Michelle Mone

November 3, 2009 by Dave Briggs - The Foundry House

Michelle is going to be changing the tyres on a formula one car shortly – no, really – and is warming up for that by talking to the Destination Growth audience about the story of her and her business.

Michelle started her business life at 10 years old to help her parents out financially
At the age of 11 she had 16 and 17 year olds working for her!
By the sounds of things, Michelle’s parents had some pretty rotten luck
Her first ‘proper’ job was at Labbatt’s brewery, working in admin. She set a goal of running Labbatt’s in Scotland within 3 years and managed it in 2 and a half.
‘The harder you work, the luckier you become’
Michelle was made redundant when Labbatts were bought by Whitbread 13 years ago
She spent years and a lot of money developing prototypes for Ultimo
The launch of the first Ultimo bra cost £500 and was a case of guerilla marketing if ever there was one
Julia Roberts wore the Ultimo in Erin Brockovich which led to the launch in America
Michelle admits that during her initial success, she took her eye off the ball. She should have been looking for the next opportunity but instead enjoyed her success
A deal with a distributor went horribly wrong which left Michelle in trouble – the company was saved 15 minutes before a previous bank called in a debt
Used the internet to relaunch the business online, repaid debts and launched new products
Giving back is important to Michelle and she has run events for charity benefit and is involved with the Princes Trust
Continual innovation, and doing deals with retailers such as Debenhams and Asda have offered opportunities to deliver at scale, creating value for customers as well as profit
You can’t be an entrepreneur without being willing to take risks
Michelle has succeeded despite leaving school at 15, but still values education – but basic skills aren’t being taught as well as they should
The Apprentice isn’t real business, but lessons can be learned from it especially around dealing with and managing difficult people