Laurence Smith is the joint owner of popular tourist attraction Drusillas Park, near Alfriston.

What’s the first thing you do in the morning when you get to work?

I check my emails by 7am most mornings so when I get to the office at about 8.45am my first job is to make myself a cup of coffee and a cup of mint tea for my wife, Christine.

We’ve worked together since we acquired Drusillas in 1997 and right from the start we agreed areas to take responsibility for and that’s worked well and has ensured we don’t tread on each other’s toes. Making the drinks before the day begins is just one of my responsibilities.

What work-related worries keep you awake at night?

Not much fortunately. I’ve always been able to switch off. That isn’t to say I don’t worry about things but it’s usually stuff that is out of my control such as Brexit (I was in favour of remaining in) or very bad weather which affects Drusillas a lot. This summer has been one of the best ever with hardly any rain during August whereas in August 2015 we had heavy rain every day for the last week of the summer holidays but it’s a frustration rather than a worry really.

How do you relax?

When you own your own business you never really relax completely, particularly nowadays when emails follow you wherever you go, but short breaks in the UK or overseas are great for recharging the batteries.

What is the proudest you have been in your career?

When I sold the nationwide financial recruitment company that I had built up and then acquired Drusillas.

What qualities do you look for when recruiting staff?

A positive attitude is more important than anything else to me.

What is your business ambition you have yet to achieve?

At 63 the next challenge is to ensure a good succession plan for Drusillas but I’m also back in recruitment as a non-executive director for a digital recruitment company in London called Sphere Digital Recruitment. It’s grown from two people to 50 in just three years and it’s got the potential to grow a lot more and I’m keen to help them achieve great things.

What one thing would improve the quality of your working life?

I think I’ve got a pretty good balance currently but we live in Tunbridge Wells so the journey to Drusillas is often delayed by traffic so a better road system would be good. Plus better wi-fi coverage in the Alfriston area would help too.

What is the best thing about business in Sussex?

Having spent 25 years working in London overlooking Piccadilly it’s fantastic to be surrounded by the beautiful Sussex countryside.

What is the worst thing about business in Sussex?

The road system and public transport.

What is your top tip for business success?

It’s all about the people – if you get the right people in key positions things seem to work well.

Do you lunch in or out of the office?

Always in the office. I tend to be the guinea pig for any new products or recipes the catering manager wants to test out.

We’ve just been working on the best range of sandwiches to offer so I’ve rather overdone the smoked salmon and cream cheese and egg mayo on brown.

Who is more difficult to work with – people or animals?

I think overall it has to be people. Having said that, they are the key to business success but there can also be issues to resolve from time to time. We employ 50 permanent staff and during the holidays that goes up to well over 100. We think we’ve got a good team of people but customer service levels and expectations are continually rising so our people have to respond and have a smile on their faces at all times. As far as the animals are concerned there are problems there too from time to time but we’ve got 20 full time zoo keepers and they do an absolutely outstanding job looking after the animals.