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Dyslexic Bedfordshire 7 Figure Business Owner Beats BBC Dragon Steven Bartlett in the Book Charts

Yesterday, dyslexic entrepreneurial mum of two, Katie Godfrey, 35, from Bedfordshire, who has transformed her life from £50,000 of debt to now growing a global beauty empire celebrated having made one of her childhood dreams come true as she became a best selling author, whilst accelerating her mission of reaching 1 million women in business, to help them start, grow and scale a business.‘Get off the Tools’ stormed the Amazon charts, to become a No.1 in 5 categories, climbing above Entrepreneur, Speaker, Investor, Author, BBC Dragon, and the host of one of Europe's biggest podcasts… Steven Bartlett as she hit No.1 in the Sales and Marketing category. 

Katie knocked world renowned marketer Alex Hormozi off the top spot to be No.1 in Sales and Marketing and she also sat at No.1 in Management & Leadership above infamous Mel Robbin’s ‘Let Them’ - a book which has dominated the media in recent months.

She also hit No.1 in Beauty and Fashion, overtaking Liz Earle, an industry leader who’s inspired Katie throughout her career and helped shape her own path. These celebrations came as Katie also marked the salon’s 16th year anniversary on book launch day.

Katie, who started in business at the age of 19 with no business knowledge or or qualifications, as a result of wanting to take control of her career after having worked as a model since she was 13, feels this is a full circle moment, as a huge part of what helped her grow and upskill was reading books. She self taught herself how to run a profitable business, as a single mum running multiple companies and travelling the world. Spending the last year documenting what she’s learnt, and now teaches in her coaching, Katie, who has a podcast and social media audience of over 60,000 people, has been asked many times to write a book but being dyslexic she feared the process. Now seeing this book ride high in the charts means a lot to her.

“I didn’t have any money to invest at the start, “ she said. “ I was £50K in debt - reading books was how I learnt. My book collates everything I’ve now learnt over the 16 years of being in business, and it’s focused on one of my biggest passions - how to create freedom whilst still building for growth. I travel the world with my young family and work hours that suit me - , all while my multiple companies are still running. I want to teach more women how to do the same and I’m excited to reach so many more people via this book”.

“I left school at 13 years old after being bullied and with no qualifications. I want to show girls out there that they can be/do anything they wish even when people are telling them they can’t. I want women to build businesses on their terms so they can have their families and be a mum and a business women”

Get off the Tools’: The Blueprint to Level up Your Business and Create Freedom is available now via https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0F1Y8Y48M

With the book Katie wants others to be able to enter the market, ‘with a good grounding’, and is keen to highlight that young women can achieve incredible things, even starting with nothing. Describing herself as ‘green’ and ‘in awe’ when she first stepped into the space, Katie’s mission now is to help people step out their businesses, turn them into real CEOs, get them to not be so emotionally attached to their businesses and grow it on their terms rather than them being trapped in the business, working on their mindset, marketing and business strategy.  

She said: “I learnt from the experts when I started out, but when there was no-one like me teaching this stuff.  I still have my salon after selling my chain that I built up then sold and I have my product range and training academy so I'm still in my clients shoes too.”

“Most people fail in business because they are great at the service and treatment they provide but they don’t understand business and marketing. Most people have just created another job for themselves rather than a business.” 

Katie’s book covers the ‘What If’s’ that many salon owners dream of, then shows them how to make this their reality, sharing her proven techniques, and her own personal experiences learnt from many years of trial, error and refining her marketing, sales and business strategies to grow her business beyond what she ever thought possible.

“Get off the Tools” is to help business owners in beauty, hair, or aesthetics businesses to ‘step off the tools’ and away from the everyday tasks, to instead grow their business alongside a trusted team, in a way that attracts ideal clients, and moves the dial from working all hours to pay the bills, to working smarter to build a trusted brand with recurring revenue.

One of the main focus areas in the book is around how to grow a business whilst still maintaining some work life balance.

“The question I probably get asked the most is how to do it all without burning out. You don’t want to work so much that you forget you have a life outside of your business. After all, what’s the point of running a business if you can’t enjoy your life at the same time?

Here Katie shares her top 5 tips on how to do it all without burning out:-

Let’s get real - Face facts that sometimes your business will need to come first - Whether you’re in the middle of launching a new product line, opening a new location, or just navigating the day-to-day challenges of running a business, there will be periods when work takes over. And that’s okay. It is part of the journey. During these times, give yourself permission to focus on your business without feeling guilty. Communicate with your loved ones. Let them know what’s happening and why you need to focus on the business right now. This transparency helps manage their expectations.

During those periods of intense work, you should set clear short-term goals. Break down what needs to be done into manageable tasks and prioritise them based on urgency and impact. This helps prevent that overwhelming feeling of having too much on your plate and ensures you do what will move the needle the most.

Get out of the perfectionism trap and get time back. While it’s important to deliver high-quality work, it’s also crucial to see when good is good enough. Perfectionism can be a serious time waster. And we in our industry are known to be perfectionists. Whether it’s obsessing over the details of a client’s haircut, spending hours tweaking your website, or rewriting an email draft five times, the pursuit of perfection can eat up valuable time that could be better spent elsewhere.

Also know there will also be times when you need to step back and let life take centre stage. Maybe you need to take that long-overdue holiday, spend quality time with your family, or simply give yourself a break after a particularly intense period at work. These moments are just as important as the hustle, and they’re essential for maintaining your energy, creativity and passion for your business.

Find your Rhythm - Instead of seeking the perfect balance, I encourage you to find your rhythm, a way of managing your time that flows with the demands of your business and life. This rhythm will look different for everyone, and it evolves as your circumstances change. Ask yourself what your own rhythm means to you. It might mean being home for dinner with the family every night or doing the school runs. It could be taking a day off each week to recharge. Whatever it is, make sure it aligns with your values and priorities.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Chocolate PR .