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THE ONLY WAY IS SUCCESS
I was chucked out of school at 15 with no GCSE’s now I run a six-figure business & I help anyone get rich
Melissa says she doesn't regret her troubled teen years
MELISSA Lewis is the first to admit she was a ‘nightmare’ in school.
Expelled at 15, Melissa was convinced that she wouldn’t amount to anything.
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But, now 33, she runs her own successful property business and even helps other people become millionaires.
Melissa, from Essex, started smoking at 12 and was bunking off school soon after and by the age of 15 was kicked out.
Rebelling against her super-strict parents, she never thought her behaviour would come back to bite her.
So when she was told not to return to school, she was shocked and terrified.
NO LEAVING PARTY
Speaking in this exclusive interview, Melissa remembers: “One day, I was told that I had to stay behind for lunchtime detention for talking in class.
“It happened to be my first day back in school, after being suspended every week for the previous two months or so.
“I boldly told the teacher that I wasn’t hanging around for a lunchtime detention and headed out.
“When I walked back in after lunch I was told I was being expelled.
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“That was my last day at school; no leaving party, no signing of my uniform, no prom. I was terrified of what my parents would say. I thought they would kill me.
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“I remember shaking as I got home.”
FAILING AT WORK
Unimpressed, her parents told Melissa she would have to get a job straight away, so she became an apprentice at Transport for London.
She lasted just two months in the role before being sacked for failing a safety test.
“Not knowing what to do next, I landed a job as an HR administrator, which I could do alongside college work,” she says.
“I enrolled in College and then university and studied HR management.
“I worked hard both at college and in my job and amazed my parents when I bought myself a Ford KA at just 17.
“I used to love plugging my phone into my stereo and driving my friends around listening to music.
“We would park up and have car parties. I probably received the most car parking fines in my first year of driving alone.”
ACHIEVING GOALS
When Melissa hit 20, she set herself a goal to be a senior HR Officer by the time she was 30.
She achieved her goal by the age of 26.
During that time, she knuckled down, working hard and saving hard while all her friends were going out and spending their money on clothes and clubs.
She bought her first home the same year, moving from London to Essex where it was more affordable.
Then after ten years in HR she set up her own property business, sourcing properties and development sites for investors.
She explains: “I conduct House of Multiple Occupancy Management and most excitingly, I work with women over 35, who want to get started in property investment. I haven’t looked back.
“It’s been rewarding but the toughest thing I’ve ever done. I’m a woman in a male-dominated industry.
“In the early days, I had landlords wanting to take me for dinner instead of paying me for property management.
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“Instead of paying a sign-up fee and monthly 10% management fee, they'd ask how much would I knock off the sign-up fee, after a slap-up dinner.
“The landlord I mentioned above would constantly contact me to find out if I had 'changed my mind' and was willing to accept his dinner invitation.
“Of course I never did, a poxy dinner doesn't pay the bills.
“Another landlord asked if he could come to mine to negotiate our contract over drinks. That was a definite no.”
SIX FIGURE TURNOVER
In the first year of her business, Melissa bought in just over £172,000 from rental income alone.
She started with nothing and now has a 6-figure turnover.
Melissa adds: “I’ve learned many lessons along the way, but the main thing that had to change was my mindset.
“You can’t achieve anything positive if you’re unhappy or coming from a place of negativity or lack or frustration.
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“I look back at that teenager and don't regret a moment. Yes, I could have been more strategic, but how boring would it have been if I had played by the rules?
“I never would have accomplished what I have in business, if I wasn't a little quirky.”
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