Ruth Hall [née Badger], co-founder and managing director of Everything Tech, founder of The Ruth Badger Consultancy and member of The Leaders Council, recently featured in The Successful Founder magazine in recognition of her achievements in business.
Featured as part of the magazine’s Inspirational Female Founder Spotlight, which seeks to raise awareness of the achievements of women in the corporate world, Hall told of how she was driven by a desire to be successful from a very early age and that this translated into her earliest career successes.
Hall said: “From being a very young age, I’d always known what I wanted to be – rich! That’s because, while I grew up in a very loving family with both my parents working, we never had any money.
“After leaving full time education aged 16 and with just three GCSE’s, I joined a Youth Training Scheme within the Civil Service. During the early years of my career, I worked in various different roles to build up my experience including at Yates, Wolves Football Club and finance firm Purple Loans. However, my big break came when Purple Loans was bought by GE Capital. Within 18 months, I’d been promoted four times!”
From 2002 onwards, Hall explained that her career then truly began to take flight after securing the European Employee of the Year accolade for GE Capital.
“In 2002, when I was 23 years old, I won the European Employee of the Year for GE Capital which really sparked my ambitions to do better and be the best I can be. That saw me leave GE Capital to join the executive board of a northwest finance company, Compass Finance. A year later, aged 24, I was appointed to Head of Sales and Operations and within two years, I’d transformed the company’s performance and turnover, increasing it from £3.1 million to £13.1 million which led to the flotation of the business in 2004. It was at this point I decided I needed a change.”
That change came in the form on an appearance on the second series of BBC One hit show, The Apprentice, which saw Hall finish runner-up.
“In 2005, I appeared on BBC’s hit show The Apprentice, and quite honestly, it was one of the best experiences of my life – it grounded me and put my feet firmly on the floor. And in 2007, I fronted my own series ‘Badger or Bust’.”
It was from that stage that Hall felt compelled to launch the first of her own ventures, which came in the shape of The Ruth Badger Consultancy, which was established to help SMEs start their lifespan, expand and improve in efficiency.
Hall explained: “In 2006, I launched The Ruth Badger Consultancy which specialises in helping SMEs start, grow and improve; this has seen me help over 350 small businesses launch and over 200 to grow. The main element of my business now is in creating and delivering commercial strategies forming internal leadership teams to generate sustainable growth. It was while delivering my first projects I understood the importance of IT and that’s how I met Lee Wrall and in 2010, we co-founded Everything Tech, a Managed Services Provider that we have grown from a back bedroom to being on track for £5 million turnover in 2022.
“My career to date has always been about stepping stones – being a ‘doer’ and working hard to get where I wanted to be. I never ‘accepted my lot’ or thought, ‘this is all I can do’; I’ve done lots of different things which has taught me lots of different lessons, and I think people underrate that. Life and work experience is a key factor in success in my opinion.
“In short, I’m walking proof that a positive attitude can get you where you want to be in business and in life.”
Offering her advice to hopeful entrepreneurs and sharing some of the secrets behind her success, Hall simply said that one of the best things hopeful businesspeople can do to start their journey is simply “get on with it” and embrace the task at hand.
“Having met and worked with many people, I’ve found I meet more people who talk about starting a business than actually do it. My advice is to get on with it. People who make mistakes are people who take risks and learn lessons. One of my mottos is ‘nothing worth doing is ever easy’ but it wouldn’t be as much fun if it was!
“Profitability is vital. Spend less than you earn, leave the branded mugs and flashy cars behind until you have money and with hard work, success will come.”
This article contains extracts from Ruth Hall’s interview with The Successful Founder magazine. The full featured interview can be found here.
Photo by Gabrielle Henderson on Unsplash
