end up being one of those people who thought about it but never did it.
    Ben took to his new life in sales like a duck to water, working in the City for a year before he was transferred to Reigate. Though he was also still dancing with Xperience by night, we nevertheless managed to have a fantastic relationship with a surprisingly good social life. I often think the more you do, the more you can fit in and that wascertainly the case with us. We worked hard and played hard. The fact that he was also one of our dancers didn’t cause him any problem, partly I think because he wasn’t directly responsible to me and partly because, unlike Tony, he seemed not to suffer any insecurities associated with my success. I found that refreshing because I could just go ahead and be me.
    The dancers are a big attraction at our Annual Conference, which they usually open. In 1992 one of my staff suggested that it would have even more impact if the Managing Director were to join the act and that is how I came to find myself in a dance studio in Fulham getting hot and sweaty with a group of hunky men, including my boyfriend. You have to remember I was still a fairly reserved person back then who was concentrating on running a business, so this was very out of character. We took it extremely seriously and practised for months beforehand. It felt like I was preparing for the TV series
Faking It
, where they take people from one occupation and teach them a totally different