Episode 58: Allbright – Connecting women, what’s the worst that can happen?
If you found the film ‘The Holiday’ so inspirational it kickstarted a business that you went on to sell for over £50 million, then you’re in good company. You didn’t? Well you missed a trick. Not so Debbie Wosskow, co-founder of AllBright and former CEO of LoveHomeSwap (a subscription based home exchange business) who on a plane home from a ‘holiday’ in the Caribbean watched the movie and thought, ‘does this even exist?’
But LoveHomeSwap wasn’t Debbie’s first successful business, nor was it her last. So what is her secret to successive business success?
She credits her formative years for her entrepreneurialism (not that her family would have called it that), and she credits her business acumen to her first business Mantra, which she calls her 7 year business education.
With the mantra of ‘what’s the worst that can happen?’ it’s safe to say that Debbie Wosskow is an entrepreneurial powerhouse and a female force to be reckoned with. She’s had an independent government review into the sharing economy named after her, she’s a member of the Mayor of London's Business Advisory Board, she sits on the board of the Women's Fiction Prize, in 2016 she was awarded an OBE for services to business, and in 2017 she co-founded AllBright with Anna Jones (former CEO of Hearst), to celebrate and champion women at all stages of their careers, to inspire change.
In this episode of Secret Leaders Debbie is brutally honest about what it takes to succeed, and she provides a number of insights that future entrepreneurs would be wise to take note of. So sit back and learn from the best.
We chat about:
How her early years influenced her career
Why her first business Mantra was a 7 year business education
Why is her mantra ‘what’s the worst thing that can happen?’
The story behind LoveHomeSwap
The impact of strategic investment on Love Home Swap
What you need to do to survive as a sole founder
What you need to do to achieve a work/life balance as a female entrepreneur
Founding Allbright
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