I started my first business at 21 – now I’m a millionaire mum, I made six figures just by running a Facebook group
A self employed mum says she set big money goals in her sales business to transform her family’s life – all because she hated the school run.
Now she has made over £1 million in sales, her family go on luxury holidays and she can afford a full-time nanny but she’s just getting started.
Charlie Day, 35, said: “I love to work and get stuck into my work and lifestyle goals first thing in the morning – I never wanted to do the school run, I hate it. So a full-time nanny is something I worked hard to pay for.”
Charlie says it’s the waiting around, having to chat to others parents and having to stop the flow of my work that she dislikes about the school run.
She added: “Sometimes my husband will pick Ernie up, other times his nanny will, it doesn’t bother him because he’s never known any different.
“If I was picking him up he’d think it was unusual.
“He sees me working really hard to make my dreams a reality, which can only be a good thing. Having a nanny means it’s so flexible, she works around me and it’s allowed me to grow my business to multi-six figures.
“It means I can fulfil my promise to take my family on holiday every school holiday, and I’ve travelled all around the world with Ernie.”
The serial entrepreneur started her first business, a children’s theatre school, in 2011 at the age of 21.
I always wanted a bigger life and was willing to work hard for it
Charlie Day
Since then she has grown four businesses and has recently began her most ambitious project to date – building a sales agency that she hopes will be turning over £10M by 2029.
The married mum of one from Chelmsford, Essex says conventional employment was never on her radar, her goals were always too big and she was “too stubborn to fail.”
Charlie, who has over 8,800 followers on her Instagram @charlie_day_sales said: “I always wanted a bigger life and was willing to work hard for it. At 21 when my friends were partying I was working all hours teaching kids to sing and dance and I loved it.
“I’ve always known that to build a big life you need big goals. For me those goals look like figures in the bank because I know with more money I can make more change.
“I wanted to give my son, who has ADHD, the best experiences and support. I want us to go abroad for every school holiday and live in a fantastic home.
Charlies’s career focus switched to sales in 2020 during lockdown when the business she ran with her sister, Phonics with Robot Reg, was thriving despite the pandemic because it had a bullet proof sales strategy.
Charlie who lives in a £1 million new build home with her husband Lewis and son Ernie, seven, said: “I was forever sharing advice and being asked out for coffee and lunches to help business owners with their sales and tell them how they could franchise their businesses.
“People asking to pick my brains led me to set up the Entrepreneurs Growth Club. A free Facebook community for business owners.
“Soon I was offering more exclusive paid content in a new group, the Entrepreneur Sales Lounge. In my first month I made £250 but word spread quickly and by the end of that first year it had made me six figures.”
By selling high-level masterminds, one-to-one strategy sessions and courses Charlie has generated a turnover of over £1 million in four years.
She has also written a book and launched Sales Made this month, a full service, fully inclusive sales agency with a staff of eight.
She added: “Sales is male dominated predominantly and I want to see that change. There are so many women in business who don’t think sales strategy isn’t for them and it keeps them playing small.
“I’m building something to change the industry and build generational wealth for my family.
“I want to help more women do the same in their industries.
“Sales strategy is the key to unlocking huge success in business and so often it is a neglected part of entrepreneurship. We offer done for you and done with you packages to help established product and service based businesses improve their sales strategy.
“People think sales is intimidating or feels uncomfortable when really it is formulaic and simple.
“The truth is often people are scared of sales, I was scared as a business owner at 21 and I still get scared now – I’ve just learnt to do it anyway.”
Side hustles in numbers
Based on new research from Finder, an estimated 22.8 million Brits are using side hustles to top up their income.
Among generation Z (those aged 18-23) 68 percent have a side hustle in 2024.
Millennials (aged 24-42) aren’t far behind, with 65 per cent having an additional source of income.
Side hustles are less popular among older generations, with 40 percent of generation X (aged 43-54) having one.
Whereas 23 percent of baby boomers (aged 55-73) and just 7 per cent of the silent generation (aged 74 and over) are earning extra cash this way.