This much I knowEntrepreneurs This article is more than 9 years oldInterviewMichelle Mone: ‘My party trick is measuring people’s boobs with my eyes’
This article is more than 9 years oldCraig McLeanThe entrepreneur, 43, on fear of failure, working too hard and tracking down the world’s best breast enhancers
I think, honestly, I was a born entrepreneur. When I was five my mum and dad bought me a little post office set, and you could see it then. I was always directing my cousins: “You go do this, you go do that…” I was always running something. I thought it was normal.
Duran Duran, Spandau Ballet, Wham! Those were the pop stars I grew up with. But it was Richard Branson’s poster I had on my wall.
Bullies targeted me because I was different. Not because I was academic – I was terrible at school. My mum made me go with my uniform on, which wasn’t the norm. I used to hate it because I’d stand out. But it did teach me the importance of presentation.
You’re never too old to start out on your own. I was made redundant at 24 – I was heartbroken. I had two kids and hadn’t started a business yet, so I felt useless. Now I speak around the world and meet people in their 70s who are starting businesses.
I’ve been told that I’m like a Jack Russell: I bite on something and don’t let go. Once I get something into my head, I don’t stop. I was determined to invent a new bra and spent months tracking down the American company who made the breast enhancers I wanted to use.
Learn from your setbacks, and move on. A distributor ran away with £1.8m of Ultimo’s money, and I could have had a nervous breakdown at that point – at several points, in fact – but I didn’t let it happen.
When you’re in the zone and looking after your body, it really does have an impact on everything you do. I can’t actually believe that I wasted 10 years of my life eating and drinking crap, and being 8st overweight. It was disgusting. But that was my way of dealing with stress. I feel stronger, more confident now I’ve stopped eating junk food.
There is fear of failure every morning when I wake up. Still. But I suppose the good thing about stress is it makes me perform. Of course I’m afraid of it. I bloody hate it. But I wake up and think: “I need to keep going.”
Working harder won’t make you feel more loved. It never happened for me. It was the opposite. I was working my arse off and getting so much hassle from my partner. My marriage was in a lot of trouble.
I can still hear my ex-husband’s voice: “You’re gonna end up back in the ghetto, where I rescued you from.” And I think: “No I’m not.” Anyway, where I grew up in Glasgow wasn’t the ghetto. People were poor, but they were incredible.
Boobs are getting bigger: the average bra size was 34B, it’s now 36C. There’s still a lot of work to be done in the fuller-bust market. Some brands make G cups, but, my God, you can go up to a J, K.
Everyone needs a party trick. Mine is measuring people’s boobs with my eyes.
Michelle Mone: My Fight to The Top (£18.99, Blink Publishing) is available now. To order a copy for £15.19 go to bookshop.theguardian.com
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