About SUSIE
Born into inner city poverty against a backdrop of racist and
misogynistic 1960s Britain, Susie finally ‘made it’ becoming a self-made
multi-millionaire at 59. Admittedly slower than some
entrepreneurs, but she got there in the end.
After working for
35 years as a highly successful designer, illustrator and marketeer
specialising in brand development, she decided to set up her own company
with her best friend's daughter, Brady Last. They started in her small
conservatory on two laptops and with a large stash of Yorkshire tea
bags. The kids had left home and at 54 years old, so she thought she
should do something risky for once in her life.
She put her
entire savings into starting a business even though there were no
clients in sight. Susie wanted to use her design and illustration skills
to develop her own brand, one that had design and her quirky humour at
its heart. She convinced Brady to join her in this one last hurrah.
The
sector, which in her opinion had the least amount of wit and verve, was
accountancy. The most visually boring area inside that? Tax. So
naturally she set up a tax company. Bright orange and lime green instead
of the industry standard of blue, blue and more blue, pervaded the
office. Her own signature art plastered its walls. Marketing materials,
social media and the website featured ducks (really) and steampunk
instead of the cheesy stock photography of beautiful models pretending
to be business people gazing out of expensive office windows.
Accountants
laughed at them, banks wouldn't give them an overdraft (never mind a
loan), and rivals tried to put them out of business. Five years later it
was sold to EY, that big multi-billion pound turnover company who just
loved the staff and the brand.
How did she build a buy-out in such a short time and from scratch?
Hiring people with no qualifications. Designing the logo, marketing
materials and website herself. Starting a radio show (wtf!), co-founding
a women's business group, sponsoring charities and writing a book or
two, among other things . . .
You can listen to her entrepreneurial journey via her free audio book on Spotify or Audible or find out how she could be your business mentor here.
