When Milly was at Bradfield the Careers department set up similar lectures and she remembers attending the talks that she thought were relevant. In hindsight however she wishes that she had gone to everything;
Seeing it from the perspective of running my own business, you can never know too much. Even if you only learn one thing, that could be valuable later.
ENTREPRENEURIAL SPIRIT
Milly set up her company from her J House bedsit at Bradfield. Recognising that her parents were amazingly generous in paying for her education and prepared to cover the fundamentals, she knew that if she wanted more she would have to pay for it herself. This was great motivation and created a drive for her to be alert to enterprising opportunities.
Identifying that most people would appreciate an extra pair of hands when entertaining to serve drinks and prepare canapés, she would encourage a few girls to join her, add a small margin onto the amount that she paid them, and through her enterprise she was gainfully employed during her school holidays and making a profit.
Her business went on the backburner through university and having secured a good degree Milly took up a role in Financial PR. Whilst working she attended evening courses, including an ‘Art as an Alternative Investment’ course. It soon transpired that one of her Private Equity clients had just acquired an art gallery in Belgravia and suggested that she go and work for him in this emergent field.
She worked in a small team and headed up the PR/Sales/ Events side of the business. Having started off using external caterers she quickly saw that she could improve upon the service provided and started to manage the events fully in-house. The experience showed Milly that she had what it took to run a professional events company and so when the gallery was sold, she used her small redundancy package to relaunch her catering company as ‘Clean Slate Catering’ in 2012.
Having succeeded in squeezing all major life events, getting married, having children, moving house a few times and starting a business, into the same period, things were ticking along and then, LOCKDOWN. Some were paralysed, but not Milly. With access to customers, suppliers and a supply chain, she knew what to do.
I had this real calling, I knew that I had to help, so I stayed up until it was done.
Within 48 hours of the lockdown being announced Milly had launched ‘The Rural Supply’ an e-commerce business selling fresh, high-quality produce to her local community. Seizing this opportunity was however 100% worth it; when handing out the boxes of produce to customers she was able to strike up conversations, meet new people and build new relationships;
I’m not someone to rest on my laurels. When something gets in my way, I push through it and find an alternative. Life is a journey; the key is learning to spot the opportunities.
