Most of the time I love my job. The only time I get gloomy is when I'm expected to neglect my family and home by working really antisocial hours. That's what it's like for me at the moment. Not to put too fine a point on it, I'm completely knackered and barely have time to draw breath let alone spend any 'quality time' with my family! It's madness.

Tonight I'm home for a few hours (it's 10.30pm and I've just walked in the door having been out at work since 7.30 this morning). Worse is to come.

I became a market researcher when, at the age of 17, I'd been offered 11 jobs, 10 in banking and the 11th in research - I just thought I'd be more excited in research. It was only because I lived close to a market research company that I applied for a job there and the rest is history!

Most people think of market research as a few questions that you get given a selection of answers and all you have to do is decide which of the questions most closely represents your views. It's all a lot more complex than that though. Tonight, I've been chatting to GPs (albeit in a fairly formal environment) about a major area of prescribing (highly confidential subject though). They just chat and I record their views. At a later stage, I will lock myself in a room, listen to the tapes and make judgements about what they've said and what we can assume from their comments to help our clients to form a plan for future activities.

I will write a presentation summarising the results and deliver it to an audience of about a dozen people in the UK and a video link to the USA where another 20 or so people will be hanging onto my every word. What I say will have a major impact on that company and their strategic plans. It's a huge responsibility and one that I take really seriously. An ill-considered thought or 'disposable' comment could have important ramifications.

I don't know if what I do is right or wrong. It's just something I'm good at and something I have a knack for. It's also the BEST feeling in the world when a client appreciates that you've gone 'the extra mile' to deliver them with something really special. I can't honestly say I do it for love or money. I do it for adrenaline and for appreciation. Yes, I do love it and yes I do get well rewarded for it but if I think back to the moment I decided that market research was a more interesting career than banking then I would never have imagined I'd be here now, doing this and still basically getting a kick out of it more than 25 years after I started.