Sarah Beeny On Juggling

Sarah Beeny might be best known to people in the UK as the presenter of the TV series ‘Property Ladder’ and ‘Property Snakes & Ladders’ but she’s also a successful entrepreneur.

Having launched her own building company and written a handful of books on property developing, she now juggles a broader portfolio including two online businesses. She launched the dating website mysinglefriend.com and more recently she set up a tepilo.com, a website where you can buy and sell your home for free.

Sarah also has four young children; so she got a lot of respect when she appeared at this month’s Social Media ’09 conference along with her baby son.

So Sarah was a great candidate for my Juggle Tapes series; I went to meet her a couple of weeks ago to talk about what drives her business ideas and how she juggles everything. Watch the video below:



*if the video above is not displayed properly, you can watch it on YouTube here

If You’re Looking For Success, Get Over Sticking To One Thing!

One myth I aim to bust in Juggle! is the notion that you can only be good at one thing in life or business: you find a single talent or profession and you stick to it. Crap.


But encouraging plurality does not mean diluting your talents. You need to stay focused to make sure you’re good at one skill, project or venture before adding another one to the mix. It’s a tricky juggle but what successful entrepreneurship is all about.

You don’t need to think like a plural brand such as Virgin to spread your expertise from one business to another. It’s about taking an honest approach to your juggling. Taking on a new project because you know you have a compelling business idea, because you know a lot about a subject or just because you’re passionate about making a success of something. Passion should not be underestimated as a tool in the proverbial entrepreneurial tool kit. It’s the essential ingredient to drive success, especially where you are trying new ventures.

I’ve been talking to entrepreneurs recently about how they’ve transcended their core specialism. Look at Gary Vaynerchuk, morphing into new business areas beyond his core specialism of wine. He’s making a success of juggling other ventures because he’s passionate about his portfolio reflecting his - multi-dimensional - dna. Last week I met up with Sarah Beeny (a Juggle Tapes video of our chat will be ready later in November). Most people in the UK know Sarah as the ‘property development expert’; as presenter of TV’s Property Ladder and author of a handful of books on property development. But like Gary she’s transformed her portfolio beyond her core specialism to include new ventures including her dating website mysinglefriend.com. Just because you’re good at property, doesn’t mean you can’t do dating too. Why did she set up a dating site? Because she wanted to, because she had a good idea and thought she could make a success of it (she was right).

So don’t place too many limits on your talent, role or project portfolio. Follow your dna, your passions and transfer your success to new areas.