In 2001 Tony Stevens took a deep breath and decided to quit his jet-setting job in the print industry to go it alone.

Today he runs the Pitman Training Centre, Little Germany, and says he doesn't regret the decision one bit.

Since starting the business, which has its second anniversary next month, Mr Stevens believes he gets more than enough satisfaction from working with his clients to make up for the fact that he no longer gets to visit places as far-flung as Kazakhstan.

"I was a technical trainer before, travelling all over the place," he said. "People who don't have to travel for work purposes always assume it is great, but to be honest it gets very tiring being on aircraft and staying in hotels all the time, it's nice to be a home bird again."

He left his job in Leeds and set up in business, operating the Pitman franchise from Merchant House.

He said: "I get an immense sense of satisfaction from running the firm.

"Before I used to train distributors, now I run a training firm - which is rather different as I am running a business rather than training."

To some people the word Pitman conjures up an image of a bespectacled secretary, pad in hand, ready to take down notes in shorthand.

But the firm, which was founded more than 160 years by Sir Isaac Pitman, has developed into an international operation offering a wealth of courses.

Mr Stevens, of Keighley, who is 40 next month, said: "We offer about 30 Pitman-related courses here, and about 20 technical courses.

"It's up to the individual Pitman business as to whether they run extra courses - it all depends on market demands and how comfortable the individual is with it, but with my technical background it was an obvious step for the firm.

"You don't have to be highly academic to take these more technical courses. But it helps if you are in tune with the logic of computing. The people who do best with us tend to have that ability."

Courses at Merchant House range from shorthand, of course, to desktop applications, accounting and even hi-tech courses such as the Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer (MCSE) course.

The host of courses on offer means Mr Stevens sees a wide range of people passing through his doors.

One client, former ballet dancer Stephen Walther, needed help when he decided to hang up his dancing shoes to open a personal coaching business, Soul Training, in Shipley.

Mr Stevens said: "Steve's taken a variety of courses to help set up his firm as he'd never even used a PC before.

"Hundreds of people have used the firm since I started it, and as you would imagine they come from all walks of life."

Other clients have included a former pilot who needed to re-train for a new career in IT, staff from the Bank of England who needed to brush up on telephone techniques for answering calls about used and faulty bank notes and even a chief inspector who was retiring and wanted to get "up to speed" with computers.

Mr Stevens hopes to grow his business even further by bringing on board more corporate clients.

He employs two people, but is "in talks" with a third person who he would like to bring on board as a business development manager to help grow the firm further.

He said: "I would hope the business development role would make a major impact on the business and that in another 12 months I would be looking to bring on board a couple more people."

Tuition at the centre is a mix of class-based and distance learning, and while many employers find distance learning less disruptive, Mr Stevens feels there are many advantages in studying as part of a group.

"No two people learn at the same speed and no two people start from the same baseline of knowledge," he said.

"Students learn a great deal from each other, and in a group you go into things in more depth - and you can have a laugh with the other students."

He has also started a new service Helpdesk Direct, which provides support via a telephone helpline to office workers confused by fast-developing technology and new software packages.

"It's a user-friendly approach which can free up the resident IT manager," he said.

"We're at the other end of the phone line with a combination of training and basic 'fixing'.

"We give an initial short burst of training over the phone which the user can then put into practice immediately.

"The other unique feature is that we are connected to your PC and can 'see' remotely what the problems are.

"Our screen matches the user's and that can save a lot of time and money diagnosing the problem at a distance.

"It also allows us to identify the individuals in a company who need more specific training and we can provide that to bring them up to the speed of their colleagues without spending time on areas they don't need.

"Because this is effectively distance learning there's no extra time involved in travelling to a classroom.

"And time is money in today's fast-moving, IT-based world."

When asked how he's found his first few years running a business, Mr Stevens laughed.

"Well I can now cope with very little sleep and lots of stress, but when you work for someone else it can be very frustrating having a complete lack of control.

"When you work for a big firm it is constantly changing and a lot of time is then spent keeping up with the changes, managing the changes and the inevitable politics which goes with it - this takes away from customer care which at the end of the day is what it should be all about."