What is the secret to success? It is a question that has boggled the greatest of minds and people in the world. What is that secret formula that guarantees that you can make a steady living? These are hard times we live in and there are a multitude of books and people you can turn to for advice and help in becoming successful – one such man is Brad Burton.

Brad Burton is the founder of 4Networking, a unique business networking company that runs over 5,000 events a year in the UK alone. He is also a much sought after motivational speaker, and author of not one, but two highly rated business books – now you must think that Brad had all this success handed to him on a plate, had a smooth ride to the top and is from a privileged background. He couldn’t possibly have achieved all this success off his own back, could he?

Brad was born, like most of us, at Hope Hospital (of course it has been renamed ‘Salford Royal’) and grew up in Lower Broughton. That’s right, he is a proud Salfordian! Brad hails from humble beginnings and didn’t start up 4Networking straight out of school and has flirted with unemployment on more than one occasion as well as having experienced his own personal dream job as a Gaming Journalist. It was a journey of hardship, frustration and moving to Somerset.

Fast forward to a 31-year-old Brad Burton, who is struck with a strange and innovative idea about business networking and the problems with the mainstream system. What did he do? Did he just write it down in his idea notebook and push it to the back of his mind? No. Brad took his million pound idea and started his very own business – 4Networking was born.

Even at this point, there was no easy ride for Brad who was forced to deliver pizzas to keep his dream alive. Brad worked overwhelmingly hard to get 4Networking off the ground, and promised to take his children to Disney Land to keep himself motivated and focused.  It was his tenacity and unwavering self belief that made 4Networking the business networking mega power that it is today.

I pressed Brad for any advice that he can offer young entrepreneurs in Salford and I got a great response. “You have a today and a tomorrow, Steve Jobs would give you everything to have one day of your life. Do not get to the end of your life and say you spent more time in your office. Life is about those Summer of 69 moments, having fun and living in the moment with the people you love. Invest in self. Invest in memories. Enjoy the journey, keep your dream alive. It is never too late to change direction.”

These are words that we can all live by. If you want to seek more advice from the man himself, head over to Amazon and check out his three books “Get Off Your Arse”, "Get Off Your Arse Too" and “Life. Business. Just Got Easier.” – they can help change your life. Even if you just want to find out more about Brad Burton and 4Networking head over to his website at www.bradburton.biz