I felt like a failure when I was £75,000 debt – but now I run a £1.5million a year business
BEING stuck in debt can paralyse you with stress and fear – but Sarah Abel was able to not only beat £75,000 worth of debt and created a seven-figure business too.
The 60-year-old, from Kent, now has a series of successful businesses and manages dozens of employees.
But things weren’t always so rosy for the mother of two and grandmother of four.
From a young age, the entrepreneur faced immense challenges.
Her mother was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis, a debilitating condition, when Sarah was just four.
Meanwhile, her father, struggling with mental health issues and the weight of his wife’s disability, tragically took his own life when she was seven.
Sarah then had to act as the primary caregiver for her mother.
Although her grandparents were nearby, she was responsible for taking care of the house, the cooking and, as she grew up, her mother, often giving up social occasions with friends that most children take for granted.
At 14, her mother went into long-term care, so Sarah went to live with her grandparents, leaving school at 16 and meeting her future husband Andy at 17.
Hair and beauty had always been her passion, but her grandparents discouraged her from going into the beauty industry, saying she would make more money in another profession.
She tried a variety of jobs and side hustles, from nursing to network marketing, finding some success as a sales manager for Avon Cosmetics.
While struggling to find her feet in the employment world, Sarah and Andy had also racked up a staggering £75,000 of debt just staying afloat.
One day, Sarah, then aged 38, noticed a local nail salon that was on sale for £20,000.
Seeing how much money was going in the till as she was getting her nails done, she realised that perhaps her grandparents had been wrong about there not being much money in the beauty industry.
Determined to get herself back on track and pay off her debt, she managed to apply for a startup loan and bought the salon.
“I felt a real need not to have to rely on other people,” Sarah recalled.
How to start your own business
Dragon's Den star Theo Paphitis revealed his tips for budding entrepreneurs:
- One of the biggest barriers aspiring entrepreneurs and business owners face is a lack of confidence. You must believe in your idea — even more than that, be the one boring your friends to death about it.
- Never be afraid to make decisions. Once you have an idea, it’s the confidence to make decisions that is crucial to starting and maintaining a business.
- If you don’t take calculated risks, you’re standing still. If a decision turns out to be wrong, identify it quickly and deal with it if you can. Failing that, find someone else who can.
- It’s OK not to get it right the first time. My experience of making bad decisions is what helped develop my confidence, making me who I am today.
- Never underestimate the power of social media, and remember the internet has levelled the playing field for small businesses.
- Don’t forget to dream. A machine can’t do that!
“I really wanted a business.
“At that point, I had no money at all – in fact, I was spending money that I didn’t have.
“But I thought ‘how am I going to make this work?’”
Sarah went on a debt management plan, and considered her £20,000 purchase a worthy investment.
“I looked at it as having good debt and bad debt,” she explained.
Sarah learned quickly and soon turned a profit – and then she used that money to buy and sell more salons for a profit.
She would spend time training her employees how to be nail technicians and how to attract new clients, but once they were trained, they would leave and start their own businesses.
She realised there must be a savvier way of making money out of her training expertise, and after discovering she was entitled to government funding for training, she opened her first hair and beauty training academy, which this year was valued at £1.5million.
“I realised that people really don’t know anything about the funding that’s available from the government to grow their businesses, and if they do know about it, what they don’t realise is how quickly you can grow your business from it,” Sarah explained.
“There are also so many people that think they can’t afford courses, who don’t know that there is government money out there for them to train up in the hair and beauty sector and understand how to run a really successful business within it.
“There’s so much funding out there to help young people get started in their businesses: they just need a mentor to direct them,” she added.
“The government puts aside billions of pounds a year for training and development, and only a fraction of small businesses access it.”
Sarah has now sold her salons and now focuses on helping other beauty brands secure government funding to train and grow their teams, as well as her own training academy, TNB Skills Training.
She recently published her debut book The Power Of Funding, to help others navigate the process of government funding for training for small business owners.
Her academy trains hundreds of people a year, and she has diversified her assets, also running a separate property business worth £1million.
She’s turned over a whopping £6million in funding for her own academy and other businesses since she began – and two years ago, she finally paid off all her debt.
“The debt had such a massive impact on my mental health at the time because I felt like a failure,” Sarah recalled.
“The satisfaction of actually paying that debt back was massive.
“My message to anyone else who is in debt is that you can get out of it.
“Don’t just sit there being embarrassed about it because there is so much help out there, you just need to know where to go.”
Having dealt with so many ups and downs in her life, Sarah wants to inspire others to make a success of herself no matter what hurdles they may be facing.
“You have to go through challenges to become the better, stronger person that you can be,” she said.
How to apply for a Start Up Loan
You could get a Start Up Loan worth up to £25,000 to help you set up or grow your business.
To be eligible you must:
- Live in the UK
- Be aged 18 or above
- Have or plan to start a UK-based business that has been fully trading for less than 36 months.
The loans are government-backed and charge a fixed interest rate of 6% a year.
You can pay the money back over a period of one to five years.
There is no application fee or early repayment fee.
Unlike a business loan, this is an unsecured personal loan.
To get the cash you will need to pass a credit check.
You will need to provide information about your right to work in the UK and the type of business you have or plan to start.
You will get free support and guidance to help you write your business plan.
Successful applicants also get up to 12 months of free mentoring.
Visit gov.uk/apply-start-up-loan for more information.
Other ways to get help to start a business
You could get a loan or grant to help you set up your business, depending on where you are based in the UK.
You could get a loan worth up to £250,000 if your business is based in the East and South East Midlands.
The First Enterprise scheme provides government-funded loans for start-ups and businesses in this region.
You could be eligible if your business works with unemployed people, those on a low-income or people from ethnic minorities.
You could get help with:
- Developing new markets
- Moving your product or service to market
- Financial planning and advice
- Technical support for business-related issues
- New or improved ICT for business use to encourage e-commerce
- The purchase of essential small capital items or secure services needed for the business to survive
- Improvements to premises to comply with health and safety and equality issues
- Competitiveness
To apply visit the First Enterprise website.
Meanwhile, Manchester-based businesses can get free support from MIDAS.
The scheme is designed to help location consultants and potential investors in the Manchester City area to get advice and help, including:
- relocation support
- finding properties
- recruitment and training
- market intelligence
For more information visit the Invest in Manchester website.
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