FEMALE FOUNDERS their lunch. We then sit as a team and eat together talking about our lives rather than work. There have been many seminal moments in my career and my move from employee to entrepreneurcame in 2007 when I was researching the retreat sector with a view to expandingmy clientbase. I realised that boot camps were huge in the US and there was a gap in the market for onein England. Although it was a big risk, I instinctively felt that this would be hugely successful,so along with a business partner I established New You Boot Camp. Our USP was not only ourability to facilitate weight loss, but to empower women. Clients came to us when their relationships were breaking down, when they were suffering grief or having been made redundant. Our service enabled women at their lowest to make positive life changes to the extent that we were even cited in two divorce proceedings: ‘my wife went to New You Boot Camp and came back a different woman’. There was no budget for marketing but my PR efforts helped launch international retreats, secure TV appearances and land a book deal. We had planned to run ten camps in our first year, but had so much demand that we ended up running 50giving usa turnover ofjust under £1million in that first year. Seven years at New You taught me other vital business lessons: firstly to follow my gut, secondly, to see the value of PR from the point of view of a business owner and lastly that success in business is not always to do with profit,
it’s about fulfillment. Clients continually sent us letters and gifts to thank us for enabling them to find inner strengthsomethingwe all need to doat some time in our lives. In2012 I had to dig deep following a terrible time. Within the space of 12 months I lost my father, my stepdad,my granddad and my uncle. The stress coupled with the long overseas trips and relentless hours at work took their toll on me too and I miscarried our baby before being diagnosed with Graves, an autoimmune disease. I was
“Seven years at ‘New You’ taught me other vital business lessons: Firstly to follow my gut...” preaching life balance and health to women through my retreats, but I wasn’t doing any of this for myself so I sold myshare of the business in order to allow myself to be healthier and get into remission. Although at the timeI felt the sting of failure –after all I was leaving a successful business with no plan- I again followed my gut instincts and as I recovered, decided to do what I knew. I gave myself three months and £3000 to try and get a PR agency off the ground but secured my first client within a month and they’re still with me today. Sunny Bird PR is now in its sixth year, with an established & committed team and an
expanding client list. Our success is down to the staff that I hire (always hire staff that are better than you at something) and the fact that I’m still results focused -for every project we set key performance indicators and work until we hit them. 99% of PR agencies don’t promise specific results. We do. I hope that people respect my integrity, too, as I’ll steer a client away from something if I believe it’s not the best use of their money or turn them away if I don’t believe I can meet their needs.As is the way with entrepreneurs I’m always asking myself ‘what next? ’Personally, Darren and I are in a great place. We finally had our longed-forbaby, Sophia in 2017, and he is hugely supportive as I move in to new business territory. This year I’m launching my first product-based enterprise-an e-commerce fashion brand aimed at making women feel empowered and confident. I’m also running Reaching Millions PR coursesbased in Bournemouth and London, designed to help entrepreneurs harness the positive power of PR and scale up their businesses. We’re working on our second book to complement this course, which will be out by the end of this year. I’m lucky to be inspired by so many women around me from my staff, my clients, my sisters, my mum, the hardest working woman I know and my wonderful, honest, genuine, stepdaughters. courses and workshops I’ve metincredible, passionate, strong-minded women who motivate me to develop and grow. entrepreneurandinvestor.com |
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