Working Day - Judith O'Brien

Judith O'Brien, 50, is the Managing Director of IT Answers, one of the city's leading IT support and development consultancies. She lives in Spital, Wirral, with her husband, Tony. This was her working day:

6.30am: Wake up, thanks to my very loud alarm clock. Jump in the shower and then time for breakfast and a cup of tea. Usually catch a bit of sky News on the television to see what's happening around the world.

8.00am: Before I leave the house, I have a conference call with a local hospice to talk about their IT strategy and to see how we can help them. They really need a review of their systems.

9.30am: I get into the office in India Buildings for a daily service review with the team. It gives me an opportunity to talk about some of our new clients, including OWL Event Management and Abensons Solicitors.

10.00am: Time to have a meeting with my Head of Projects, Sarah, to discuss the current project portfolio and put together a plan of action for the week ahead. Most of my week involves meeting several of our strategic partners, including O2.

10.30am: Time for a telephone meeting with one of our main clients, Simon Dutton, at food service manufacturer, Counterline. We talk about the financials around a large IT infrastructure project and agree on initial project timelines.

11.00am: Andy, the Technical Director and my business partner at IT Answers, comes to my office to talk to me about a new application that he has been developing using our Web 2.0 framework, Chameleon. As a technical guru - the guys call him Yoda - he is able to produce technical solutions that really do make a difference to our clients.

12.30pm: Head to one of my favourite restaurants, Restaurant Bar & Grill, with Andy, to continue our talk and also to enjoy a nice bowl of risotto - my favourite. Thanks to the location of the office, we're lucky to be surrounded by a number of great places to eat.

2.00pm: I'm back in the office to write another proposal for another charity and then it's off to a meeting with client Andy Bounds.

4.00pm: I head to the Cunard Building to be a speaker for an event looking at business continuity. I'm regularly asked to be an expert at conferences and panel meetings, including the ones for Microsoft, IBM and Novelli. 6.30pm: Arrive back home for dinner with my husband, Tony, who I met when we were working at the Inland Revenue together. I started working there as a temp when I left school and ended up working in their IT Department. Every day was different.

7.30pm: Time to check my emails and have a look at Twitter. I am a great fan of Twitter, as I see it as a great tool for business development and more and more of our contacts are now using it. Andy has just set up Tweetdeck for me, so I'm on a bit of a learning curve with that at the moment.

8.30pm: I have a scan through some of the company finances and updates before I relax for the evening. I find that I work well later in the day.

10.30pm: Time for bed. I've got an early start tomorrow, as I am heading to a networking event at 7.30am. Best get some beauty sleep!