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Sarah Pittendrigh

Sarah Pittendrigh

A story of success! Overcoming adversity whilst being a single mum on income support, to becoming a multi award winning entrepreneur.

When the national event company Sarah was a partner of fell victim to the recession in 2008, she ended up a bankrupt single mum living on income support, with the threat of her home being repossessed. As a Bankrupt single mum back in 2008 I was on rock bottom after the close of a business which I was a partner. She was mentally, and emotionally exhausted, however realised this was the opportunity she needed to grasp to shape herown future and design a business to fit around her young son.

Sarah is now a multi award winning Entrepreneur and Mentor, sharing her lessons learned from bankruptcy to becoming a 7 figure entrepreneur, with other likeminded business women. She is an Ambassador for The Princes Trust, Women Supporting Women campaign.

Like many others, life has thrown Sarah some rather large curve balls, losing a business and cancer to name two.

Having experienced rock bottom, and yet fought her way back up to build a portfolio of successful businesses, she completely understands the pressure, the compromise and the time it takes to grow a business, often whilst bringing up and supporting a family at the same time. It can be draining and we can lose sight of who we are, our own identity and our original goals and ambitions may be lost on the journey.

To do this she needed to delete the noise around me, so I had space to think clearly and make solid and informed decisions about my future. To do this she created a step by step strategy that gave her the structure to brainstorm, plan and focus and to make me accountable with an action plan. This strategy took her in 3 years from Income support, to be the owner of “Britain’s Most Promising Business 2012 in the British Chamber of Commerce Awards. That business is www.simplybowsandchaircovers.co.uk. She now has taken the luxury brand from start up to boasting 11 offices around the UK using her own Franchise Model for scale up.

For personal goals you wish to achieve you first must realise that you are the foundation of your future and that foundation needs to be strong and it needs support. So often it can be ourselves standing in our own way of success as the pressure of every day life chips away at our creativity and sometimes confidence. Sarah is here to help students reconnect back with yourself, your vision and your long term goals.

In 2012 she remarried her ex-husband and together over 5 years we diversified his family farm into a multi million £ portfolio, using my strategy for the business plan. They built 8 Beautiful Barn Style Homes which we have now sold.


Testimonials from Teachers

"Sarah has spoken on behalf of the Entrepreneurs' Forum several times and there's a reason we keep asking her to come back.She has a knack of getting her story across in such an engaging way that is in equal parts honest, inspiring, thought-provoking and informative, with a dash of humour thrown in for good measure.Highly recommended."

– Michael Dixon, Entrepreneurs Forum

"Sarah came into school to talk to a group of AS Business Studies students in September.Her brief was to discuss with students the skills, qualities, advantages and disadvantages of being an entrepreneur. As Sarah’s experience current entrepreneurial experience was in franchising her successful business she also discussed how she established her business and the pros and cons.The students had prepared a list of questions in advance which Sarah was more than happy to answer. Throughout the talk Sarah presented herself in a mature and professional manner. Her subject knowledge was impressive, as was her ability to relate to a group of 16-17 year old A level students. Her approach was friendly and encouraging whilst still maintaining classroom control. Sarah spoke to the students for an hour and during this time she allowed the students to comment and take part in an informative and interesting discussion. The students were totally focussed and engaged throughout. The next lesson they made a point of telling me how much they had enjoyed and had been informed by the session. A number stated Sarah had inspired them to consider setting up their own small business – a true testament! Sarah’s session was both interesting and informative. She exudes boundless enthusiasm for business and is a true inspiration to students. I would not hesitate in having her back to talk to both GCSE and A Level students on a regular basis."

– Lisa Conley, Business Studies Department, Queen Elizabeth High School​

The guest speaker visit from Sarah was very good. The students loved her talk and found her to be a motivational influence.

– Melissa Pauley, Team Leader for Floristry, Balloon Artistry and Event Styling (Interim), Capel Manor College

Speaker File

Location

Northumberland

Topics

  • Enterprise
  • Creative
  • Women

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