7 March 2021|Latest Posts, Meet the Successful Founder
Louise Dell, 54, is Co-Founder of Kyero.com, the leading online platform for UK buyers looking to buy European overseas property. Louise started up Kyero in 2003, together with her husband Martin, operating from the spare room of their Spanish townhouse with an initial investment of just £5,000. Through ‘grit and determination’ Kyero has now grown into a market-leader, turning over £3 million a year. The business is still owned and overseen by the Founders, and its international team of 30 is fully remote.
What would you love to share to encourage other women to start their own business?
I think one of the key pieces of advice I would give other women is to have the confidence to go for it, and stay true to the reasons that prompted you to make the change in the first place. I spent many years working in corporate roles in London, commuting for many hours a week in suits on sweltering tube trains and it just wasn’t how I wanted to spend my life. My experience made me acutely aware of how I wanted to do things differently with my own company, and eighteen years after we started, that sense of purpose and wanting to help others escape the rat race is still at the core of what we’re about as a business.
What are your 5 top tips for entrepreneurial success?
Find your tribe – working with inspirational and like-minded people has been key in my own entrepreneurial journey and I wouldn’t be where I am today without them. When you build the right team around you, anything is possible.
Trust – at Kyero we’ve always operated with a fully remote team, and without trust our business model just wouldn’t work. Many of our team are overseas so we have to trust people to get on with what they do. I’ve found that far more often than not people want to do a great job, and left to get on with it, they do just that.
Make technology work for you – there is a lot of great tech out there to support new more flexible ways of working, whether you want to better join up a remote team with tools like Trello or Slack, or find different ways of networking / sharing ideas with apps like Clubhouse.
Don’t confuse compromise & confidence – there’s no denying that compromise is critical in all aspects of life, including business, but don’t confuse compromise with the fact that there will be key fundamental principles that are simply non-negotiable to you. Have the confidence to stick to those principles.
Purpose – Having your own clear sense of purpose and supporting others to find and work towards their own is hugely powerful, and I believe can make a critical difference in holding onto great people in a business. Let’s face it, work is not the be all and end all in life (and nor should it be), so understanding what truly drives and motivates people is really important.
Who are the 5 women who inspire you the most?
Michelle Obama
Dame Stephanie Shirley
Edith Eger
Our MD Gemma Coles
Any working mum juggling family, home-schooling and work
What is your favourite saying/inspirational quote?
Steve Jobs:
“You can’t connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backward. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future.”
Website & Socials
LinkedIn – here
IG – @kyero_property
Facebook – here
Twitter – @kyero
