{"id":84636,"date":"2023-11-28T12:23:41","date_gmt":"2023-11-28T12:23:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/happylifestyleinc.com\/?p=84636"},"modified":"2023-11-28T12:23:41","modified_gmt":"2023-11-28T12:23:41","slug":"i-quit-school-at-14-and-was-in-a-girls-aloud-tribute-band-now-i-make-300k-helping-people-sleep-with-no-qualifications-the-sun","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/happylifestyleinc.com\/fashion\/i-quit-school-at-14-and-was-in-a-girls-aloud-tribute-band-now-i-make-300k-helping-people-sleep-with-no-qualifications-the-sun\/","title":{"rendered":"I quit school at 14 and was in a Girls Aloud tribute band – now I make \u00a3300k helping people sleep with no qualifications | The Sun"},"content":{"rendered":"
WHEN Lucy Shrimpton dropped out of school at 14, she never could\u2019ve predicted that she\u2019d one day <\/strong>be making \u00a3300k teaching people how to sleep better. <\/p>\n The mum-of-two was pregnant with her second child and seriously sleep deprived when the business idea came to her in a drowsy fog.\u00a0<\/p>\n Having spent many late nights performing in a Girls Aloud tribute band in her 20s, Lucy thought she would be prepared for interrupted shuteye when she became a mum.\u00a0<\/p>\n But the reality was far from her expectations – she was crippled by the lack of rest.\u00a0<\/p>\n Lucy, 42, and her husband Jeff, 50, hired a consultant who gave them tips and advice for getting decent kip while raising children.\u00a0<\/p>\n This is what prompted her six-figure idea – Lucy wanted to set up her own sleep coaching business to help other parents.<\/p>\n Launched in 2014, The Sleep Nanny turns over six figures and has celebrity clients on its roster – including Jamie Oliver\u2019s wife and mum-of-five, Jools Oliver.\u00a0<\/p>\n Thanks to her business, Hampshire-based Lucy can treat her family to regular luxury holidays and even has a new \u00a350k car – a limited-edition orange convertible Range Rover Evoque.\u00a0<\/p>\n The Sleep Nanny teaches parents and families how to get a better rest through 1-on-1 coaching, an app and books.\u00a0<\/p>\n Coaches will stop your children from waking up throughout the night and equip you with the tools to get the most out of your shuteye. <\/p>\n <\/span><\/p>\n <\/span><\/p>\n <\/span><\/p>\n <\/span><\/p>\n It was once a one-man-band, but Lucy now has 12 sleep consultants working under her.<\/p>\n \u201cI firmly believe life is for living, not to be muddled through creating blurred memories,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n \u201cSleep is a superpower and the foundation for everything in life. A good night\u2019s sleep can unlock everything, which is why we must prioritise it.<\/p>\n \u201cSleep is up there with air and water when it comes to survival. It\u2019s essential and we underestimate the power of it.\u201d<\/p>\n Lucy quit school aged 14 in 1995 with no qualifications, opting instead to do her GCSEs and A Levels at an adult education centre.\u00a0<\/p>\n Her first jobs were in the entertainment industry, most notably when she was earning \u00a3250 a gig performing as Sarah Harding in a Girls Aloud tribute band.<\/p>\n In 2004, when Lucy was 23, she met her now husband Jeff, who was working as a nightclub manager. The pair hit it off and were married in 2007 when Lucy was 26.<\/p>\n While pregnant with son Joey in 2010, Lucy arranged stand-ins to perform as Sarah in the tribute band and kept involved in managing performances.\u00a0<\/p>\n But after giving birth, everything changed.<\/p>\n \u201cThe state I was in was mentally really bad,\u201d Lucy recalls. \u201cI was really upset.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cI couldn't recover from the birth, and it reached a point where I just needed to get out of the hospital, so Jeff took me home for a few hours, and I curled up on the bed and cried.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cI felt awful, even worse than when my dad died. I needed rest.\u201d<\/p>\n Lucy spent most days \u201cin a haze\u201d due to sleep deprivation and wasn\u2019t able to function normally. She also found herself easily irritated.<\/p>\n After getting her sleep back on track, she fell pregnant again in 2012 and history repeated itself.\u00a0<\/p>\n Joey, now 12, started waking up in the night while Lucy was trying to tend to daughter Sienna, now ten, as a newborn.\u00a0<\/p>\n At this point, she and Jeff decided they needed to call in professional help.\u00a0<\/p>\n Fortunately, their sleep consultant had Joey sleeping through the night within three days – and Lucy became inspired.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cI became obsessed with everything about sleep and psychology,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n \u201cI went on to learn more and I am glad I did as I have become his sleep expert and kept him on track over the years.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Then at a nursery parents\u2019 evening in November 2013, Lucy spoke to a mother who hadn\u2019t slept properly in two years – Lucy desperately wanted to help.<\/p>\n She\u2019d been contemplating setting up a business in sleep consulting for over a year and she felt compelled to take action, launching in 2013 and rebranded as The Sleep Nanny in 2014.<\/p>\n Lucy completed training courses, programmes, and worked with coaches.\u00a0<\/p>\n She took on two clients a week and began making up to \u00a350k a year in the early days of being a sleep consultant.\u00a0<\/p>\n From incorporating in 2019, the company shot to six figures within the first year with a turnover of \u00a3125k, which then doubled the next year. Lucy now turns over \u00a3300k.<\/p>\n Her work has helped thousands of families around the world over the past decade.<\/p>\n Lucy is also launching a sleep fragrance range and The Sleep App, which teaches parents how to guide their children when it comes to getting decent kip.<\/p>\n She believes there are key factors that parents are getting wrong when it comes to sleep – inconsistency with bedtimes, going to bed too late, believing we don\u2019t need much rest and failing to unwind and relax.\u00a0<\/p>\n She said: \u201cI've lost count of how many families we\u2019ve helped – and when you include those my book has reached too, as well as our resources online, we really have helped many thousands of parents globally.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cWe are non-judgmental and we advocate a loving parenting approach to developing healthy sleep. The outcome is, a happier and healthier family!\u201d<\/p>\n
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