An Interview With Candice Georgiadis
It’s not how many times you fall down, it’s how quickly you get back up again. Prepare to fail. If you are going to be a business owner, you will fail, it is as simple as that. I don’t know a single business owner who hasn’t failed, and I would argue that if you are not failing, you’re not taking enough risks. I have failed lots, sometimes epically, sometimes on a small scale. I know I will fail again, but what is important for me is how quickly I get back up again.
As a part of our series about “Why We Need More Women Founders”, I had the pleasure of interviewing Charlie Day.
Charlie Day is a multi award winning entrepreneur who has built three multi six figure businesses from the ground up. Charlie is passionate about helping business owners create more sales in their businesses and proclaims that ‘selling is easy if you just know how.’ Charlie wants to change the face of sales and help people create a sales strategy that works time and time again.
Thank you so much for doing this with us! Before we dig in, our readers would like to get to know you a bit more. Can you tell us a bit about your “backstory”? What led you to this particular career path?
I first started my business aged just 21.It was a theater school to teach children after leaving drama school. It was a huge leap, I didn’t know what I was doing and I needed some money, so I borrowed £1000 from my sister to get some flyers and posters. I told my sister that I would pay her straight back, but, to my surprise, I actually ended up running at a loss that summer-so she had to wait a while ! I was determined to keep going so then developed a phonics class for young children with my sister Alex (a primary school teacher).
I realized the key to growing a business was making more sales and following up. I wanted to change direction so started my second business: The Entrepreneur’s Growth Club to teach business owners exactly this. This evolved from a free facebook group to now having 7000 members. I have since published my book ‘Sales is Easy If You Just Know How, ‘which was a bestseller in six categories, and The Entrepreneur Growth Club podcast, which is a top 25 business podcast globally in the podbean charts.
Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you began leading your company?
I was so excited in January 2020 for the start of a new year and what a year it was going to be. 2019 had seen us franchise our business Phonics with Robot Reg internationally, and our plans for 2020 were even bigger. We were going to have international growth to take us to being the biggest international franchise in the children’s activities space-or so I thought!
Of course in March 2020 we were locked down and it meant that doing anything internationally became a huge challenge. I was gutted that it wasn’t going to be the year I thought it would be, but as I always do I tried to put a positive spin on the situation, so I wasn’t going to be able to achieve some of my goals I set out to achieve.
What could I do? I set some new goals, I called them ‘my covid goals.’ Weeks earlier I had launched a facebook group just for fun called ‘The Entrepreneurs Growth Club’ and it had really taken off, so some of my goals were around this.
The Entrepreneurs Growth Club actually turned out to be my main focus for 2020 and I managed to grow it to a six figure business in less than 12 months (my fastest growing business so far). I launched a membership called The Entrepreneurs Sales Lounge alongside it to help fellow business owners create more sales, I started ‘The Entrepreneurs Growth Club Podcast’ which shot straight to the top 10 in business podcasts and I had created an amazing online community that helped me get through a difficult time too. 2020 taught me so much, when you get thrown a curveball: go in a different direction, it might be the best thing you ever do!
Can you share a story about the funniest mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lesson you learned from that?
I started my first business when I was 21, I had dabbled in the world of acting for 5 months and I realized very quickly it wasn’t the life for me, after years of training, family and friends were asking me ‘what are you going to do if you’re not going to be a performer?’ Now that was a good question, what was I going to do? So I decided I would set up my own business, I would launch a theater school, I had worked for a few other theater schools, but it made more sense to open my own, and how hard could it be?
I don’t know if I was just naive or it was my 21 year old arrogance but the answer was hard, very, very, hard! I had calculated how many children were in my area who could potentially go to my theater school, there were hundreds of thousands of children, I would have more customers than I knew what to do with, I was scared I wouldn’t be able to fulfill the demand! I decided I would have to cap the numbers at 30 children for the first one and then add more as I went.
So I set to work booking a venue, hiring customers and distributing leaflets. I worked so hard to spread the word about my new theater school, I had 12 weeks to advertise the first workshop. As the date approached I had 7 people booked in. 7 children! I couldn’t believe it, I was working at a loss. I had hired costumes for 30 children and had a massive venue with a stage, all for 7 people. I decided that I would run the one workshop, and then brush it under the carpet and pretend it never happened. I ran a couple of competitions to get the numbers to 10, and I went about running the workshop.
It was actually a really good five day workshop, and we ended with the children doing a show for the parents. I threw myself all in and I really enjoyed it. At the end of the week all the parents said how much the children loved it and they wanted to do more, and wondered if I would be doing classes on a weekly basis. In that split second as they asked me the question I said ‘yes’ because I had worked so hard to get these 7 paying customers here I wasn’t going to let them go now! I promised myself at that moment I would get really really good at sales and that my theater school would be sold out.
I learnt that running a business is hard work, if you want an easy ride — don’t start your own business! But it is so rewarding and that you will learn so much along the way. I couldn’t imagine not running a business now, it lights me up, it’s in my blood and I just love it, but if I look back on those early days, I don’t know if I ever believed it would be a real success.
I started in July 2011 and in January 2013 my theater school ‘Little Stars Theatre Workshops’ was fully booked. I stepped down as director in 2017, but the theater school still exists today and teaches over 300 children on a weekly basis.
None of us are able to achieve success without some help along the way. Is there a particular person who you are grateful towards who helped get you to where you are? Can you share a story about that?
In April 2020 as I was growing The Entrepreneurs Growth Club I came across Lisa Johnson, Lisa is an expert in passive and semi-passive income and I took her signature course One To Many and it changed everything for me, it taught me how to run an online business and I really wouldn’t have got to where I am today without her.
In 2021 Lisa announced that she was going to be using partners for her courses and this really jumped out to me because I had enjoyed her course so much and wanted to tell everyone in The Entrepreneurs Growth Club about it. I went onto become a partner in her 2021 launch of the course and I sold over £120,000 worth of products for her and went onto become the number 1 partner in the biggest affiliate launch that the UK had seen that year. I also got the opportunity to do Lisa’s mastermind ‘Destination Inspiration’ and through this I have met a whole host of amazing inspirational entrepreneurs who have taught me that anything is possible.
Ok, thank you for that. Let’s now jump to the primary focus of our interview. According to this EY report, only about 20 percent of funded companies have women founders. This reflects great historical progress, but it also shows that more work still has to be done to empower women to create companies. In your opinion and experience what is currently holding back women from founding companies?
The number one thing holding women back from founding companies is definitely the belief that they can! In my experience, women question their ability to run a business much more than men, I have found this to be true in sales too, women are so concerned about ‘being pushy’ ‘being too much’ whereas men are far more likely to dive in head first and see what happens! I believe that this comes from growing up in a world where girls needed to be ‘good’ well I can tell you first hand that ‘good girls’ will not get far in business, you need to be relentless, you need to be resilient and you need to have tenacity, so for us to really succeed we have to ditch that ‘good girl’ persona and take the risk and shake this industry up. I went to an event only last week. It was a three day event and I sat down on day 1 and looked at the lineup of speakers for the day, it was 100% male! I couldn’t believe it, there are so many amazingly inspirational female leaders out there, but we were not being represented on the stage and it makes me so angry. I will continue to speak about this until we see a change: I believe that we need female speakers on the stages to encourage more female founders.
Also throw into the mix that as a female founder who has had a baby during her career as a business owner, it definitely throws more obstacles in our way. When I had my little boy at the end of 2016, I thought I would be back to work after 6 weeks maternity leave. Running my own business was all I had ever known and I couldn’t imagine something coming along that was more important than that, but when he arrived I had no idea how the two could co exist. From the moment he was born, I had questions about if I was going to go back to work, did I feel guilty about leaving him and even to this day I still get asked if he minds me going away.
My husband, who has a corporate sales job, went back to work after 2 weeks as that was all the paternity leave he was granted, and I can confirm he has never had a single question about how he felt about that or if our son worries about him working too much or being away from home! Until we change this narrative I think we’ll always have less female founders than male founders as they have so much more to contend with. And I am constantly going out there and telling my story so females can see that you can do both, you can be a great mum and a great business owner and actually my son is being raised by someone who is passionate and goes after what she wants, and in turn he will become someone who realizes that anything is possible.The more that we can teach the next generation that the more chance we have of changing the conversation.
Can you help articulate a few things that can be done as individuals, as a society, or by the government, to help overcome those obstacles?
I think we should be making it easier for women to work after having children, there should be more support, more flexibility and cheaper childcare, and we need to change the narrative so women feel empowered to go back to work after having children, instead of being made to feel guilty.
This might be intuitive to you as a woman founder but I think it will be helpful to spell this out. Can you share a few reasons why more women should become founders?
As a female founder, I actually have more flexibility when it comes to being a mum, so it is easy for me to schedule in school shows, sports days and class assemblies as I am in control of my own diary. I don’t have to ask permission. I also take off the whole of August and most of December, and I like to take my son away on every holiday he has from school, and as I am my own boss, I can do that!
The world is my oyster, nobody is telling me what to do;. I get to decide how much I earn, or how many hours I work, or if I take a random day off- it’s all up to me.
What are the “myths” that you would like to dispel about being a founder? Can you explain what you mean?
One of the myths I would like to dispel is that it is glamorous. People could easily look at my life and think it’s glamorous, and I’m not saying it isn’t I have had some ridiculously amazing opportunities such as flying my little boy to australia business class to launch my business, flying on a private jet to get on a yacht around Nice, and staying in one of the best suites on the world’s biggest cruise. I have had some amazing experiences, but for any business owner you see doing amazing things, know that there have been blood sweat and tears, know that they have failed more times than you can imagine, it is hard running a business, and I would hate for anyone to think it wasn’t. The road to success is a long and hard one, and I don’t think there are enough people talking about that, on social media people want you to believe they’ve just clicked their fingers and become an overnight success. In my experience that is not the case, certainly not with any business owners I have met so far.
Is everyone cut out to be a founder? In your opinion, which specific traits increase the likelihood that a person will be a successful founder and what type of person should perhaps seek a “regular job” as an employee? Can you explain what you mean?
I don’t think everyone has what it takes to be a founder, I think the three main things you need are: resilience, tenacity and the ability to never give up. But you also need to be a risk taker, not everyone is comfortable with taking risks but as a founder if you don’t take risks you’ll never grow. I don’t think I could have a ‘regular job’ as I think outside the box too much. If somebody tells me to do something a certain way, I can’t help but think of a different way to do it. But just as I think I have what it takes to be a great founder, there are other people out there who make perfect employees, and we need different people and different personalities to get all the jobs done and create amazing teams.
Ok super. Here is the main question of our interview. What are your “5 Things I Wish Someone Told Me Before I Started” and why? (Please share a story or example for each.)
- Sales is the most important thing
Sales is the heartbeat of any business, without sales you don’t have a business and yet a lot of business owners aren’t spending their time cracking the sales in their business. I launched Phonics with Robot Reg in 2016 along with my sister. This was my third business. By this time I felt like I was a seasoned business owner and the thought of setting up another business alongside my others didn’t phase me. My sister was a primary school teacher passionate about teaching phonics and developing the early years, and I was the sales force that was going to drive this business forward. My main goal was to figure out a sales strategy that worked time and time again so I could grow and scale the business, and that’s exactly what we did. Within a year we franchised the business and within three years we had gone from zero to fifty franchisees and we launched as an international brand. People asked us how we had done it, yes we had an amazing product, but even more than that, we had a sales strategy that worked and we rinsed and repeated it and rinsed and repeated and we will continue to do that. If you are not spending 80% of your efforts on your business, why not? Nail your sales strategy and things will get so much easier.
- It’s not how many times you fall down, it’s how quickly you get back up again
Prepare to fail. If you are going to be a business owner, you will fail, it is as simple as that. I don’t know a single business owner who hasn’t failed, and I would argue that if you are not failing, you’re not taking enough risks. I have failed lots, sometimes epically, sometimes on a small scale. I know I will fail again, but what is important for me is how quickly I get back up again.
In December 2019 we got a cease and desist letter from a company which we weren’t aware of trading under the same name as us, we both had the trademark, but they had been trading for longer than us, it didn’t take long for our legal team to realize that we didn’t have a case!
We had to respond to the letter by christmas eve 2019 and I remember just sitting in my car crying, we had 50 franchisees, we were an international brand and we were going to have to change our name and go through a full rebranding process, how were we going to survive this? I was gutted, I felt embarrassed, not only was it going to be a real process to have to tell all our franchisees, it was also going to cost us a lot of money and take a lot of time, shortly after this we had a franchisee take us through legal proceedings and just when we thought things couldn’t get any worse covid hit and we had to take all our in person classes online. There were times when I didn’t know if we would make it through, shutting our classes down after the £20,000 rebrand we had just had was less than ideal, at times we felt like giving up, but we didn’t, we fought through, we kept going, even when we thought we had nothing left to give, and here we are to tell the tale, stronger and more determined than ever before. I never thought I would have the courage to tell these stories, but I have realized in doing so it shows other people that they can get through the tough times too.
- Just do one thing every day to move yourself forward
When I had my little boy it was the most challenging time in the whole of my business journey, I did not see how my business and my baby could co-exist. When I spent time with one I felt guilty about not being with the other, and vice versa. I had a huge vision and big goals as to where I wanted to get to, but I felt like this baby was stopping me from getting there, and that’s when I came up with this idea of just doing one thing every day to move my business forward. Sometimes I might only get half an hour to think or work on my business, but I knew that each day I could just do one thing to move it forward, and if I did that then in a year’s time I would be 365 steps ahead of where I was. Sometimes the bigger vision can seem overwhelming and get the better of us, but if we break it down into smaller more manageable chunks it seems much easier. I wrote my first ever book this year and this is a great example, at first I felt so overwhelmed. How could I possibly write a book, where would I start? That overwhelmed me, but writing one chapter I could do, making a plan for a book, coming up with ten chapter headings, I broke it down and it became a lot easier and before you knew it, I had written an amazon bestseller!
- Goals will change your life
At the end of 2018, I went to a goal setting workshop that changed my life. I had no idea at the time how life changing this would be for me. Since 1st January 2019, I have been writing ten goals down that I am working towards every single day, and then I write one main goal that I am focusing on out of that list again. This process has focused my mind on one goal at a time. The first goal that I achieved was learning how to run, I am not sporty, I never have been, I’m just not that sort of girl! However, when I started goal setting in 2019 if I was going to see if this was going to work or not I needed to start with a goal that was impossible, and so running was that goal.
On 1st January 2019 I went on my first ever run, I came back after two and a half minutes and I was a hot sweaty mess and on the 2nd January same thing. When I came back from my two and a half minute run on the third of January, my husband, who is an ex professional ice hockey player said to me ‘do you really think this is for you Charlie?’ Yet, I was determined, it was my goal, and at the end of 7 days something magical happened, I went out on my run and after 2 and a half minutes I was no longer a hot sweaty mess. That morning I managed to run for five minutes! I couldn’t believe it, I had doubled my time in just a week! Imagine what could happen in a month, 3 months, six months, a year?
I stuck with it and after 6 weeks I could run 5k and I joined the parkrun and did my first group run, I then signed up to a 10k and after I had just been running for 9 months I did my first half marathon, and then in 2021 I ran The London Marathon which is probably my biggest achievement yet, I went from not owning a pair of trainers to running The London Marathon. Goal setting has seen me achieve a whole host of goals that I truly believe I wouldn’t have achieved if it wasn’t for this goal setting technique I use. I have; written a book, launched a podcast, built a side hustle to multi six figures, learnt to juggle, flown on a private jet, launched products, learnt to run, flown business class, sold 50 franchises, earnt £10k in 10 days. I have become an international speaker, gone on more holidays than I could have dreamed of, set up a new business. Set goals, write them down every single day, and watch them happen.
- ‘If you think you can or you think you can’t, either way you’re right’
Your attitude is everything, if you think you can make your business a success you will, and if you don’t you won’t, it’s as simple as that. Get behind your product or service with unwavering faith as the more you believe in what you’re selling, the more you’ll be able to sell it. We are a product of the five people we spend our time with, so make sure you are also surrounding yourself with people who believe that you can do, people who are cheering you on from the sidelines, who lift you up and give you strength when you need it, this is not an easy ride. Also check in with your thoughts on a daily basis as we are the most common thoughts that we have on a daily basis, so swap ‘can I do this?’ ‘have I got what it takes?’ for ‘My business is amazingly successful’ ‘I am a magnet for sales’ or whatever you want to become. What we tell ourselves becomes our reality, so lets fill our mind with positive thoughts.
How have you used your success to make the world a better place?
I really hope that I will change the world. I am on a mission to change the face of sales for female business owners, and I won’t stop until I have done just that. I have witnessed so many female founders hide their light under a bushel for fear of showing off or being too much, but as business owners we all need to be shouting about our amazing businesses from the rooftops, be too much, dare to be different and sell the right way. We don’t need to be pushy or sleazy or any of those negative things people talk about when it comes to sales, but we do need to be showing up, speaking up and rising up to the challenge of fearless selling.
I continue to speak up about my journey, the good, the bad and the ugly and how we can all do anything we want. I have used my platform to encourage young females into entrepreneurship and will continue to do so.
I want to show anyone that anything is possible, if I can do it, then so can you.
I have also used my profile to raise thousands of pounds for charity including over £4,000 for Mcmillan when I ran The London Marathon in 2021 and as a team £52,000 when I ran The London Parks Half Marathon for Great Ormond Street Hospital in 2019.
You are a person of great influence. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good for the greatest number of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger.
If you look at the skills you need to be a great salesperson, they are great listener, great problem solver and great at building relationships, and if we look at it on face value women have these skills available to them, so if we just have the confidence to step up as the sales people we know we can be, we could become the leaders in sales. That is the change I would like to see in the world, women leading the sales force across the globe!
We are very blessed that some very prominent names in Business, VC funding, Sports, and Entertainment read this column. Is there a person in the world, or in the US with whom you would love to have a private breakfast or lunch with, and why? He or she might just see this if we tag them.
I would love to have a private breakfast or lunch with Sara Blakely, founder of Spanx who has always been a huge inspiration to me.
Thank you for these fantastic insights. We greatly appreciate the time you spent on this.
Female Founders: Charlie Day On The Five Things You Need To Thrive and Succeed as a Woman Founder was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.