I grew up on a council estate with 6 sisters – we’re like the Kardashians of the UK, now I run a £7 million business
A WOMAN has revealed how she went form living on a council estate with her six sisters to owning a £7 million PR company.
Carrie Rose, 29, has worked her way from the bottom and now boasts working for companies such as Missguided and Boohoo.
But it hasn't always been easy for the entrepreneur who tragically lost her dad while studying for her GCSEs.
She recently spoke on the podcast, Deep Dive with Ali Abdaal, about how she climbed the ladder despite facing many obstacles.
"We're a big family so I have six sisters we all start with the letter C, we'll call ourselves the curvier Kardashians," she joked.
Carrie revealed her mum and dad were both hard workers and often saw her dad run his own farming business.
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I lived in a council estate all my life so people didn't go to uni where I was from
Carrie Rose
She revealed she grew up on a council estate - where many were not incentivised to go to university.
"I was like a typical kind of kid that had a lot of friends that maybe felt pregnant at a young age," she explained.
"I lived in a council estate all my life so people didn't go to uni where I was from and if you did you was usually part of like a rich family if that makes sense."
But her dad always pushed Carrie to do her best even as a kid, she recalled him saying: "Stick to it, you stay focused, don't let anyone tell you you can't do anything' so he drilled that into me."
Watching him count cash and helping him handle finances gave her knowledge and the confidence to do the same she said.
Her dad inspired her to do well in school, despite him and her mum breaking up when she was 12.
She revealed they stayed good friends, until she was 15 and studying for her GCSEs and her life was turned upside down.
Carrie's dad tragically had a heart attack while she was studying for her GCSEs and passed away.
Despite this, she managed to get good grades across the board and even went on to do her A-levels and head to Leeds university.
"Obviously he was that motivation of yeah I can do this so I think that really was like the thing that drove me to keep going," she explained.
At university, Carrie studied a module on SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) which helps web pages appear first on Google.
At the time, it wasn't so popular and Carrie saw a niche that she could fill and also managed to bag an internship with Google.
After leaving university, Carrie went on to work with marketing and advertising companies before stepping out on her own.
How to start your own business
Dragon's Den star Theo Paphitis revealed his tips for budding entrepreneurs:
- One of the biggest barriers aspiring entrepreneurs and business owners face is a lack of confidence. You must believe in your idea — even more than that, be the one boring your friends to death about it.
- Never be afraid to make decisions. Once you have an idea, it’s the confidence to make decisions that is crucial to starting and maintaining a business.
- If you don’t take calculated risks, you’re standing still. If a decision turns out to be wrong, identify it quickly and deal with it if you can. Failing that, find someone else who can.
- It’s OK not to get it right the first time. My experience of making bad decisions is what helped develop my confidence, making me who I am today.
- Never underestimate the power of social media, and remember the internet has levelled the playing field for small businesses.
- Don’t forget to dream. A machine can’t do that!
She first started freelancing on the side of her full-time job and it became a side hustle for her to put money aside for 'holidays and nice bags'
But soon she realised just how good she was at the job and how in-demand her work was.
She was able to get private investment into her own company, Rise At Seven.
Before leaving her previous company, she and her partner Stephen were set to talk on stage at one of their events.
Stephen had the idea to announce their own company instead - leading to thousands of people to follow them on social media overnight.
In just seven months the company went from two people in the team to 100.
Carrie explained: "It was the fastest pace, like, growth, that I've ever seen.
"So we went from two people, we hired seven, then we went to 25 and then we got to 100 literally within like seven months or so it was crazy and that was during the pandemic."
Within the first year the company made over £1.5 million and Carrie paid for her staff to go on holiday.
Now the company are earning multi-millions and have even expanded to the US, having an office in New York.
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Carrie admits her 16-year-old self would be shocked to see where she is now, but some things haven't changed.
Carrie still pops over to her mum's house in the council estate for dinner and is grateful of where she comes from.