MK Mann, 53, is an entrepreneur and lives in the West Midlands with her husband Bindu, 56. Here, she shares her inspirational story about how she turned her fortunes around.
Sitting on the sofa with my hungry baby crying in my arms, I felt utterly helpless.
The stress of constantly worrying about money had affected my breast milk supply and I could no longer feed our little boy, Steven.
We had no formula – and no money to buy any. Broke and desperate, we had to call my in-laws and ask if they could provide a tin of formula. I was mortified.
It was 1991, and Bindu and I were living hand-to-mouth selling clothes from a market stall. I planned our food shops around Child Benefit arriving on a Friday, lived on Pot Noodles and became really thin.
If you’d told me that 35 years later we’d be semi-retired millionaires with a portfolio of commercial and residential properties, I wouldn’t have believed you.
I was four when I arrived in Britain from . I met Bindu when I was 12 and he was two years older.
At 15, we became a couple, and just after my 17th birthday in March 1990, we had a traditional Sikh wedding.
At first, we lived with Bindu’s parents, but his mother and I didn’t get on, so we moved into a rented house, and money was tight.
Steven was born in 1991, followed by our son Arun in 1993.
Those years were incredibly difficult, constantly counting pennies.
I’d left school with no qualifications, but was desperate for a better life for us, so I applied for a loan through The Prince’s Youth Business Trust to relaunch our clothing business.
It was approved and got the ball rolling for us. With Bindu running our business, I got a £90-a-week job as a recruitment agency receptionist.
Nursery fees cost £120 a week and, after bus fare, lunches and other expenses, me working left us £50 a week worse off. But I knew it would pay off one day.
While at the agency, I noticed a niche for creating CVs for people and I persuaded the managing director to let me sell CV-writing services on commission.
Within six months, I had doubled my salary and become a recruitment consultant. I went on to work in advertising, while we continued building the clothing business.
Our youngest son, Harry, was born in 2001. By then, we were living in a lovely home in Bromsgrove, and instead of taking our newborn home in a taxi, Harry was strapped into the back of a luxury car.
We’d opened several clothing stores across the Midlands and the boys attended private schools.
But we’d also signed an expensive 10-year lease on a store, with the £100k annual rent committing us to £1million before we’d even fitted out the premises or paid for staff.
In 2006, disaster struck.
A promotional campaign went wrong, leaving us liable for 1,000 hair and beauty packages, and then a Primark store opened nearby.
Our business collapsed. We’d gambled everything on this single venture, and when it failed, we lost it all. I felt broken – but I wasn’t about to give up.
Thankfully, a relative agreed to sell us a convenience store they owned, with us paying them in instalments.
We moved into the small flat above the shop and lived there for five years while rebuilding our finances.
Bindu continued working on market stalls, while I ran the store.
I also enrolled with the Open University to study law, which gave me an understanding of property law and the confidence to expand our business differently.
Instead of leasing premises, we began buying the buildings our businesses occupied.
We now own three convenience stores and have a property portfolio worth millions, but my proudest achievement is knowing I built a better future without giving up.
My advice to anyone wanting to improve their life is to never stop striving, whatever comes your way.
- This Is Us by MK Mann (£15.99, London Book Publishing) is out now.
- Follow @Thereal.mkm on Instagram for coaching tips.
