This episode of the Your Recipe for Financial Success podcast was published on 21st January 2021. You can listen again by heading to our Episodes page, or on your favourite podcast player.
In our first Money Journey episode, Julie is joined by Kelly Forrester who is a resilience and growth leader, business mentor and podcast host. Here are some highlights from Kelly’s money journey.
I got my mum to do Avon, so I would then make the money from doing 3 or 4 miles with Avon books delivering them.
My Mum also worked in a big Castle in St Ives in Cornwall. They did telesales and at the age of 12 I would go in and help and pick up the phone and ring through these enquiries.
Just before I was 13 she would take me down to the beach front, I don’t know if you know St Ives but it’s gorgeous. We’d just stand in the street and ask if anyone would like to win a bottle of wine. They would win a bottle of wine but obviously the whole thing there was they would then go to the castle and then somebody within the sales and marketing team would have been trying to sell them a timeshare.
On growing up and leaving home:
“I left home when I was just coming up to 15. I was on my own. So I had to learn to manage paying for rent, paying for washing, paying for food… at that age! I look children nowadays and think – christ you have a bad enough job to put your pants, that have been washed for you, in your drawer!”
On taking responsibility for money:
“You can take responsibility for your money and you can create money, you can invite money into your world, and you can be ultra-successful. Just because things happen, it doesn’t mean that’s where you are staying stuck or destined to be. Things can change, and things will change. So, never give up.”
On business hardships:
“The business investor said, I’m not going to help you. I’m not going to put the money in this business. Now he had signed 50% promise to pay me at that stage and said don’t make any changes to the business and all these things. So I couldn’t protect myself legally. I had nothing, and no protection. That’s a real valuable lesson; if you go into business with somebody have legal protection, especially against your money.”
and
“The financial shame is the hardest thing I’ve ever, ever gone through. So how do you come back from that? What do you learn, because this is what we have to do. I wouldn’t be stepping forward every single day if I didn’t believe in myself. The first thing for me was rediscovering who I was.”
On the future:
“I have my financial vision board I have my financial goals, I have a weekly goals check. I didn’t want [my past] to stop me becoming money orientated because I still want to create a legacy later on in life to leave for women who have gone through adversity and things like this.
To be able to do those things I need to build wealth, I need to be able to accept money, and I need to be able to give money. So, that releasing of that money blocker was huge for me. It’s literally like, since I’ve done that, I’ve been on fire.
Everything’s happening so much quicker, even the house move that I expected and it’s great. My courses are selling, and you know, all the things that I’m doing are working. I think it’s because I’ve truly just gone ‘that’s it’, I’ve let go.
I shouldn’t have to feel shame that my business failed, I did the best I could. I genuinely did not do anything bad, you know. I wasn’t trying to be fraudulent or dodgy or any of those things. It happened and it happens.”