From Barbados to Britain: Starting a business 4000 miles from home
It began with candy. All sorts of candy. Candy in my mum’s kitchen cupboard that was waiting to be eaten. But I’ve never had a sweet tooth so I thought, instead of all this candy going to waste, why not sell them to my Secondary school friends? It made complete sense at the time and I even wondered why no one else had thought of this brilliant idea. For 25 cents a piece, this little side hustle became a nice little earner. Soon enough, once I had finished school, I stopped selling candy and started selling skincare products: a face cream here, an eye serum there. I guess it must be in my blood.
By the time I turned fifteen, I knew for sure that I wanted to be an entrepreneur. The only thing was I didn’t really know what it meant.
So I “googled” it. Entrepreneur: someone who sets up a business, taking financial risks in the hope of profit. I remembered thinking at the time: This is what I want to do. But will I be good enough? Yet despite being closer to understanding what an entrepreneur actually entailed, I had no clear idea how to get there.
Still, I didn’t give up hope.
Eight years later, I moved to London to begin a Master’s degree in Public Relations. But once I gained my qualification, I knew deep down that PR wasn’t the best fit. It didn’t play to my strengths and it didn’t fire my belly. It was only when I was back home in Barbados where I met an incredible woman who saw my potential and hired me as a sales and marketing specialist for a luxury polo and golf club.
It was my first foray into marketing—I loved everything about it—and decided there and then I wanted to pursue it as a career.
While I had a fantastic time and gained valuable experience, I soon realised that I didn’t want to work for someone. What I wanted was to start my own business. Be my own boss. What I wanted was to be an entrepreneur. That word again. However, I still didn’t know how I was going to get there or indeed ever become what I had always envisaged for myself. All I knew was that it wasn’t going to happen in Barbados where people are encouraged to become a professional, not an entrepreneur, and Britain, I already knew, was a place where you can be what you want to be. It is also a place where start ups and small businesses are nurtured, encouraged, supported.
It was 4,000 miles from home but this is where I needed to be. It was the step I needed to take; the step in the right direction.
So I returned to London and found work as a marketeer. So far, so good, but I still had that nagging feeling that I could achieve more; that I had the potential to take all this accrued expertise and do something with it. On top of that, I just couldn’t shake the feeling of being dissatisfied with where I was professionally. It felt like I could only stay in a job for two years before I started to get the ‘ick’. I especially disliked the fact that my worth appeared to be tied to performance—like staying late in the office just to prove to your boss how dedicated you are to your job—and cultivating a people-pleasing, ’nine-to-five’ mentality, which I was constantly plagued by.
And then…I quit. My New Year’s resolution for 2023 was to finally do what I have been wanting to do for so long: start my own business. I’d left my job. It was a new year. What was I waiting for? I was ready for it. And I was prepared to trust in my ability and give it everything I had. So I made my dream a reality and started The M Formula. I knew that I never wanted to return to the corporate world if I could help it. I didn’t belong there and I certainly didn’t thrive in that environment. Reminding myself of this every day is my driving force. And I can honestly say that since starting my business, I have never doubted my decision; never regretted what I have left behind.
If anything, I have become more ambitious than ever.
Has this been one of the best decisions of my life? Absolutely. Do I wish I had done it earlier? Absolutely. Are there days when I feel totally overwhelmed? Absolutely. Do I miss my mum’s cooking? Absolutely. (Tell me where I can find baked chicken and macaroni pie as good as my mum’s in London and my answer might be different)
But let’s start with the downsides: You will probably put in more hours than you did in your corporate job, including giving up some of your weekends, your salary isn’t guaranteed and you have to manage your time effectively (the flip side to all that freedom) But remember, this is also a blessing because you are doing it for YOU!
And the pros? There are many, but for me its fulfilment, freedom, confidence and (perhaps most important of all), self-validation.
Two months in and I can honestly say that not a day has gone by where I have wished for my old corporate life back.
If you, like me, know that there is more to work than the traditional ‘nine-to-five’ then take that leap of faith into the unknown.
It won’t be a walk in the park—the best things in life never come easy—but I can guarantee that it will be worth it.
Every single time.
