LOVE WHAT YOU DO

EPISODE 2: SARAH AKWISOMBE FROM NO BULL BUSINESS SCHOOL

“If you’re constantly letting yourself down…how are you ever going to believe in yourself that you can achieve anything?”

In this episode we talk about what success and entrepreneurship means to her and how redefining it regularly is key in helping you achieve your goals.

Sarah gives practical tips on how to make £10k more a year, what you must do before you start any brand or business and the realities of running a business with your husband.

With her refreshing, no bullshit approach to life and business Sarah also identifies the key problems she believes is really holding women back from pursuing what they love….

Listen to this episode for more of her straight talking gems and experience!

Sarah Akwisombe is a double award winning blogger and interior stylist born and raised in Croydon. After getting fired from her boring, high pressured office job she decided to follow her gut, take the plunge and try to get into interiors.

Since then she has assisted some of the best stylists in the industry and worked for some of UK's biggest homeware brands, like M&S, Dwell, BHS, Paint by Conran and DFS. Her love for interior design had always been strong, although she realise it until she purchased her first art deco flat with her husband and gave it a complete makeover! Documenting this, her flat was so admired by friends and followers. she endeavoured to work as much as possible as an interior stylist. But as an added by-product of this journey, she realised that others might be struggling with change of careers too! So she also started The No Bull Business School (@NoBullSchool) – which are online courses specifically to help women build a“kick-ass”business and brand which is something she is equally passionate about…

Always fiercely creative and living a life with no boundaries or restrictions and having married at a very young age of 19, she came to a crossroad where she had to ask herself some hard questions about what she really wanted for her life - this has shaped the successful woman she has become today.

But is being a “crazy creative” with a million ideas, running a rapidly growing business with your husband and baby number two on the way all it’s cracked up to be?

….listen for more of her inspiring story along with great insights from her life experiences in this podcast.

SHOW NOTES:

THREE PIECES OF INTERIOR MUST HAVES:

A good sofa - because you spend so much time on it, and it’s always on show.
A really good mattress - because again you spend so much time in bed. Eve is one of her favourite brands.
Art work - because even if your walls are white, but you pick out artwork that you like it will always make a room look cool.

BEST PLACE TO FIND INTERIORS:

Ebay - you can find everything on there especially vintage or antiques and one offs - like discontinued curtains, light fixtures etc. It’s where Sarah always shops first.

THREE TIPS ON STARTING A BRAND OR BUSINESS:

Test your idea on people who don’t know you. Work out if there’s a market for it. Eg: make a bunch of product and open a market stall, or create a website and sell the product to see if people will pay cold hard cash.
Be serious from the beginning. Work out your finances, get an accountant, work out how much you need to sell each month, do sales projections from the beginning…then you’ll have more chance of doing well.
Be really clear about what you do and who you do it for. Be consistent with the message - don’t try to appeal to everyone.