I am Sheila Holt, founder of Sapphire Lending, a financial business that I decided to grow at the age of 60.

A long time ago I recognised that I am both an outlier and a disruptor. This means that the standard career path has never suited me. As a child, I always dreamed of being an entrepreneur, without any understanding of what that meant, despite coming from a family of entrepreneurs. 

My family guided me along the academic route with the aim of entering a secure profession. After quite a few years of trying, and failing, to fit in to a corporate role, I made a break for freedom. I left my job without any idea of what I was going to do next.  

Attending a neuro-linguistic programming course in Hawaii reopened my mind to entrepreneurship.  It gave me a completely different direction and purpose in life. Fascinated by how people mentally programme themselves, I developed a coaching practice to help entrepreneurs achieve clarity, focus and ultimately, success. During this time, I was also investing in property and learned that the property industry needs money to flow.  This was the start of Sapphire Lending.

What inspired you to launch your business, and what is the end goal? 

As a result of the financial crash in 2007 I re-mortgaged some of my portfolio and found myself in the fortunate position of suddenly having a substantial sum of money in my bank account. I loaned a portion of that money to a property developer, who in return paid me monthly interest. The drive to make my capital work hard was the impetus. 

Almost three years later I had a chance meeting with an entrepreneur whom I respect, and we discussed what I was doing. He suggested I could help others earn a good rate of interest with their money. It was at the time when alternative lending was starting to develop and a brand-new financial sector was emerging, which I was becoming part of. What began as a hobby then became a business. From there, the seed of Sapphire Lending was born.

The end goal for my business is to create a legacy; something which is substantial, solves a problem for people and disrupts some of the old traditional ways of finance.

What’s the biggest lesson you’ve learnt so far as an entrepreneur? 

I have learned many lessons during my entrepreneurial journey. One of the biggest lessons is - building a team moves the business forward. Without a capable, dedicated, diverse team working in the business, there is no business. 

Experience brings acceptance of the fact you cannot do everything yourself. There is real value in surrounding yourself with people who are better than you are at some things.  

Once you have a team working in flow, driven by their abilities while utilising individual capabilities, trust will flow. A team like this, based on trust, is one that will create a strong business.

If you could be in a room with 4 entrepreneurs, who would they be and why? 

Firstly, I’d choose Richard Branson because of his sense of fun in business. Oprah Winfrey because of her passionate approach to giving and because she’s ‘THE’ female entrepreneur of all time!

I would also invite Steve Jobs into the room for his ideas and relentless drive for simplicity. Lastly, Jeff Bezos for his amazing vision to create the “everything store” we know as Amazon.

What are your top tips for entrepreneurs wanting to increase brand awareness? 

Form business partnerships and alliances. Alliances can dramatically improve the time it takes to achieve results and increase revenue. Partnerships can be long term, collaborative, value-creating relationships. They will enhance your brand and widen your reach. 

Create lots of content, in a variety of formats to suit everybody (auditory, visual and experiential). People need to be able to find your business in a dozen different places and have enough to read, listen to and participate in for the best part of a day.         

Build assets which allow your business to run independently from you. Having robust assets such as intellectual property, brand, systems and culture guidelines and content which is published on and offline, makes your business attractive and valuable. 

Become a published author. Writing a book will open many doors, positioning you as an authority in your field. 

Pitch your ideas into existence. Always pitch, over and over again and refine your pitch as you go. Make it award winning.

What plans do you have for Sapphire Lending over the next two years? 

Growing the value of the business: That’s the ultimate plan. To do this, we will continue developing assets including evergreen content, methodology and intellectual property which contribute real worth and authority. We’ll also introduce new rhythms, improved systems and establish more partnerships which will help us to scale. 

Continuing to build the Sapphire Lending brand will also be a focus and one of the ways we will do this is through the development of new products. 

As well as my desire to create a legacy, I am also driven by my passion to help stop the neglect, cruelty and extinction of animals across the world. Using my business as a platform to contribute towards this bigger purpose is something which has also contributed to the success of Sapphire Lending and we will continue to drive this.

What is the single most important decision that you made, which contributed to your business? 

Without doubt, bringing in two business partners. Both of them are entrepreneurs, experienced in building, running and selling businesses. They have diverse backgrounds and we work incredibly well together on the business.

We cover the three cornerstones of any business; Trailblazer, Dealmaker and Specialist. We each think and work in different ways and combined, make a well-balanced leadership team. I write about why this combination is a recipe for success in my book “Trust is the New Currency”. 

How do you conquer moments of doubt that so often affect entrepreneurs or stop many with great ideas – what pushes you through? 

Lots of belief and trust in myself. Because of that I have never doubted my decisions. I also ensure I surround myself with the right people; people who have different skills, experience and knowledge to me. Business partners, team members and mentors all compliment what I bring to the table and fill the gaps in my business. 

Having mentors is also key to keeping going.  I learn from them, soak up their experience and integrate it into my business, my way. I like to have three or four mentors whom I can look to, at any time. With different approaches to business, they keep my thinking sharp, on track and current.

Lastly, clarity is a must. Confusion is a great state to be in because what follows confusion is clarity. Confusion occurs when new information is being integrated at an unconscious level. All the existing knowledge must be brought out of the filing cabinets of your mind and refiled while new information is also added. Once this refiling process is complete, clarity is restored.

Gaining clarity is fundamental in my opinion and can be a painful process which takes time.

What is the most important questions entrepreneurs should be asking themselves?  

There are a series of questions they need to ask themselves. 

What problems are people trying to solve for themselves? 

How can the business help with the solution? 

Who do I know who can help, introduce me to others, mentor me or become a business partner? 

When is a good time to launch new products, run a marketing campaign or enhance systems?

Why am I running my business or this project? 

Find the big ‘why’ for your business. A clear purpose will guide you, and then find the smaller specific ‘why’ for each project.

Any new product launches we should know about?  

We have designed a light-hearted, fun, cheeky and yet serious little test that will help you understand which ‘financial animal’ you are. Launching in June, the Sapphire Lending Wealth Test aims to give some insightful, useful ideas about how to approach wealth. It is free and takes between five and

seven minutes to complete. There are 15 multiple choice questions followed by a personalised report on which financial animal each you are and how you can improve wealth habits. 

Secondly we have recently launched a free, downloadable, easy-to-read document offering seven ideas to help you think about your money and growing wealth.  Entitled 7 Fundamentals to Grow Your Wealth, this is available now from our website.

How do you set yourself apart from other businesses in your industry? 

Values. We strive to live and work by our values and share them with everyone.

Simplicity. We make things simple and transparent. There is an ease of working with Sapphire Lending which brings a lightness and brightness to the serious and often over complicated business of finance.

Relationships. We are the finance business with heart. We put relationships at the heart of lending, forming lifetime connections with both lenders and borrowers. 

Purpose. The heart of Sapphire Lending is dedicated to using business as a force for good, giving back to make the world a better place. We do this through being a global partner with B1G1. We are firm believers in the 17 United Nations Sustainable Development Goals and support No 15 Life on Land. We also contribute to specific charities.