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Debt consolidation: how it has worked for a female entrepreneur
Debt consolidation: how it has worked for a female entrepreneur
1. What is your business?
I have two financial services broker businesses : ABC vos Crédits offering debt consolidation to French consumers and France Home Finance offering mortgages to non-resident investors and expats in France.
www.francehomefinance.com
www.abcvoscredits.com
2. What prompted you to start up in business?
My dream has always been to live and work in Paris. I joined a large multi-national bank with hopes of getting a transfer to France. Years later when it finally happened, I was asked to take a position outside of France after only 2 years in Paris. It became clear to me that to excel in the corporate world, I would need to continue to be mobile and work on projects that I was not always passionate about so I decided it was time to create my own destiny. I must give to credit to my fiancé at the time, now husband, who had a full time job and agreed to support me while I was working on my start-up venture. This is a luxury that not every entrepreneur has and for which I will always be grateful.
3. What was the market situation when you started up?
One of the bank’s growth areas at the time was debt consolidation. This was a brand new market in France with very limited distribution and very few mortgage brokers offering loan re-structuring. While working on a survey project on debt consolidation brokers it occurred to me that I had lots of ideas on how to do it better. There was very little competition and almost nobody offering this service online. That has completely changed over the last three years. The market has caught on to the opportunity and there are new entrants with big budgets every day.
While I fully researched and wrote a business plan for the debt consolidation brokerage, the second business opportunity came to me. As a native English speaker living in France and working in financial services, I had many requests for assistance with property finance. The demand was so great that I decided to launch a second business and capitalize on the bank partnerships I had already created for the first.
4. Do you have a vision for your business and if so, what is it?
I can’t say that I have a clear vision today for where we are going next. Three years ago, I did not speak French fluently and had almost no management experience. Today I have two profitable businesses in France with combined sales of over one million euros and a team of ten people. I am exhilarated and in a bit of shock. I always fully believed in the market opportunity for the solutions I was proposing but can’t say I clearly saw myself at the head of a market leading company. Now that we have come this far, that vision is slowly starting to take shape.
5. What was the biggest obstacle you had to overcome and how did you do it?
The biggest learning curve for me was learning how to read people in business – how to separate the professionals from the people just out to take your money. There is nothing like trial by fire. I started the first business with a French partner with more experience than I who was meant to deal with partnerships and negotiations. When our partnership didn’t work out, there was no one but me to create strategic alliances, choose suppliers and negotiate contracts. I did it because I had to and made many mistakes but just kept going. Over time I gained more confidence and it became easier. I also relied heavily on the many mentors I have in the Paris business community. So many entrepreneurs have generously shared their advice and experience with me in times of need.
6. How did you find the finance to get started?
I started the two businesses with 15,000€ of personal money and luckily to date we have not needed to raise any more.
7. What are your personal qualities that have that have helped you to succeed in business?
I would single mindedness - spotting the opportunity and going after it without worrying about details (like not being able to speak French fluently ...); humility – not afraid to admit my weaknesses and ask for help from others and tenacity - believing beyond a doubt in the market opportunity uncovered.
8. How do you keep going when things get tough?
I surround myself with “cheer leaders” – people that love me and encourage me when things are hard. Being an entrepreneur is such a mind game. We are the biggest obstacle to our own progress.
9. How do you measure success?
Success for me is being passionate about my work, maintaining balance in my life and having financial freedom for myself and the ones I love.
10. If you had one piece of advice for a woman starting out in business, what would it be?
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Sue Stockdale
(Visit Sue's Website)
Sue Stockdale founded Mission Possible, www.miss
ionpossible.co.uk to help women to
achieve their goals in business, using the
same principles that led to her success in
becoming the first British woman to ski to
the Magnetic North Pole. Since 1997, the
company has worked with 1000s of women
worldwide. Services include an
award-winning businesswomen’s network, and
peer support groups for growing
businesses.
A fitness fanatic, Sue has represented
Scotland in athletics, and in 2004
finished runner-up in TV’s Superhuman. Her
academic achievements include an MBA in
Entrepreneurship and an MSc in Quality
Management. She lectures at several
Universities on leadership and
entrepreneurship and her advice on
motivation regularly appears in the media.
She is author of Kickstart Your Motivation
and Secrets of Successful Women
Entrepreneurs. For further information www.suestockd
ale.com
Sue Stockdale Video - Polar adventurer and motivational speaker Sue Stockdale speaking at Millionaire Mind Event in London about building trust in your team on an expedition and setting up systems to make expeditions and business easier.
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