FROM City trader to market trader, Mark Neal has swapped his suits for sweaters as he embarks on a new job on Chelmsford Market.
Mark, who only a couple of months ago was working with interest rates and stock indexes, now offers his customers a range of mugs and picture frames.
His market stall, Home Boutique, which sells "shabby chic" homeware, is a far cry from his stressful job in the City.
The 30-year-old, of Upper Bridge Road, Chelmsford, said: "I am used to seeing five or six screens around a room and sitting at a computer screen every day, so this is a big change for me.
"I definitely have gone from one type of market to a very different type of market.
"The financial market was getting tougher and tougher.
"The last six months I was going into work and not making any money and I was really stressed, so they were the main reasons why I left."
Mark worked as an independent trader in financial futures for ten years at Tower Trading Group, which has offices in London and Chelmsford.
He fell into the job by complete chance when he attended a golf day as a 20-year-old.
"I left school whilst doing my A-levels and started working at a law firm part-time where I became an office junior and then a trainee legal executive," said Mark.
"I was on the golf day with our secretary and her husband who told me to pack it all in for a career as a trader and join their company.
"My mum probably would have been happier if I had stuck with the law."
Mark was happy to swap his high salary job in the City for an 'easier life' on the market.
He would be in the office at 6.30am and work until about 6pm every day for over nine years.
And as an independent trader, Mark said he was trading his own money and not the company's.
"It was a very stressful job and the market was getting harder," he said. "It had been good fun but I never got to speak with people, I was always by myself.
"I have really enjoyed meeting the public. One woman told me about how her dog died and started crying the other day. That is something I have never dealt with before.
"And all the traders on the market were obviously interested in me and could not understand why I would pack it all up."
When he left his old job, Mark spent seven weeks at home with his three-year-old daughter Jessica.
"The time off made me realise just how stressed I was before and finally I could relax. Then I said I am really ready to get stuck in to this," he said.
"I am also just in time for the Christmas rush, so it is perfect timing."
Mark lives in Chelmsford with Jessica and his wife, Fran Betteridge, 30, who works as a fashion buyer for clothing company, Lipsy in London.
He said: "Jessica often comes to see me in the market and is very popular. She is the star of the show and definitely a good way of attracting people to the stall."
