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Interview with Rachel Elnaugh of Dragon's Den Fame We've all heard of Rachel Elnaugh - famous for her time on Dragon's Den and Founder of Red Letter Days. In our interview with her she talks candidly about her life and where she is now.Q - We’ve all heard of Red Letter Days – how did you come up with idea? Rachel – “It was the end of the 1980’s and very difficult to buy gifts for men, everyone seemed to have all the material things they needed so the question was “What do you buy a man who has everything?” About this time it was my Dad’s birthday, his passion was cricket and I bought him tickets to see England play at Lord’s, but because the tickets are only issued 3 weeks before the game I had to think of a way to give him the gift and ended up creating a box of clues – English mustard, curry powder,, cricket ball etc, - he loved it! That was really the seed of the idea, how do you wrap an intangible experience type gift?” Q - What was your background? Rachel – “Having failed to get into university I started out as an office junior in a firm of local accountants making tea and filing. But I worked my way up and ended up specialising in taxation of small businesses and entrepreneurs which was the perfect grounding to go into business”. Q - You were a really big part of the Dragons Den – what was that like? Rachel - “It was fantastic to be involved in the inception of the show and of course none of the original dragons had any idea it would become a cult. That’s why that first series was so brilliant and authentic – before egos had taken over. Now its just coliseum TV – entertainment for the masses. It sends out totally the wrong message about how/what being successful in business is all about. It only displays the ‘Alpha’ stereotype. I am a strong believer that there is another more collaborative feminine way to do business”. Q -Since the crash of Red Letter Days – has it been hard to get started again? Rachel – “Yes and no! There is a great book called ‘Who Moved my Cheese’ which sums up the dilemma.. there was a big temptation for me to get straight back on the horse and start another business or even another experiences company, but I realised that the loss of Red letter Days happened because (running a big company and chasing money all the time) was not my destiny. I started off down a few false starts before realising I should bide my time. Meantime I was being asked to go speak at events and to be honest I did that mainly because I was being offered big fees (and had to have some revenue streams). But that led to a whole new world for me – helping and inspiring others on their business journey. Before I knew it I had a whole new business, completely demand led, which I rarely needed to advertise – which is Rachel Elnaugh Ltd. It is a vehicle for all my speaking, training, consultancy and mentoring work and it is totally run through ‘Pull’ marketing – or magnetic marketing as I prefer to call it”. Q -You are now an Entrepreneur inspiring and motivating Small Businesses – what does a typical day involve? Rachel – “I love my life because it is so varied. I am based from my lovely sunny office at home overlooking Bakewell and the River Wye so I can be around my family much more – all my business helpers are ‘Virtual’. But I still spend two or three days or so a week in London or at events around the country. Going out meeting entrepreneurs always feeds me with great inspiration and new ideas. Every day is different and I tend to go with the flow rather than push to make things happen like I used to”. Q - You have just written a book “Business Nightmares”– can you tell me what it’s about? Rachel – “After Red Letter crashed I was asked by David Lester of Crimson Publishing if I’d like to write a book. I decided I wanted to write about the crisis points in other entrepreneur’s lives and how they worked through them, or in the case of a meltdown how they recovered. So I interviewed and researched the stories of 20 famous entrepreneurs, every one from Donald trump to Gerald Ratner to my fellow Dragons Peter Jones and Doug Richard. But I ended up weaving a lot of my own experiences throughout the book so in that respect it is semi autobiographical – and was also quite cathartic to write”. Q - Coming from someone who used to help businesses with finance – have you ever needed to raise finance, if you did was this hard to do? Rachel –“Red Letter Days was always self funded and the business model gave us great cash flow so apart from the early days where I invested my own money to kick start things. Once the business took off we always had lots of cash. But things changed when the banks started to bond our credit card takings which coincided with a loss making year. One thing I learnt from that is that it is incredibly difficult to re-finance yourself when you are in a hole. Far better to raise the funding when you are growing and profitable than desperate and needy!” Q -Do you have any gems you can give to other women starting their own business? Rachel – “I always tell women to follow their passion and I would also say take the path of least resistance and go with the flow. If things aren’t working and business is a real struggle for you it’s a sign you’re not on the right path. Stop swimming and see where the current takes you, it may be tiny things which are working within your business, but if you focus on those they may lead to a much better way of being”. Q -What’s the best bit about being your own boss? Rachel – “I think the absolute freedom of being able to do pretty much what you want when you want. That said I am also highly disciplined and try hard never to let anyone down on any commitment I have made”. Q - Do you believe you are lucky or is it down to just hard work? Rachel – “I think it is about having the right type of energy, when you operate from a place of joy/passion/empowerment/optimism you naturally attract great things whether that is people or opportunities”. Q- Do you consider you are successful and are you still ambitious - if yes - what are these ambitions? Rachel – “Success in our society is so tied up with money. On that scale of things I am probably a failure by UK standards, but by world standards (where billions live in proverty) I am incredibly rich. It is all a matter of perspective. Yes I am still ambitious, but in a different way – I want to be a force for positive change in the world – so it is an ambition which is much bigger than me. Q - Who are their role models? Do you have any? Rachel – “Yes plenty. Definitely all the power women of the 1980’s – Thatcher, Roddick, Mirman, Debbie Moore and Princess Diana. I am also in awe of many of the people I wrote about in my book - Trump, Dyson, Felix Dennis. But on a world level I am a fan of people who are currently changing the world for the better – Oprah, Gates, Muhammad Yunnus, Deepak Chopra, Angelina Jolie and of course the wonderful Barak Obama who I think has the potential to be one of the world’s greatest leaders of all time”. Q - Have your family been supportive? Rachel – “When I was growing up with my four brothers our family was always a little bit ‘every man for himself’; my Mum and Dad both died about 10 years ago and I think since then the competitiveness has dropped off a little. Maybe we were always trying to prove ourselves to Mum and dad”. Q -What’s your proudest moment? Rachel – “Lots of them! Too many to mention. Seeing my book in print, speaking at the Conservative Party Conference in 2006 – and also at Harvard University (a great achievement for someone who didn’t manage to get into university at all!) - winning an entrepreneur of the year award in 2002 and more recently being awarded the IAB champion for entrepreneurship in the UK earlier this year. Also giving birth to my five sons. Q – What next? Rachel – “I am currently launching a new company called Badequella which is all about personal empowerment and transformation. We plan to run residential experiences in Bakewell for small groups of people and I am inviting some wonderful spiritual people who have helped me on my own journey to run the events with me. The first experience will be in January 2009. Some might call this a ‘retreat’ but I prefer to think of them as ‘advances’. Its about helping people find a different and more fulfilling way of being”.
If you would like more information on Rachel Elnaugh go to www.rachelelnaugh.com/ |
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