How I built £1m business without any qualifications

FOR many teenagers, A-Level results day is the most important moment of their life so far.

Thousands of school leavers will be seen across the news channels jumping for joy as they recite their impressive grades for the camera.

But what about students whose grades aren’t what they hoped?

For mum-of-one Chantelle Thompson, wife of former Rochdale AFC player Joe Thompson, things have worked out pretty well for someone who doesn’t have any formal qualifications.

The 32-year-old beauty entrepreneur has built a million-pound business empire through hard work and determination despite leaving school without a single GCSE or A-Level to her name.

“People ask me what drives me, but it’s just something inside of me, I can’t imagine not doing what I do,” Chantelle said.

“If I wanted to be a stay at home mum, I know within a week I’d have a new business model and I’d be off again. It’s not from a materialistic point of view, it’s more wanting to make a success of everything I do.”

Leaving school at 16 without any academic credentials, Chantelle trained to be a hairdresser, and started up her first business just a year later.

Chantelle, who is from Yorkshire, then moved to Manchester aged 21 to set up Russian Lengths, her second business.

She said: “I set up my own business and started to do a lot of hair extensions. I saw there was a gap in the market and when I moved to Manchester I set up another business importing luxury hair extensions.”

But that wasn’t enough for the entrepreneur, who also launched a beauty salon business called Perriee Spa, in Prestwich.

Five years ago Chantelle saw a gap in the market for non-surgical treatments to answer the trend among women for Kim Kardashian-inspired curves.

After discovering that equipment cost around £50,000, Chantelle’s aim was to develop her own machine at a more affordable price along with a fully-costed business plan to offer other salons wanting to offer the treatment.

The technology is a combination of LED light therapy, radio frequency, cavitation and vacuum suction.

Chantelle sold Perriee Spa last year to concentrate on the booming Brazilian Booty Lift business - but is already developing new ideas for her empire along the way, including a vegan food delivery service co-created with Joe.

Joe, now 30 and two years in remission from Hodgkin’s Lymphoma, retired from professional football in February this year.