Show Summary
Today Mike Michalowicz, Chris Curran and Kristina Bolduc visit with Nikki Begg from Bermuda who is building two companies (Bermuda Bride, Petals). She ran a profit first analysis of Petals and finds that she is bleeding money – and now is at the precipice of a decision… does she sell the business, tank the business, or do something else? In this episode we discover there is yet ANOTHER option that Nikki didn’t think about. Mike Michalowicz walks her through an implementation of Profit First and facing the hard decisions you need to make when you run multiple businesses. Welcome to Episode 78 of the Profit First Podcast!
Our Guest
Although Nikki spent her childhood in Bermuda, much of her life was spent in Europe attending a variety of schools and trying to escape the school system. It was only through the belief and determination of her teachers did she even finish.
Her year at a French finishing school passed far too quickly and, upon graduation, her father encouraged her to consider entering the work force. Nikki started working in London as make-up artist and thrived on the travel it offered. She was thoroughly enjoying her bohemian lifestyle when her father intervened once more. What Nikki heard was the lure of Bermuda’s sparkling seas and chilled Pina Colada’s. What was actually on offer was an Executive Secretarial Course.
Tired of the London winters, Nikki returned to Bermuda in 1981 and spent two years typing and practicing her shorthand while still trying to figure out what she wanted to do when she grew up. She married instead and from that marriage, has an amazing 30 year old son, Alex, who, following his mother’s strict instructions to do something he was passionate about, became a photographer.
From being an a buyer for Louis Vuitton, to selling timeshares, house model to an executive secretary, her original career path was far from illustrious. In fact her resume has often been referred to as a ‘Random Walk Though Wall Street” … although not nearly as profitable.
It was not until she married again in 1997, with the encouragement of her husband, she started her first business: With big plans in mind but only a small budget, she began Bermuda Bride in late 1999 and her floral company ‘Petals’ in 2001.
Nikki has since started Bermuda Travel and sold it several years later finding if far more attractive to be doing the travelling rather than arranging it.
In early 2002 Kristi Grayston encourage Nikki to enter a competition being offered by The Leading Women Entrepreneurs of the World; she wanted someone to enter who was worthy enough to run against and would not take no for an answer. And win Kristi did. Nikki received the Runner Up although, being so competitive, she did give Kristi a run for the Grand Prize.
Since then, Bermuda Bride has gone on to be the leading wedding planner on the island specializing in high end weddings and planning more than 100 weddings a year. In 2010, Nikki was recognized by Destination Wedding and Honeymoon Magazine as one of the top 25 wedding planners in the world. In 2013, Nikki re-branded Petals which has evolved from staff working out a garage to a Parisian styled floral shop on Queen Street and is famous for its distinctive “field to table” style.
Show Links
Bermuda Bride Website: http://www.bermudabride.com
Bermuda Bride on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/bermudabride
Bermuda Bride on Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/bermuda.bride
Petals Website: http://www.petalsbermuda.com/
Petals on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/petalsbermuda
Petals on Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/petals.bermuda
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Mike Michalowicz will be speaking at Scaling New Heights 2016 ( #SNH16 ) at the BEAUTIFUL Atlantis on Paradise Island in the Bahamas!
May 22-25, 3016
For more information on this conference and to register, click here!
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Fundbox – The simplest and fastest way to fix your cash flow by advancing payments for your outstanding invoices.
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