Exercise 3. Phrasal verbs. Write one word in each gap.
It just takes hard work and commitment
Entrepreneur Jane Dickson describes how she got started
I was working as an IT Manager for a small publishing company (in fact, I was standing 1) _________ for the actual manager while she was away on maternity leave) when the company was taken 2) _________ by a large multinational media organisation. It was in the depths of the recession, and initially our new owners promised to see our small company 3) _________ the hard times. Things got worse, though, and they finally backed4) _________ of their agreement. Our company closed 5) _________ We were all made redundant-it was horrible!
I wasn't sure what I wanted to do next. I 6) _________ down several offers of work as I didn't want to rush into anything. Then, one day, I woke up and thought: 'I'm going to set 7) _________ my own business!' At first it was tough. I had to 8) _________ to everything myself - I was the only employee! - but I set 9) _________ it with dedication and refused to give up, whatever happened. Over the last five years, as the company's grown, I've taken 10) _________ more and more staff. Dickson's now employs over five hundred people! I set 11) _________ to be successful, and I've managed it. I feel very lucky, although, to be honest luck has nothing to do with it. It just takes hard work and commitment. I don't feel satisfied yet though. We're bringing 12) _________ new products all the time, and I want to continue doing that I also want to speed 13) _________ our production process to make it more efficient. I'm not planning to slow 14) _________ any time soon!