Heading straight into the removal and storage business his parents set up in 1970 would have made Mike McCarthy's pursuit of his ambition to work for himself simple... but he decided success wasn't going to come so easy.

He spent eight months travelling the world - an experience which stood him in good stead for liaising with overseas companies during his studies and subsequent careers.

Mike spent the third year of his business and marketing degree on an industry placement with clothing giants Next. He worked in lots of different departments including a brief placement in Hong Kong.

After completing his degree at Manchester University, Mike joined Next and was involved in helping the overseas marketing team train staff and franchise stores around the world. Russia and the Far and Middle East were some of the regions he worked with.

While interesting and enjoyable, Mike had his own ideas. Following a stint in recruitment he considered using his business background and entrepreneurial ideas to develop the family business, which carries out a lot of work in the Bradford area.

"At the back of my mind I knew I wanted to come back because even though the family business is successful I thought it was a good opportunity to grow," says Mike.

During the six or so years he's been with McCarthy's Removals and Storage, Mike has seen the overseas market grow as more people seek to live abroad.

"There is a lot of overseas work we do. It is one of those growth areas for the coming year," says Mike.

Commercially, the company currently looks after high profile clients such as Bradford-based Yorkshire Water and Bradford Council. More recently, it acquired the Bradford Community Housing Trust contract to move and store tenants' possessions during property renovations and improvements.

Storage is a service they hope to expand to meet growing demand. The Leeds-based company provides archive storage for clients such as solicitors, accountants, hospitals and many more professions needing extra space for the vast amounts of files and information they store.

Mike says it's also proving popular with homeowners seeking to de-clutter their homes on the advice of property programmes they watch to create the minimalist look as an incentive to sell.

While seeking to expand their services, removals remains their bread and butter with notable growth areas in Ilkley, Otley and Skipton.

"In the last few years we have had more and more work over that way," says Mike.

Considering they're shipping and shifting things all over the world, the firm has moved some unusual objects.

"Some of the most interesting are life-size fibreglass dinosaurs for an American museum which brought a tour to Britain starting in Yorkshire."

Many years ago they moved dolphins for Flamingoland and he recalls his father, Mick - a former lorry driver - had a close call when he set up the business with wife Margaret. "My dad went to visit a house and there was a big lion cage in the back garden! The lion wasn't there and we weren't asked to move it, but it was obviously in the days before you had to be licensed for things like that."

Variety, he says, is the best part of his job.

"There are so many different things happening so there's never a dull moment," he says. "And you meet all sorts of interesting people. It's a good mix between business-to-business in commercial and also you are dealing with the general public."

Mike says that to work in the removals industry you have to be "very flexible and customer service focused". "And very patient because things change all the time."

Bradford College run various courses in business. For more information call (01274) 433333.