It was exactly 5 years ago that I received the much coveted title, “mouth of the south” after my performance on The Apprentice. It was the first time many British viewers had seen an Asian gobby bird doing business like a man and leading the pack. Thankfully my performance got me to a respectable position in the show and whilst many felt I should have won, in hindsight I’m really glad that I did not.
After the show I got my own BBC children’s business show “Beat The Boss” and managed to present some amazing programmes, I wrote a book published by Random House called P.U.S.H. For Success and I set up my own business www.miamoo.co.uk formulating and selling natural skincare products for delicate skin which are now distributed via John Lewis, Waitrose , Boots.com and Ocado. It’s been an amazing five years.
But I think I have to make some things very clear – just because I appeared on The Apprentice I didn’t wake up to people knocking on the door and offering me amazing jobs, my phone was ringing every five minutes from top companies offering me unbelievable opportunities and I didn’t become a business expert overnight just because I appeared on a business reality show.
Before appearing on The Apprentice I had gained a BA (Hons Degree) and an MA. I started my career as a Town Planner and did this for 5 years before deciding on a career change and dived head first into the commercial world. I worked in the biscuit market, as well as putting on a few pounds, I also progressed quickly in sales and within 2 years was managing my own team of sales people in Central London. I realised that I was born to sell and loved the psychology of it and giving customers the best service. It was all this that stood me in good stead for The Apprentice, my performance wasn’t a fluke or down to good editing, I did have some actual skill.
I love working, thinking and learning and setting up my own business has given me the chance to do all the above everyday. It’s been such hard work, harder than I ever imagined it would be and harder than what anyone advised it would be.
Since 2006 when I launched miamoo I have been working 16 hours a day to keep all the plates spinning and let me tell you, if you want to be a successful entrepreneur and you don’t have the privilege of a rich mummy or daddy or access to unlimited funds then the reality is that the first 5 years are going to be HARD WORK and like me you may have to keep a main job going to fund your business in the early years.
I’ve learnt so much about myself and about business since launching miamoo and whilst I’ve had some success I’ve also made some horrendous mistakes which has cost me financially. It’s this real life business experience that I would like to share with you in my column.
You see I haven’t made it yet, I’m on the journey to making it and I want to share that with you in real time. I’ve read so many biographies of millionaires and billionaires but I just can’t seem to relate to them – they were operating in a different time, under different rules without google, facebook, tweets and a whole host of other social networking mediums, they didn’t have to care for the environment nor did they have as much competition on a global scale as we business entrepreneurs do today and finally as a working mum I have a whole host of other issues to consider. So join me on a weekly basis to see how I get on with my start up business and also gain an insight into my life as a working mumtrepreneur!
So after all that I hope you logon every week to read my column, you never know you might learn something.
Saira’s website: click here
Miamoo: click here
Follow Saira on Twitter: @IamSairaKhan
Above: With Mother and Baby editors rimi Atwal and Mirander Levi
Tags: Mumpreneurs, Saira Khan, The Apprentice, working mums
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