My Fight to the Top

No, that’s not referring to me – I’m not quite there yet!  My Fight to the Top is the title of female entrepreneur Michelle Mone’s autobiography.  I had the delight of attending a Yorkshire Life event recently, a literary lunch at The Crown Hotel in Harrogate.  This was part of the Raworth’s Literature Festival where Michelle Mone was talking about her life.

 

Michelle went from a desperately poor upbringing in Glasgow to near bankruptcy as she spent almost half a million pounds trying to develop the Ultimo brand of underwear.  She is now an OBE but there have been many problems to overcome and hard lessons to learn along the way.

My reason for going to the event?  After all the hard work of getting the Nissan: 30 Years On exhibition up and running, I felt I deserved a treat and I’m always happy to find an excuse to return to the sacred soil of Yorkshire.

However, it wasn’t just the literary aspect that attracted me.  As a writer, I also wear another hat, that of creative entrepreneur.  Over the past 5 years it’s been a tortuous journey.  Long periods of time without earning and so many times when ideas didn’t work out.  It’s been easy to think of myself as a failure.

I think I need to hear people like Michelle Mone now and again.  She reminds me to persevere, to be kind to myself; in many respects I’m treading a new path and there’s going to be trial and error.

I’m really thankful to those who have been there to support me and helped me at long last to turn a corner in my business.  For anything worth achieving there’s going to be hard work ahead.  And if I take  anything from Michelle Mone, it’s never to give up on your dream.