As part of our popular Meet the Successful Founder series we recently caught up with Amy Crumpton to learn about her entrepreneurship journey.
1. Can you tell us a little about your background and the company?
I am a qualified NLP practitioner, business strategist, mindset coach and a self-professed positivity Queen, and the Founder of Social Cactus, a mindset coaching business.
I founded Social Cactus in 2017 in Wakefield, West Yorkshire, and we now have a team of nine, including qualified marketing and PR officers, and certified coaches.
Social Cactus’ business goal and ethos is to help underpaid, overworked and overwhelmed business women have more time, money and freedom.
2. How did the idea come to you for the company?
My background is in PR and Marketing, but having an office job wasn’t fulfilling my expectations so I decided to pack it in and booked a one-way flight with my fiance to go travelling.
When I was in Guatemala I met a woman who was travelling and running a digital marketing agency. She hired me as a social media manager, but seeing how she had set up a business while on the road inspired me to do the same thing. It was after I came out of a healing ceremony in Peru that I decided to set up my own business while I continued to travel. The name Social Cactus was inspired by the cacti used to make the drink for the San Pedro Healing Ceremony.
3. How did you achieve awareness?
With my background in PR and marketing, I already had a really good understanding of how to stand out online which means I built my business quite quickly through social media marketing.
It wasn’t long before I was fully booked and I was able to sign clients through word of mouth referrals.
4. How have you been able to gain funding and grow?
Social Cactus is fully self-funded, the business didn’t cost a lot of money to set up. All I needed was a laptop, wifi and my phone.
Within four years we have grown the business to almost £1m in sales without any funding at all which is something I’m super proud of.
Our business model is super simple which means we don’t have any real business overheads apart from our team – which means that we have a very profitable business and it’s really easy for us to scale.
5. What are the key successes?
When I first started out in 2017, I was charging £150 a month for social media management, working all hours and suffering from burnout. Having changed my offering and invested heavily in the business and myself, we are now hitting over £500,000 in annual sales. I have also been able to help over 250 women through the business, and most recently, we have expanded with the addition of my fiance Chris Fawcett as Head Coach along with two other coaches who have gone through our Magnetic Methods over the past few years which means we can support and serve even more clients.
We are also so pleased to be able to use our powers for good. We are in the process of establishing our very own foundation, The Cactus Foundation. This is a charitable endeavour through which we will support various charities around the world and causes close to our hearts. The first one is the building of an animal shelter for the charity Rescued Paws in Spain.
6. What were/are the challenges and how have you overcome these?
There’s been so many! I’ve found that with a business you are always being challenged and learning as you grow.
One of the biggest challenges we faced in the early days was massively undercharging and overworking which led to massive overwhelm.
This experience made us realise that we needed to take the business seriously and stop treating it like a hobby so I hired a business coach in 2018 which helped us to massively transform the business.
Another big challenge we faced was in March 2020 where we lost almost all of our clients within a week when the pandemic hit. This was from the back of an incredible year in 2019 so it did come as a huge confidence blow.
Within two months, we had created a launch plan for our best-selling online course and celebrated our first £50k sales month. The months following that were out of this world and we ended the year on £333,000 sales for the year which was fantastic for us.
7. What are your plans now/for the future?
Social Cactus already has a number of co-coaches to support us in scaling our time and the amount of clients we can serve and support and we intend on growing the number of coaches we have on the team over the next 6-12 months.
We are also expanding the business by simplifying our model, scaling our current offers and doubling down on our backend marketing funnels so we can impact more people, increase profits and donate more money to the Cactus Foundation.
Chris and I are also planning to move to Marbella in September and truly live the ‘laptop lifestyle’.
8. What would you like to share with others to encourage them to start their own entrepreneurship journey?
I never believed I could be a business owner, I didn’t think it was possible for someone like me (who never went to uni) to start my own company.
Since starting my own business I’ve been able to live life on my terms, making a huge impact by supporting other women in growing their own business, I’ve been able to make more money than I ever thought possible and feel happier than I’ve ever felt in my life.
There’s opportunities everywhere and you are 100% good enough to start your own business, get paid amazingly well for what you do and feel fulfilled that you’re doing something you love and you’re able to work on your terms.
We’re conditioned to believe that starting a business is only for the lucky few but I’m here to tell you that you absolutely CAN be the owner of your own business if you have the drive and desire to give it a go.
9. Can you share your top 5-10 tips for entrepreneurial success?
Mindset work is the first thing to master when it comes to running a business, if you have the belief that you can make it, you will take the action to make it happen. Success is 80% mindset and only 20% strategy
Having a coach or mentor to support you is so valuable, you will save so much time and see results so much faster with support and accountability from someone who has been there or can see where you may be holding back.
Don’t be afraid to take risks and step out of your comfort zone – there’s no such thing as failing in business – only learning – so if you try something and it doesn’t work, no worries! You just know how not to do it next time.
Boundaries are mega important. Make sure you plan days off/holidays and plenty of breaks. You are not your business and you do not have to burn yourself into the ground building your empire.
Have fun! This gets to be fun – you’re the boss, remember. Make sure you treat yourself when you hit your goals and celebrate every success…. Even the little things.
10. Who are the 5 people who inspire you the most?
Tony Robbins: This guy has helped millions of people transform their lives. I first came across Tony Robbins online and fell in love with his style of teaching.
Chris and I booked to attend our first Unleash The Power Within Even in 2019 and it was truly life changing! We’ve been huge fans ever since.
Jen Sincero: I love Jen’s books, they are so easy to digest and really help you to transform your beliefs, especially around money. I really admire the way she is 100% authentic and has built a massive empire even though she has been through her own challenges.
Rhonda Byrne: The first personal development I ever read was The secret, all about the law of attraction. This book helped me turn my negative mindset into a positive one and this massively changed my life.
Taylor Swift: love Taylor Swift and how she stands up for what she believes in. She uses her authority to talk about important matters and I really respect her as an artist.
11. What are your favourite inspirational /motivational quotes?
Whether you think you can or you can’t… you’re right.
12. What are your social handles and website links so our readers can connect with you?
https://www.instagram.com/socialcactuscoaching/
https://www.facebook.com/SocialCactusCoaching
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