INTERNATIONAL WOMEN’S DAY 2020 SERIES:
MY INSPIRATIONS – DAY 2

March 8th 2020 is International Women’s Day and by way of celebration I decided to publish an article a day from March 2nd – 8th on some of the women who inspire me the most. Day 2 looks at entrepreneur Ann Wilson. See the full list of inspiring women here.

Ann Wilson: Author and entrepreneur

Ann Wilson is a best-selling author of The Wealth Chef, Wealth Expert on the hit Channel 4 TV series “Save Well – Spend Better”, trainer, speaker, entrepreneur and financial empowerment activist. 

She helps people master this vital life ingredient called money and use it to create freedom of choice so they can live the life they really want. 

Ann’s first career was as a civil engineer during which she worked all over the world on mega transport infrastructure projects. Projects included Hong Kong’s West rail programme, the Panama Canal widening, being Head of Asset Management on the London Underground’s multi-billion-pound upgrade programme and GM Commercial on South Africa’s biggest infrastructure roll out programme. 

Ann achieved all she wanted to in the engineering world and had created her own financial freedom by learning how to invest and create assets so she decided to leave the infrastructure world.

Instead Ann focused on helping thousands break free from debt, financial restriction and anxiety. She began teaching people how to manage money better and learn how to create real wealth generating assets.

In the process she became a bestselling author, TV star, an internationally renowned speaker and created a million US$ online training business through which she is also helping other speakers and thought leaders master the digital world to get their voice out into the world.

Contribution is very important to Ann. 100% of the royalties from her best-selling Hay House published book, The Wealth Chef, are donated to The Small Enterprise Foundation – a foundation dedicated to eradicating poverty by empowering women through micro loans combined with financial literacy. 

10% of the profit from her training programmes goes to Caring4Girls an organization providing sanitary pads to girls in poor communities so they can attend school.

She has been featured in The Sunday Times, The Sunday Express, Psychologies, Glamour, Cosmopolitan, Woman’s Health, The Huffington Post among others and is regularly interviewed on radio and TV around the world.

Read on for my interview with Ann Wilson.

what is your business and what led you start it?

According to a UN study – Women make up over 50% of the workforce, do over 65% of working hours, earn less than 35% of the wage bill and own less than 1% of assets.

That’s a massive problem. Until women become financially literate and learn how to manage money, invest and create a solid sustainable asset base that can and will earn for them, they will never be free or able to contribute to this world like we should be. To find out about the ways in which I help people visit thewealthchef.com.

Who has been your biggest inspiration in growing your business? 

The women I get to serve who have the courage to admit they don’t know about money or investing and are prepared to learn and do something to change their story. 

What’s your number 1 tip for anyone struggling to overcome overwhelmand keep going? 

Momentum creates success. Do something, anything and get out there. Stop fiddling with irrelevant things like logos and websites. Trying to create the perfect product will kill your business, create paralysis and self doubt. Stop making your business about you – focus on your customers, deliver massive value, get feedback (from the results) and keep going.

What’s been your favourite miststake and what did you learn? 

I make mistakes endlessly but I don’t call them mistakes – I call them experiments – everything I do in business is an experiment, then I get the data on how its “worked” and adjust from there.

If you were to start your business again today, what would you do differently?

I wouldn’t do much differently as I love the digital model I choose to work in. What I would do is get over myself faster. I would keep a strong focus on WHY I am doing it and do more of the scary things faster. I would focus on one primary product / offering and focus on wowing my clients, through customer centric marketing (listen to what they want) and delivering more than they expect.

What do you love most about having your own business? 

I get reminded about how everything in this world is made up by someone and its a privilege to be one of the ones making stuff up in service of others. It’s also the most wonderful personal empowerment tool – as I can’t be a victim and blame others for what ever is going on in my business or life – I’m the one that makes my life and business the way it is.

Where can people find out more about your business?

www.thewealthchef.com @TheWealthChef on twitter, FB and IG

Huge thanks to Ann! 

If you would like to nominate a female entrepreneur to feature in the Inspiring Women Series please get in touch.