A Liverpool woman who left school at the age of 15 with no qualifications has turned her life around and created a successful beauty empire in the heart of the city.
Jody Riley says she is on track with her beauty booking app PamperBook, which enables customers to book appointments with hundreds of salons and freelancers, to go nationwide.
Comparisons have been made between Ms Riley, who is from Aintree, and Lord Alan Sugar, who also left school with no GCSEs.
Within the first week of the official launch, PamperBook had tripled its monthly targets and now represents more than 400 beauty salons and freelancers across the 海角视频.
Speaking about the app's success, Ms Riley, 31, said: "I can't believe just how well it is doing. I had confidence that it was a great product and that it was meeting a much-needed demand, but to beat our targets by so much and so soon was unbelievable. The app has blown up.
"We’ve already got more than 1,000 customers using the app and around 400 plus businesses signed up – and they are growing by the day - I am overwhelmed at the success. It has taken a lot of hard work but it is all becoming to worth it”.
Ms Riley said she had overcome struggles at school and "finding the confidence to believe in herself".
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She explained: “15 years ago, I’d left school with nothing and my confidence was at rock bottom, but I always knew I would do something in business.
"It’s taken a lot of hard work to get where I am now due to a rocky start with my education, but I’m there – and I’m determined to make it more successful that ever.
"I also aim to inspire women who share a similar story to mine, to not give up. Education is extremely important, yes, but if you do not excel at academics, it is not the be all and end all of your life”.
Ms Riley said she has always had a strong work ethic, and dreamed of owning her own beauty business from a young age.
From the age of nine, she helped out every Saturday at her local charity car boot sale and worked in a café. At, 11 she worked for her next-door neighbour delivering papers for £15 a week, and started doing a car boot sale every Saturday.
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But when it came to school that was a different matter, she said.
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She explained that she was not a "naughty" pupil - but she could never get on with her teachers and admits she wasn’t willing to learn or be told what to do.
“Along with some other students I got put on an early-leave study course and was unfortunately expelled at the end of Year 10. I wasn’t invited to go to the school prom and I left with no GCSES which was disheartening."
She got pregnant aged 22, and said it was then that she began to focus her efforts on starting her own business to support herself and her young son, adding: “I went on courses to learn how to do nails, make-up, spray tans and beauty, and I offered treatments as a mobile therapist while I was pregnant and after he was born.
"My son inspired me to work even harder and not let my talents go to waste. I think more than anything I suffered with low confidence whilst at school and it took me a little longer to figure out what I wanted to do and who I wanted to be”.
Ms Riley came up with the idea of a beauty listings service while on holiday in the Lake District and trying – and failing - to find someone or somewhere to get a blow dry.
She set up Just Bella website, which detailed hair and beauty therapists across the 海角视频 - but has spent the last two years building and trialling the PamperBook app.
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It allows customers to book appointments for services such as hair, make-up and beauty treatments.
She explained: “It means someone can find someone who offers the treatment they want and book it in 30 seconds. It also saves them time phoning around or messaging on Facebook or Instagram, and it saves the salon or individual time, and allows them to build a bigger client base more easily.
“We look after our businesses too, offering support, an awards scheme and networking events – we are real supporters of our clients and our aim is to help them as much as we can."
Ms Riley, who is pregnant with her second child, wants to turn over her first million within the next year.
She added: “I have worked so hard on PamperBook and to see the empire I am building is fantastic – and a relief that finally my hard work is paying off."