Dragon’s Den star Deborah Meaden didn’t become a multi-millionaire success in business overnight.
It was watching her single mum make ends meet at the age of just seven that lit a spark inside her to fearlessly pursue becoming an entrepreneur.
“All of my games were about having my own business; my own shop, a car wash, weirdly. I always had a little cashier, and I loved the ring a ding ding,” she tells Ateh Jewel on this weeks HELLO! Second Act podcast.
“I think I just saw an example of somebody who worked their way into a better life, and therefore, it kind of gives you this (attitude of) ‘Well, what’s the worst that can happen?’
“I don’t have a fear of what if I lost it all tomorrow? I would think, well, I’d just do it all again. I had a demonstration of somebody who just got on with it. And I think that takes away the fear.”
Having bought her own horse aged 12 with £50 of pocket money, Deborah and her husband of over 30 years, Paul Farmer, now share their home with a farmyard of animals including horses, sheep, chickens and ducks. She reveals she was always more passionate about animals and the environment than having babies. But when she opened up about never having had a maternal instinct, she was shocked by the reaction.
“When I looked into my future, children weren’t there. And I never felt the need to do what’s expected of me,” she says.
“But I got quite a lot of unpleasant feedback from it, and then I’d get this skirting around. ‘So have you got any children? No we haven’t. Oh’ – as if there’s something wrong with you, like it wasn’t a conscious choice.
“I didn’t even want to get married at first, there was something holding me back, but here we are 33 years later. We love each other and have a lot of fun.”
Having the confidence to make decisions that are right for her and take risks is the one thing that she wishes all women in midlife shared, particularly when it comes to business. “If you’ve spent your life caring for your family and making sure you’re financially secure, your mind isn’t in a place to take risks. You’ve got to actively work on that. It’s not easy, but it can be as simple as a mind switch.”
If she could impart one piece of advice she has learnt having walked into hundreds of male dominated boardrooms it is to not to think of yourself as a ‘woman in business’.
“Otherwise it sends a sort of signal that you need to take my gender into account. You don’t need to take my gender into account. I’m very good at what I do.”
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