A business coach who grew up on a council estate and was bullied for being poor has revealed how she went from being £30,000 in debt to a multi-millionaire.
Lisa Johnson, 43, from Hertfordshire, has more than 30,000 followers on Instagram and now only works 30 hours a month after making £3million in sales this year.
But it hasn’t always been smooth sailing for Lisa, who was mercilessly bullied throughout her teenage years after winning a scholarship to a local all-girls independent school when she was 11-years-old.
While the other pupils were being picked up from school in their parents’ Bentleys, Lisa would drive away on the back of her father’s motorbike, use free lunch tickets and wear a second-hand uniform.
Speaking to Metro, Lisa said she would avoid meal times so she wouldn’t be teased and was never invited to parties and eventually begged to change schools, but admitted her moving actually made the bullying worse.
Sadly, Lisa was also bullied by her work colleagues in her first job, before setting up a successful business, paying off her debts, and proving to her bullies that ‘she was worthwhile’.
Lisa Johnson (pictured), 43, from Hertfordshire, has more than 30,000 followers on Instagram and now only works 30 hours a month after making £3million in sales this year
But it hasn’t always been smooth sailing for Lisa (pictured), who was mercilessly bullied throughout her teenage years after winning a scholarship to a local all-girls independent school when she was 11-years-old
Lisa, who now runs her own coaching company, moved to a state school after being teased for being poor at her first school.
But Lisa claimed she was seen as a ‘posh’ girl because of her former scholarship placement and physically bullied by her classmates.
Unfortunately, because she didn’t want to be at school, Lisa didn’t fulfil her potential in exams.
But Lisa’s torment didn’t stop there, with the mother-of-two eventually sacked from her first job because her boss said he could see how badly she was being bullied and couldn’t fire his whole team.
Returning to the bedsit where she’d been living, Lisa, who was 21 and divorced with mounting debts, was distraught – but eventually decided to prove her bullies wrong.
While the other pupils were being picked up from school in their parents’ Bentleys, Lisa (pictured) would drive away on the back of her father’s motorbike, use free lunch tickets and wear a second-hand uniform
She started studying for a law degree while working full-time as an admin assistant. Four years later, she graduated with a 2:1 and had become a risk analyst after working her way up the investment banking ladder.
But while at this job, Lisa fell pregnant with her twins and soon wanted to work closer to home to spend more time with them.
After working as a PA again, Lisa set up her own wedding planning business – but admitted that she ‘made all the mistakes’ in her first year because she had no idea what she was doing.
‘But I learned so much from them,’ Lisa recalled. ‘We worked out at the end of the first year that I had made no money despite all of the work because of marketing costs and I was £30k in debt.’
Speaking to Metro, Lisa (pictured) said she would avoid meal times so she wouldn’t be teased and was never invited to parties and eventually begged to change schools, but admitted her moving actually made the bullying worse
The mother-of-two then learnt everything she could about business and within five months her company was profitable.
Thanks to her success, Lisa was soon inundated with queries from other entrepreneurs – which helped her realise she wanted to help others grow their businesses.
‘I gave the wedding business away and opened up my coaching business,’ Lisa said. ‘This time I knew how to run a business. Within the first six months I’d made £100k in profit, £220k in the first year and over a million by the end of year two.’
Now at the end of year three, and Lisa said she’s brought in £3million in sales this year.
Before the pandemic, Lisa was able to work from anywhere in the world and spent a lot of time travelling to luxury resorts with her family.