MondayEasing into the weekI’m at my home in Somerset this morning and don’t get up until nine. I think that would surprise a lot of people, as would my approach to work. They see me in my
Dragons’ Den role and expect me to be traditional and structured. But I refuse to conform to the belief that the early bird catches the worm. I know when I function best and that’s not before ten.
I get myself a cup of tea and check through emails. Then I wander around the garden getting my head into gear. I give my PA, Charlotte, a call – she works in my private office about two miles away – and we’ll go through the week ahead so I can get the shape of things. Charlotte is fantastic. She’s absolutely result driven so gets things done exactly when they’re supposed to be done. That’s perfect for me as I’m physically all over the place.
I have a meeting over coffee with one of my proposed investments in the morning. I like to meet people face-to-face whenever possible. It’s better to discuss things this way and find out what we agree and disagree on. Then I make a call to my lawyers and have a verbal catch up on what’s going on with current deals. They tell me we have just completed on a deal to invest in Fox Brothers Ltd, a company started in 1776 that reputedly produces the finest worsted cloth in the world, with clients such as Gieves and Hawkes and Ralph Lauren. I’m also involved with a fashion brand called WeSC at the moment.
One of my earliest business ventures was in fashion. I bought one of the first Stefanel franchises in the UK. That was after running an Italian glass and ceramics import agency straight out of college. I was very young at the time but that never entered my head. When I sold out the franchise to my partner I walked away with £10,000, which was a fortune to me at the time.
From then on I was in the leisure industry. My parents had amusement centres in some of the Haven Holiday Parks so I’d grown up in leisure. I’m comfortable working in that space…anything that people do to enjoy themselves, I’ve done: retail, fast food, amusements, holiday parks and fashion. The fact that I once ran a bingo hall comes up time and time again despite it being 35 years ago now. It was an invaluable experience, though. I learnt more about customers and how to build relationships with them than any other business. If somebody asked me today how to learn the most about business in one week, I would send them to run the bingo.
I have some time clear from about three this afternoon. That’s quite normal for a Monday. I like my days in Somerset to be fairly fluid so that I can enjoy my life here. I spend time with my husband Paul and check on our many animals. I have four horses, three dogs, a cat, sheep, pigs, chickens and I’m about to get Indian runner ducks.
I catch the train to London later in the evening for a chock-a-block few days ahead. When I’m in town it’s work, work, work.
TuesdayBack-to-back meetingsI’m a trustee at the Roundhouse so this morning I have a board meeting with them. I attend these monthly as I have legal duties and a responsibility, as a board member, to promote and make sure the company is compliant. Outside of that I’m engaged in their commercial activities. The trust is a charity but it still has to raise a lot of funds, both through traditional fundraising and through actually generating cash from the Roundhouse itself. I have a charity plan that recognises that
I can’t do everything. I really think about the ones I want to get involved with and nominate five each year that I’m going to support. The Roundhouse is one of those. I think it’s wonderful. It deals with very disadvantaged teenagers and tries to cut across the inevitable path of something going wrong.
I go on to a meeting with a TV production company. I often get approached about doing TV but I’m very clear about the fact that I am a businessperson in the media and not a media person. Occasionally though a programme will come along that I really think is worthwhile. This was one of them but it’s under wraps for the moment.
I head to the Charlotte Street Hotel for a meeting with one of my
Dragons’ Den investments, Buggyboot. The product has just gone into Mothercare so we need to sit down and discuss the launch. When the project came into the Den it was just a prototype. Now Buggyboot has been manufactured, delivered and is on sale.
The two women who came up with the idea are really good. They don’t actually need me at all but sometimes entrepreneurs want someone involved who can assure them that they have good judgement and are making the right decisions.
All of my investments are in different phases so need different things from me. If I’m solely a cash investor I’ll just attend board meetings or send an observer along. The deal will no longer be about my input. At the other end of the scale are the start-ups that need more at that stage than they will ever need. I always make sure right at the beginning that I have a meeting in order to form my own view of what level I should be involved.
I head to Bentleys in the evening for a dinner meeting with Shaa Wasmund, the CEO of
smarta.com, the newly launched business support and networking website. I do a lot of my networking in the evenings.
WednesdayClassical passionI meet with my younger sister, Cass. She does some of my PR for me. I’m working on a collaboration with Charles Hazlewood, the BBC conductor. We’re putting together an event in Somerset called 'Play The Field' for the August bank holiday weekend. Charles’ orchestra is going to play Holst’s
The Planets and then there will be a contemporary response by the Charles Hazlewood All Stars, a band of contemporary musicians including Will Gregory from Goldfrapp and Adrian Utley from Portishead. Cass is coordinating it all, which is a huge job.
I met Charles at the Last Night of the Proms. I loved his enthusiasm. He got me fired up about classical music again. I’m hoping that this project will do exactly that for other people. It’s nice to have reached a stage in my life where I can invest in something just because I love it.
In the afternoon I do a talk at the LSE. The Entrepreneurs Society asked me to talk about my route to business and what I’ve learnt along the way. I don’t do a lot of public speaking but when I do it has to be on a subject I’m passionate about. Any fees go to charity. I like speaking to students and the talk goes really well. They are fiery and interactive and want to learn. The great thing about students is that they are happy to push the boundaries with you.
In the evening our other sister, Emma, joins us for dinner at the Electric in Notting Hill.
ThursdayIn the DenToday is a filming day for
Dragons’ Den. I’m collected at 6am, which I hate. Luckily I have the same driver every time and he doesn’t mind me sleeping in the back of the car. I arrive at Pinewood studios at 7:30 in time for hair and make-up. I’m always the first
to arrive because I would hate to be the last ready. I can’t stand being the one that people have to wait for. It’s a waste of their time.
I put on my Den outfit. We all wear the same outfit all the time…it makes life ever so easy. In the Den it’s purely about the business so we don’t want the audience thinking, “Oh, she’s wearing that today…” Our first pitcher comes in at 9:30. We never know how long they might take. It can be from 15 minutes to three hours.
After each one we’ll have a break in the car park (it’s all very glamorous!). That’s the only place for us to go. It’s a fun place to hang out though. You never know who might walk by. We Dragons have spotted Anthony Hopkins and Meryl Streep in that car park before.
I have a meeting with Sarah Brunwen from WWF during a break in filming for lunch.
I’ve just been invited and accepted becoming an ambassador for them so we need to
go through what that involves. I often invite people to come and have lunch meetings with me at the studio. If I’ve got a whole block of filming I have to fit my other commitments around days in the Den.
The Dragons all get on very well, despite how it may look on screen! It does get feisty in the den but that’s because we’re competing. In business terms we do fall out but that doesn’t affect us outside. I like that we don’t cut each other any slack. If we think somebody’s made a bad investment, they won’t hear the last of it. I love the challenge of it all but if you ask me what I really treasure about the Den, it’s the people I’m involved with. The other Dragons are smart, funny and challenging. I’m lucky to be working with them.
I leave filming early today because I’m off to a charity event for Tusk on the HMS Victory in Portsmouth. It is an evening with Prince William who is the patron of the Trust, which funds conservation and community programmes in Africa. I recently went to Botswana to look at one of Tusk’s projects, which involved tracking and learning more about the behaviour of African wild dogs. I have
Dragons’ Den to thank for things like this. If I weren’t in the public eye I would never get these opportunities.
FridayTime to shopI have a meeting with a lady I met when doing some work for the Federation of Small Businesses. I did a piece for them on the things you need to consider when going in to business in the current climate. Elaine arranged all the back-to-back PR for the day. Every now and then I come across people in life and think ‘you’re good’. She is one of those people. I want to form a relationship with her in case there’s an opportunity for our paths to cross in the future. We have a cup of coffee and just chat about the things we have in common. We don’t do any business deals but by the time we walk out of the meeting something’s opened up. You can bet your bottom dollar that an opportunity will come out of that.
I snatch some time in the afternoon with my personal shopper and stylist, Minty. I love clothes and I want to look good but I hate shopping. Minty takes the pain out of it for me. Charlotte will provide her with a list of everything I’ve got coming up over the next month or so and Minty will bring a huge selection of clothes, shoes and jewellery to my Primrose Hill flat to choose from. Thanks to
Dragons’ Den, I get photographed more and more these days and it’s important that I don’t constantly get seen in the same outfit. I hate to say it but people just don’t accept that anymore. Minty has my credit card. Sometimes I’ll get a scary call from her saying, “I’ve just charged many thousands of pounds to your card Deborah.” Paul’s had a few shocks.
It’s back to Somerset for the weekend this afternoon but my week isn’t over yet. I’m hosting a dinner event for the NSPCC.
I’m the chairman of the Childline Child’s Voice Appeal Southwest. We have to raise £1.6m in the next three years. At the moment 30 per cent of children’s calls to Childline go unanswered. That’s not acceptable. I’ve invited key people in our region to have dinner and hear about the cause and meet the people involved. I’m not asking for their money tonight but I want them to think about how they might engage themselves or their businesses with it. They might be able to adopt us as a charity or go out and be ambassadors for us. Paul is there with me. He’s very interested in the charitable things I’m involved with so we get to spend the evening together. It’s hard work though. Aside from having to get up and speak to everyone in the room I will have had to prepare fully beforehand. I have to know exactly who all the people are, how to communicate with them and how they might be able to help.
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